Create or update an organization Actions secret with visibility scoping via the GitHub REST API
domain: docs.github.com · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Authenticate with admin:org scope (plus repo for private repos) and fetch the org public key: GET https://api.github.com/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets/public-key.
Encrypt the value with libsodium using the org public key and base64-encode the ciphertext.
PUT https://api.github.com/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets/{secret_name} with body {"encrypted_value", "key_id", "visibility"} where visibility is all, private, or selected.
When visibility is selected, include selected_repository_ids (array of repo IDs) to choose which repos can use it.
201 (create) or 204 (update) confirms; manage the membership further via /selected-repositories endpoints or replace-all PUT.
Known gotchas
visibility is required for org secrets and defaults to private if omitted on the CLI but must be explicit via REST.
Setting visibility to selected without selected_repository_ids leaves the secret available to no repository.
Org-level secrets are not available to private repos on GitHub Free.
Replacing selected repos uses a full-replace PUT — omit one repo and it silently loses access.
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