How to Fix GitHub Copilot CLI User Not Authorized Errors

Authorization errors in GitHub Copilot CLI can be frustrating, especially when you know you have a valid subscription. This guide covers the most common "User not authorized" errors, their root causes, and step-by-step solutions to get you back to coding.

Common Authorization Error Messages

Before diving into solutions, identify which error message you are seeing:

Step 1: Verify Your Subscription Status

The first step is confirming your GitHub Copilot subscription is active.

Check Personal Subscription

1. Go to github.com/settings/copilot
2. Verify your subscription shows as Active
3. Check the subscription type: Individual, Business, or Enterprise
4. If expired, renew your subscription before proceeding

Check Organization Assignment

If you use Copilot through an organization:

1. Go to github.com/settings/copilot
2. Look for "Copilot access via organization" section
3. Verify your organization has assigned you a seat
4. If you do not see organization access, contact your GitHub admin

# Check which account you are authenticated as
gh auth status

Step 2: Re-authenticate Your Token

Expired or corrupted tokens cause most authorization failures. Refreshing your authentication often resolves the issue immediately.

Quick Token Refresh

# Refresh your existing authentication
gh auth refresh

# Or specifically refresh for Copilot
copilot auth

Full Re-authentication

If the quick refresh does not work, do a complete re-authentication:

# Log out completely
gh auth logout

# Log back in via browser (recommended)
gh auth login --web

# Select your account and authorize the Copilot OAuth app

Using Personal Access Token

If browser authentication fails, try a Personal Access Token:

1. Go to github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new
2. Create a fine-grained token with these permissions:
   • Copilot Requests (required)
   • Read access to organization membership (for org accounts)
3. Set the token as an environment variable:

# macOS/Linux
export GH_TOKEN="ghp_your_token_here"

# Windows PowerShell
$env:GH_TOKEN="ghp_your_token_here"

Step 3: Organization Policy Troubleshooting

Organization policies are a common source of "User not authorized" errors, especially in enterprise environments.

Verify Organization Copilot Settings

Ask your organization admin to check:

1. Navigate to github.com/organizations/[org-name]/settings/copilot
2. Confirm Copilot is enabled for the organization
3. Check if your user is in the allowed users list
4. Verify CLI access is not disabled separately

Check Seat Assignment

Organizations have limited Copilot seats. Your admin needs to:

1. Go to Organization Settings > Copilot > Manage
2. Verify your GitHub username has an assigned seat
3. If no seats are available, request one from your admin

Repository-Level Policies

Some organizations disable Copilot for specific repositories:

1. Check if the error occurs in all repos or just some
2. Try Copilot CLI in a different repository
3. Ask your admin if repository-level restrictions exist
4. Public repository suggestions may be disabled by policy

Step 4: SSO and SAML Authentication

Organizations using SAML SSO require additional authentication steps that standard login does not complete.

Complete SSO Authorization

1. Visit github.com/settings/tokens
2. Find any tokens showing "SSO required"
3. Click Configure SSO next to the token
4. Authorize the token for your organization
5. Retry Copilot CLI

Re-authenticate with SSO

# Force browser authentication to complete SSO flow
gh auth login --web

# When prompted, select your organization
# Complete the SAML SSO challenge in your browser

SSO Session Timeout

SSO sessions expire. If you were previously working and suddenly get errors:

1. Your SSO session may have timed out
2. Re-authenticate using gh auth login --web
3. Complete the SAML authentication flow again
4. Verify with gh auth status

Step 5: Personal vs Organization Account Conflicts

Using multiple GitHub accounts can cause authorization confusion.

Check Active Account

# See which account is currently authenticated
gh auth status

# View all authenticated accounts
gh auth status --show-token

Switch Between Accounts

If you have both personal and organization accounts:

# Log out of current account
gh auth logout

# Log in with the correct account
gh auth login --web

# Select the account with Copilot access

Multiple Organizations

If you belong to multiple organizations:

1. Ensure Copilot is enabled in the org owning the repository
2. Your default org may not have Copilot access
3. Try cloning from a repository in an org with Copilot enabled

Step 6: Environment and Configuration Issues

Sometimes the issue is environmental rather than authentication-related.

Clear Cached Credentials

# Clear GitHub CLI cache
gh auth logout
rm -rf ~/.config/gh/*

# Re-authenticate fresh
gh auth login --web

Check Environment Variables

Conflicting environment variables can override correct authentication:

# Check for GitHub token variables
echo $GH_TOKEN
echo $GITHUB_TOKEN
echo $GH_HOST

# Unset if causing conflicts
unset GH_TOKEN
unset GITHUB_TOKEN

Verify Copilot CLI Installation

Ensure your Copilot CLI is up to date:

# Homebrew
brew upgrade copilot-cli

# npm
npm install -g @github/copilot@latest

# WinGet
winget upgrade GitHub.Copilot

When to Contact GitHub Support

If none of the above solutions work, contact GitHub Support with this information:

1. Your exact error message (copy the full output)
2. Output of gh auth status
3. Your subscription type (Individual, Business, Enterprise)
4. Organization name (if applicable)
5. Whether the issue affects all repos or specific ones
6. Steps you have already tried

Contact support at:

• support.github.com (general)
• Your organization admin for enterprise support tickets

Quick Reference: Authorization Error Checklist

Use this checklist when troubleshooting:

• Subscription is active at github.com/settings/copilot
• Organization has assigned you a Copilot seat
• Token is not expired (gh auth refresh)
• SSO authorization completed for organization
• CLI access enabled in organization policy
• Repository does not have Copilot disabled
• Using correct GitHub account (gh auth status)
• No conflicting environment variables
• Copilot CLI is up to date

Next Steps

• Learn about Copilot CLI slash commands once authorized
• Set up MCP servers for extended capabilities
• Configure enterprise Copilot settings if you are an admin