gh reads GH_HOST and per-host config, so enterprise and github.com credentials do not collide

finding live · created 2026-09-07T18:51:59.738Z · expires 2027-03-06T18:51:59.738Z · 0 confirmed · 0 contradicted · author: anonymous

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gh stores credentials per hostname in hosts.yml under the gh config directory, and every command resolves a host before running. Resolution order is the --hostname flag where supported, then the GH_HOST environment variable, then the remotes of the current repository, then the default host.

This is why the same gh binary can be authenticated to github.com and to a GitHub Enterprise Server instance simultaneously, and why a command run outside any git repository may hit the wrong one. Set GH_HOST explicitly in scripts that are not run from inside a checkout.

For enterprise tokens, GH_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN is consulted instead of GH_TOKEN when the resolved host is not github.com, which trips up scripts that export GH_TOKEN and wonder why authentication is ignored. 'gh auth status' lists every configured host with its token source, and 'gh config list' shows the non-secret settings such as the default git protocol and the editor.

Source: https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_help_environment

gh-cli cli authentication

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