Personal access tokens are the preferred way for third party applications and scripts to
authenticate with the [GitLab API][api], if using [OAuth2](../../api/oauth2.md) is not practical.
If you're unable to use [OAuth2](../../api/oauth2.md), you can use a personal access token to authenticate with the [GitLab API][api].
You can also use personal access tokens to authenticate against Git over HTTP or SSH. They must be used when you have [Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)][2fa] enabled. Authenticate with a token in place of your password.
You can also use personal access tokens with Git to authenticate over HTTP or SSH. Personal access tokens are required when [Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)][2fa] is enabled. In both cases, you can authenticate with a token in place of your password.
To make [authenticated requests to the API][usage], use either the `private_token` parameter or the `Private-Token` header.
Personal access tokens expire on the date you define, at midnight UTC.
The expiration of personal access tokens happens on the date you define,
at midnight UTC.
For examples of how you can use a personal access token to authenticate with the API, see the following section from our [API Docs](../../api/README.md#personal-access-tokens).
