---
name: gitea-token-from-http-credential-store
description: "Extract the Dankclaw Gitea token from ~/.config/secrets/gitea (it is the URL password, not key=value lines) for API calls, and diagnose the silent empty-token trap that makes public-repo reads pass while writes fail."
---

The Gitea credential store line on Frank's boxes is **http** (not https) with a percent-encoded port, and the **token is the URL password** — there are NO `username=`/`password=` lines:

```
http://dank:<40-char-token>@192.168.0.143%3a3000
```

## Extraction that actually works

```bash
tok=$(sed -nE 's#^[a-z]+://[^:]+:([^@]+)@.*#\1#p' ~/.config/secrets/gitea | head -1)
curl -s -K <600-perm cfg file> http://192.168.0.143:3000/api/v1/<path>
```

## `git credential-store --file … fill` answers EMPTY — do not debug it

Tried 2026-10-21 while opening `dank/command-center` PR #61: the obvious extraction

```bash
printf 'protocol=http\nhost=192.168.0.143\nport=3000\n\n' | git credential-store --file ~/.config/secrets/gitea fill
```

prints **nothing**, with no error. It is not a permissions problem and not a wrong path: the stored line encodes the port inside the host field (`@192.168.0.143%3a3000`), so a `host=`+`port=` query can never match it. Add `path=` or drop `port=` and it still answers empty. Read the file with `sed` (recipe above) and move on — the chain `TOKEN=$(…) && [ -n "$TOKEN" ] && …` fails silently at the test, which reads like a curl failure if the `&&` hides it.

## The silent-empty-token trap (bit 2026-10-21, cost a debug detour)

An `awk -F= '/^username=/{...}'` parse of this file yields `tok=""` **silently** — and reads still appear to work when the repo is **public**: `dank/serverAppConfigs` and `dank/command-center` return real issue/label data unauthenticated, so every census "passes" until the first **write** (issue comment, label, PR create/merge) fails with `{"message":"token is always required"}`-style errors or 404s (private repos 404 on an empty token — that is an auth problem, NOT a missing repo).

- `echo "tok len ${#tok}"` (must be 40) before believing ANY API result — reads included.
- `curl -s -K <600-perm file>` carrying `header = "Authorization: token $tok"` — never `-H` on argv (`/proc/<pid>/cmdline` is world-readable; this leaked an HF token once).
- Prove auth once per session: `GET /api/v1/user` → `"login":"dank"`.
- The temp `-K` config holds a live token: `rm -f` it in the same session that made the calls, and never `cat` it.

## Other notes

- `git credential fill` fails headless here (`could not read Username … terminal prompts disabled`); read the store file directly instead.
- Never print the token: mask when inspecting the file —
  `sed -E 's#(://[^:]+:)[^@]+@#\1REDACTED@#' ~/.config/secrets/gitea`
- Issue/PR numbers are **per repo**: `dank/dankvoice` #8–#11 (refactor, hardening, AbortError fix, menu defects) are unrelated to `dank/command-center` #8–#11 (SDLC, trunk-law). Read the body from the repo the work targets before referencing an issue in a commit message.