Best secure practise on ARC

[pkking]

Why are you starting this discussion?

Question

What GitHub Actions topic or product is this about?

ARC (Actions Runner Controller)

Discussion Details

I notice the doc gives out two methods to authenticate the ARC runner, i want to know the pros and cons about using PAT(both fine-grant or classic) and github app on securty side

[mahmoudchaer]

Hello, my name is Mahmoud and I’m happy to help you.

I looked into this exact question when setting up ARC in one of our projects, and here’s what I found from both experience and GitHub's docs.

GitHub App Authentication (Recommended)
Pros:

More secure by design with short-lived, scoped tokens

Fine-grained access control

Easier to rotate and revoke credentials

Better suited for organizations or multi-repo setups

Cons:

Slightly more complex to set up initially

Requires secure handling of the app’s private key

PAT (Classic or Fine-grained)
Pros:

Simple and quick to set up, good for testing or personal use

No need to manage a private key

Cons:

Tokens are long-lived and riskier if compromised

Classic PATs have very broad access

Fine-grained PATs are better but still not ideal for long-term or shared use

Breaks if the user who generated the PAT leaves the organization

For anything beyond basic testing, GitHub App authentication is the more secure and future-proof choice.

[pkking]

Hi @mahmoudchaer, thanks your quick reply, Github app seems to be a more formal way:)
I will try to setup a github app and please let me know if i misunderstand the doc:

To authenticate using a GitHub App, it must be assigned the following permissions:

For repositories, assign the `administration` permission.
For organizations, assign the `organization_self_hosted_runners` permission.

So if someone install my app, it must be granted both the administration and organization_self_hosted_runners permissions, right?
The app will make use of the permission depends on whether the app was permitted to access all repos or some specific repos

Here's the minimum permission for the app

[mdzaheerjk]

Always prefer GitHub App Auth for long-term ARC usage. It's future-proof, secure, scalable, and avoids user dependency issues common with PATs.

[Pragati-cloud]

Hey, good question. I totally get why you're digging into this docs mention both options, but don't really spell out the differences clearly.

So here's a quick take on both from a security perspective:

GitHub App authentication is usually the safer and more scalable option. It gives you scoped, short-lived tokens that rotate automatically, which really limits the damage if anything ever gets leaked. It's also easier to audit and manage over time, especially in orgs or team setups. The main downside is that the setup is a bit more involved at first, and might feel like overkill for small or personal projects.

PATs, whether classic or fine-grained, are more straightforward to use. They’re quick to generate and easy to plug in, which makes them appealing for quick setups or personal work. But security-wise, they’re a bit riskier. Classic PATs often come with way more permissions than needed, and unless you set an expiration, they’re long-lived. Fine-grained ones are better, but still need manual rotation and careful permission management.

So in short if it’s for production or anything long-term, GitHub App is usually the way to go. PATs are fine for quick tests or internal-only stuff where risk is lower.

Hope this helps, happy to share more if you’re setting one up and hit a wall.

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