GitLab "HTTP Basic: Access Denied" on Push or Clone

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Create a personal access token

   Copy steps
   1. Go to avatar > Preferences > Access tokens > Add new token.
   2. Tick write_repository (and read_repository), set an expiry, and copy the token once.
   3. Use your username and the token as the password.
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Clear cached credentials

   Copy steps
   1. Windows: Credential Manager > Windows Credentials, remove git:https://gitlab.com.
   2. macOS: Keychain Access, delete the gitlab.com entry.
   3. Linux: git credential reject or delete the entry from ~/.git-credentials.
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Update the remote URL

   Copy steps
   1. git remote -v to check the URL.
   2. git remote set-url origin https://gitlab.com/<group>/<project>.git.
   3. Some clients need oauth2:<token>@ in the URL.
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Check token expiry and project access

   Copy steps
   1. Expired tokens fail with the same message.
   2. Make sure your user is at least Developer on the project, or the token belongs to a project access token with the right role.
   Did this fix it? Yes No

5. 5. Switch to SSH

   1. Add an SSH key under Preferences > SSH Keys and use git@gitlab.com:<group>/<project>.git.
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

git push or clone over HTTPS returns "remote: HTTP Basic: Access denied" and "fatal: Authentication failed" (sometimes shown as 401).

Why it happens

• Account password used instead of a token
• Token expired or revoked
• Token missing read_repository or write_repository scope
• Cached old credentials in the OS credential manager
• 2FA enabled on the account

This guide also covers

• gitlab http basic access denied
• gitlab fatal authentication failed
• gitlab 401 push
• gitlab remote http basic access denied 2fa

Other GitLab errors

• GitLab Permission Denied (publickey) Error
• GitLab Pipeline Stuck on Pending
• GitLab Runner Not Picking Up Jobs
• GitLab "You Are Not Allowed to Push Code to Protected Branches"
• How to Resolve GitLab Merge Conflicts
• GitLab "No More Compute Minutes" or CI Minutes Quota Exceeded
• GitLab Pipeline Not Running or "yaml invalid"
• Why Is GitLab So Slow?