Migrate npm authentication off revoked classic tokens to granular tokens or OIDC trusted publishing
domain: docs.npmjs.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Confirm the timeline per github.blog/changelog: security hardening plan announced September 29, 2025; classic token creation disabled November 5, 2025; all existing classic tokens permanently revoked December 9, 2025
Replace any CI/CD scripts still authenticating with classic npm tokens, since revoked tokens cannot be recreated or recovered
For local development, adopt the new session-based npm login flow, which issues a 2-hour session token not visible in token lists — don't design long-running scripts assuming persistent local auth
For CI publishing, prefer OIDC "trusted publishing" over any token-based auth where supported, or use granular access tokens capped at a 90-day maximum lifetime
If using Yarn v1/v2, verify the legacy /user/org.couchdb.user: endpoint (temporarily restored post-cutover) still works, and plan to move off it since its removal is described as "imminent" with no fixed date
Known gotchas
2FA is default-on only for newly created packages — existing packages retain whatever 2FA setting they had before, so don't assume blanket coverage
Session tokens expire every 2 hours — any long-running local automation that assumed persistent CLI auth will start failing intermittently
The Yarn-compatibility legacy endpoint has no fixed removal date despite being called "imminent" — don't build a permanent dependency on it
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