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API tokens just don't work

Spencer Ahn

Hi,

So I read the notice on bitbucket app passwords, soon it will be deprecated and will be changed to API tokens. Did not read through the whole details and what is the deal, but I decided to give it a try.

It just doesn't work when I'm trying to clone a repo. I've copied the clone command from repo front page, and it asks me for a password.

```
git clone https://{bitbucket_username}@bitbucket.org/{workspace}/{repository}.git
```

I've copied the API token for the password but it says something like

remote: You may not have access to this repository or it no longer exists in this workspace. If you think this repository exists and you have access, make sure you are authenticated.
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://bitbucket.org/{workspace}/{repository}.git/'

I think I followed the steps exactly as written in the following link. I've tried waiting for 10 minutes after creating API token, but still no luck

Using API tokens | Bitbucket Cloud | Atlassian Support

Bitbucket app passwords still works fine in the same condition

Accepted answers

Ben

Hi @Spencer Ahn

To start using API tokens - you'll need to create the API token and specify the scope - this is mentioned in our deprecation documentation:

Click the gear cog icon, select
Atlassian Account settings > Security tab > Create and manage API Tokens
Click Create API token with scopes and select Bitbucket Cloud.
If you want to be able to push/pull to the repository - you'll need to tick both
read:repository:bitbucket and write:repository:bitbucket
For clone only - this would just be read:repository:bitbucket.
More information on scopes can be found in our API scopes documentation.
Perform the clone using the API token by executing either of the commands below (if using the first command - you can find your username by clicking the gear cog icon and selecting Personal Bitbucket Settings - it's visible under the Bitbucket Profile Settings heading):
```
git clone https://username:APIToken@bitbucket.org/workspaceID/reposlug.git
git clone https://x-bitbucket-api-token-auth:APIToken@bitbucket.org/workspaceID/reposlug.git
```

Please perform the above and let me know how this goes. If you are still encountering issues, I will assist you further.

Cheers!

- Ben (Bitbucket Cloud Support)

All comments

Ben

Hi @Spencer Ahn

To start using API tokens - you'll need to create the API token and specify the scope - this is mentioned in our deprecation documentation:

Click the gear cog icon, select
Atlassian Account settings > Security tab > Create and manage API Tokens
Click Create API token with scopes and select Bitbucket Cloud.
If you want to be able to push/pull to the repository - you'll need to tick both
read:repository:bitbucket and write:repository:bitbucket
For clone only - this would just be read:repository:bitbucket.
More information on scopes can be found in our API scopes documentation.
Perform the clone using the API token by executing either of the commands below (if using the first command - you can find your username by clicking the gear cog icon and selecting Personal Bitbucket Settings - it's visible under the Bitbucket Profile Settings heading):
```
git clone https://username:APIToken@bitbucket.org/workspaceID/reposlug.git
git clone https://x-bitbucket-api-token-auth:APIToken@bitbucket.org/workspaceID/reposlug.git
```

Please perform the above and let me know how this goes. If you are still encountering issues, I will assist you further.

Cheers!

- Ben (Bitbucket Cloud Support)

Spencer Ahn

This is exactly what I did. The same error msg from the original post happened.

Ben

Hi @Spencer Ahn

Is it still prompting you to enter the password manually or is it immediately giving you that error message?

In any case - I'd suggest removing all your cached credentials in case some old credentials are causing interference (ie Credential Manager for Windows, Access Keychain for Mac or /etc/shadow folder for Linux) before trying to authenticate again.

If this is still not working - please let me know.

Cheers!

- Ben (Bitbucket Cloud Support)

Spencer Ahn

Also done, I've tried removing credentials cache, and it still doesn't work. Wish there was a way to get more info on not being authenticated.

firuzzz

Only works if you go for with the "with Scope" option!, other way always fails, great job Atlassian

Nathan Hiemenz

I finally resolved this issue after two days of suffering:

https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/docs/using-api-tokens/

To work with API Tokens, you need to add the token to the git url:

https://{bitbucket_username}:{api_token}@bitbucket.org/{workspace}/{repository}.git

This is not explained in the API Tokens pages at all, which is extremely frustrating.

Yanan Xu

I ran into the same problem when I gave the API token admin permission on Bitbucket. After a while, I switched it to read permission, and then it finally started pulling the repo. Maybe Atlassian has a different idea of what 'admin permission' mean

Keshab Sharma

@Nathan Hiemenz I tried exactly what is mentioned here but it is throwing the same error.

Jonathan Rickman

This constant authentication churn, combined with the convoluted nature of this whole API key issue has me considering another platform for our organization. Onboarding a new developer should not be this difficult! Now we have developers storing API keys in plain text all over the place to avoid the absurd process of issuing another one every time they check out code on a different machine, among other bad practices. This is NOT enhancing security at all. This is just creating friction that leads to terrible user habits.

As others have said, if you just want to use git at the command line, you have to create a key with scope and give it read and write for the repository in the selection list. What you do from there is up to you, but the resulting token will then work anywhere you typically would have used an account or app password.

Ihor Kurbanov

Issue is still there.

I've tried at least 3 different keys, waited 10-15min before using, I even can see that it was trying to access with the token, but error "unable to authenticate" is still showing up.

Creating a token with a scope actually DID HELP!
I did authenticate successfully a minute after I created it, so go WITH SCOPED since regular token just doesn't seem to work.

Paolo Fernando Flores Rivera

i wonder in stackoverflow like an hour for this .

syku

"without scope" used to work perfectly in early 2025. When I was forced to renew api token in early 2026, it ceased to authenticate with no hint whatsoever. Only the "with scope" works now with no doc whatsoever.

allenu

Thanks. This worked for me.

Unfortunately because I'm working in Xcode and need to include the URL to the git repo for the Swift Package Manager to work, I have to encode the actual API token in the project repo which is insane to me.

I'm going to be looking to move off Bitbucket.

David Zamora Gutiérrez_z1muxh

Your documentatin in this matter is quite bad. Every time i have to deal with authentication against bitbucket i start sweating. 5 days trying to connect composer and it seems rather impossible. While gitlab and github offer solutions to all of these problems. There are key things you are missing at atlassian..

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