Bearer Token

A bearer token is a type of access token used to authenticate and authorize protocols.

The client sends their bearer token, often in the Authorization HTTP header, as proof of authentication to the server. The server verifies and authorizes the request based on the token.

Token-based authentication like this is used to replace other methods of authentication, like a username and password. For example, the DigitalOcean API uses bearer tokens to authenticate requests from users.

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A personal access token (PAT) lets a user authenticate to a service in order to access or act on protected resources. PATs can be an alterative to a password, often in automation and other programmatic use cases.