Academy
What is an access token?
Glossary · AI agent and machine identity security
Short answer
An access token is a credential, usually short-lived, that proves an identity may call a service.
Why it matters
A token is only as limited as its scope and lifetime. A broad, long-lived token behaves like a password.
What it looks like
An installation token for a code host that can read many repositories, not only the one an agent works on.
In nerl0
The Security Graph can show how far one credential fans out, for example across repositories. See Security Graph.