Feedback on forced 7 day expiration and removal of automation tokens

[wesleytodd]

Select Topic Area

Product Feedback

Body

The announcement of removing automation tokens and shortening the max expiry to 7 days will be highly disruptive for no clear additional security improvements.

Due to lack of npm registry api's for token management, organizations like Netflix (my employer) rely on manual processes for managing publish access on various open source packages we maintain. Between these two changes announced yesterday, we are left with no good option to migrate to without immediate impact to our teams ability to support OSS package publishing.

In addition to the feedback in #174506, these changes seem to simply move the problem from one place to another and specifically breaks any setup's which relied on those tokens and third party secure workflows. Please consider keeping the forms of tokens available today intact until you can provide a secure replacement (not going to use this thread to get into that, I will do so in #174507).

[github-actions[bot]]

💬 Your Product Feedback Has Been Submitted 🎉

Thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us! Your feedback is invaluable as we build a better GitHub experience for all our users.

Here's what you can expect moving forward ⏩

• Your input will be carefully reviewed and cataloged by members of our product teams. 
  • Due to the high volume of submissions, we may not always be able to provide individual responses.
  • Rest assured, your feedback will help chart our course for product improvements.
• Other users may engage with your post, sharing their own perspectives or experiences. 
• GitHub staff may reach out for further clarification or insight. 
  • We may 'Answer' your discussion if there is a current solution, workaround, or roadmap/changelog post related to the feedback.

Where to look to see what's shipping 👀

• Read the Changelog for real-time updates on the latest GitHub features, enhancements, and calls for feedback.
• Explore our Product Roadmap, which details upcoming major releases and initiatives.

What you can do in the meantime 💻

• Upvote and comment on other user feedback Discussions that resonate with you.
• Add more information at any point! Useful details include: use cases, relevant labels, desired outcomes, and any accompanying screenshots.

As a member of the GitHub community, your participation is essential. While we can't promise that every suggestion will be implemented, we want to emphasize that your feedback is instrumental in guiding our decisions and priorities.

Thank you once again for your contribution to making GitHub even better! We're grateful for your ongoing support and collaboration in shaping the future of our platform. ⭐

[adhammenesy]

I completely agree with this.
The change feels a bit rushed and not fully thought through from a real-world workflow perspective. Many orgs (especially large ones) have existing, carefully audited automation systems that rely on longer-lived tokens for CI/CD and OSS publishing.

Cutting down expiry to 7 days without offering a scalable, secure replacement (like short-lived renewable tokens or scoped automation tokens managed via API) doesn’t solve the security concern — it just shifts the pain to maintainers and increases the chance of human error.

It’d be great if GitHub could at least provide an interim mechanism or clearer migration guidance before enforcing this. The feedback here (and in #174506 / #174507) highlights exactly why this update might need a slower rollout or re-evaluation.