| name | troubleshoot |
| description | Diagnose and fix common issues in the-power GitHub API test environment. Covers SSL/certificate errors, token and authentication problems, HTTP error codes, rate limits, GHES admin API issues, and configuration verification.
|
| keywords | ["troubleshoot","debug","error","fix","SSL","certificate","token","rate limit",401,403,404,422] |
Troubleshoot
Diagnose and resolve common issues when working with the-power scripts.
Known issues
SSL certificate verification failures (macOS Python)
configure.py fails with SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED.
Fix: Go to your Python.framework directory and run
Install Certificates.command.
Self-signed certificates on GHES
curl fails with "SSL certificate problem: self signed certificate".
Fix: Set in .gh-api-examples.conf:
curl_custom_flags="--insecure"
base64 encoding breaks scripts
Always use python3 base64encode.py for base64 encoding. Never use
native base64 CLI tools — they behave inconsistently across platforms.
See #70.
Chrome storage issues with smee.io
Fix: Chrome > Developer Tools > Application > Storage. Clear smee entries.
HTTP error diagnosis
401 Unauthorised
| Cause | Fix |
|---|
| Bad token | Re-generate and update config |
| Expired token | Generate a new PAT |
| Wrong hostname | Token was created on a different instance |
403 Forbidden
| Cause | Fix |
|---|
| Insufficient scope | Add required scopes (admin:org, repo, delete_repo) |
| SSO not authorised | Authorise the token for SSO access |
| IP restrictions | Check org/enterprise IP allow list |
404 Not Found
| Cause | Fix |
|---|
| Wrong org/repo name | Check for typos |
| Resource does not exist | Create it first |
| Insufficient permissions | GitHub returns 404 instead of 403 for private resources |
422 Unprocessable Entity
| Cause | Fix |
|---|
| Validation error | Check required fields in the JSON payload (tmp/ directory) |
| Resource already exists | Change name or delete the existing one |
| Invalid field values | Check API docs for valid enum values |
Diagnostic scripts
| Script | Purpose |
|---|
./get-authenticated-user.sh | Confirm token is valid |
./get-an-organization.sh | Verify target org exists |
./get-rate-limit-status-for-the-authenticated-user.sh | Check rate limits |
Note: check-a-token.sh often returns 401 on GHES even with a valid
token. Use get-authenticated-user.sh instead.
GHES admin API issues
- Site admin endpoints (
/admin/) require site-admin privileges.
- Management console API uses a separate password, not a PAT.
- If admin endpoints return 404/403, confirm the token user is a site admin.
Config verification
cat .gh-api-examples.conf | grep -E '^(hostname|org|repo|team_slug)='
Check for:
hostname matches target instanceorg and team_slug match existing resourcescurl_custom_flags includes --insecure if needed for self-signed certs
Boundaries
- Do not display the full GITHUB_TOKEN value. Show only the first
8 characters when confirming configuration.
- Do not modify
.gh-api-examples.conf without user consent.
