Heroku CLI Authentication
Last updated January 31, 2025
Table of Contents
Authentication on Heroku uses one of these mechanisms, depending on the situation.
- Web-based authentication
- Email and password
- API token
- SSH key
The heroku command uses the email address and password to obtain an API token. All other Heroku API requests use this token for authentication. A user can regenerate the token at will in the heroku.com web interface. Regenerating an API token invalidates the current token and creates a new one. If a user changes their password, their API token regenerates.
The SSH key is used for Git push authentication when using SSH Git transport. You can use heroku keys to manage your SSH keys on Heroku.
API Token Storage
The Heroku command-line tool stores API tokens in the standard Unix file ~/.netrc ($HOME\_netrc on Windows).
The netrc format is well established and well supported by various network tools on unix. With Heroku credentials stored in this file, other tools such as curl -n can access the Heroku API with little or no extra work. When using the default HTTP transport, Git uses cURL and cURL uses the API key stored in .netrc to authenticate with the Heroku HTTP Git service.
Setting the HEROKU_API_KEY environment variable on your machine overrides any token set in the netrc file.
Usage Examples
Running heroku login, or any other heroku command that requires authentication, creates or updates your ~/.netrc file.
$ heroku login
heroku: Press any key to open up the browser to login or q to exit
› Warning: If browser does not open, visit
› https://cli-auth.heroku.com/auth/browser/***
heroku: Waiting for login...
Logging in... done
Logged in as me@example.com
$ cat ~/.netrc
machine api.heroku.com
login me@example.com
password c4cd94da15ea0544802c2cfd5ec4ead324327430
machine git.heroku.com
login me@example.com
password c4cd94da15ea0544802c2cfd5ec4ead324327430
Retrieving the API Token
You can display the token via the CLI.
$ heroku auth:token
c4cd94da15ea0544802c2cfd5ec4ead324327430
Netrc File Format
The file contains a list of free-form records and comments. Comments start with a # (hash) symbol and continue to the end of the line.
Each record is of the form:
machine api.heroku.com
login me@example.com
password ABC123
The password field is actually an OAuth token. Using the account’s password is invalid and doesn’t work.