---
name: "gist"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "gist"
version: "6.1.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/gist"
---

# gist(1)

upload code to https://gist.github.com

## NAME

**gist** - upload code to https://gist.github.com

## Synopsis

The gist gem provides a **gist** command that you can use from your terminal to upload content to https://gist.github.com/.

## Installation

- •

  If you have ruby installed:

-

  gem install gist

- •

  If you're using Bundler:

-

  source :rubygems gem 'gist'

- •

  For OS X, gist lives in Homebrew

-

  brew install gist

- •

  For FreeBSD, gist lives in ports

-

  pkg install gist

- •

  For Ubuntu/Debian

-

  apt install gist

-

  Note: Debian renames the binary to **gist-paste** to avoid a name conflict.

## Command

- •

  To upload the contents of **a.rb** just:

-

  gist a.rb

- •

  Upload multiple files:

-

  gist a b c gist \*.rb

- •

  By default it reads from STDIN, and you can set a filename with **-f**.

-

  gist -f test.rb \<a.rb

- •

  Alternatively, you can just paste from the clipboard:

-

  gist -P

- •

  Use **-p** to make the gist private:

-

  gist -p a.rb

- •

  Use **-d** to add a description:

-

  gist -d "Random rbx bug" a.rb

- •

  You can update existing gists with **-u**:

-

  gist -u GIST\_ID FILE\_NAME gist -u 42f2c239d2eb57299408 test.txt

- •

  If you'd like to copy the resulting URL to your clipboard, use **-c**.

-

  gist -c \<a.rb

- •

  If you'd like to copy the resulting embeddable URL to your clipboard, use **-e**.

-

  gist -e \<a.rb

- •

  And you can just ask gist to open a browser window directly with **-o**.

-

  gist -o \<a.rb

- •

  To list (public gists or all gists for authed user) gists for user

-

  gist -l : all gists for authed user gist -l defunkt : list defunkt's public gists

-

  To read a gist and print it to STDOUT

-

  ```
  gist -r GIST_ID
  gist -r 374130
  ```

-

  - •

  See **gist --help** for more detail.

-

  ## Login

Before you use **gist** for the first time you will need to log in. There are two supported login flows:

- 1\.

  The Github device-code Oauth flow. This is the default for authenticating to github.com, and can be enabled for Github Enterprise by creating an Oauth app, and exporting the environment variable **GIST\_CLIENT\_ID** with the client id of the Oauth app.

- 2\.

  The (deprecated) username and password token exchange flow. This is the default for GitHub Enterprise, and can be used to log into github.com by exporting the environment variable **GIST\_USE\_USERNAME\_AND\_PASSWORD**.

-

  ### The device-code flow

This flow allows you to obtain a token by logging into GitHub in the browser and typing a verification code. This is the preferred mechanism.

-

  ```
  gist --login
  Requesting login parameters...
  Please sign in at https://github.com/login/device
    and enter code: XXXX-XXXX
  Success! https://github.com/settings/connections/applications/4f7ec0d4eab38e74384e
  ```

-

  The returned access\_token is stored in **~/.gist** and used for all future gisting. If you need to you can revoke access from https://github.com/settings/connections/applications/4f7ec0d4eab38e74384e.

### The username-password flow

This flow asks for your GitHub username and password (and 2FA code), and exchanges them for a token with the "gist" permission (your username and password are not stored). This mechanism is deprecated by GitHub, but may still work with GitHub Enterprise.

-

  ```
  gist --login
  Obtaining OAuth2 access_token from GitHub.
  GitHub username: ConradIrwin
  GitHub password:
  2-factor auth code:
  Success! https://github.com/settings/tokens
  ```

-

  This token is stored in **~/.gist** and used for all future gisting. If you need to you can revoke it from https://github.com/settings/tokens, or just delete the file.

### Password-less login

If you have a complicated authorization requirement you can manually create a token file by pasting a GitHub token with **gist** scope (and maybe the **user:email** for GitHub Enterprise) into a file called **~/.gist**. You can create one from https://github.com/settings/tokens

This file should contain only the token (~40 hex characters), and to make it easier to edit, can optionally have a final newline (**\\n** or **\\r\\n**).

For example, one way to create this file would be to run:

-

  ```
  (umask 0077 && echo MY_SECRET_TOKEN > ~/.gist)
  ```

-

  The **umask** ensures that the file is only accessible from your user account.

### GitHub Enterprise

If you'd like **gist** to use your locally installed GitHub Enterprise *https://enterprise.github.com/*, you need to export the **GITHUB\_URL** environment variable (usually done in your **~/.bashrc**).

-

  ```
  export GITHUB_URL=http://github.internal.example.com/
  ```

-

  Once you've done this and restarted your terminal (or run **source ~/.bashrc**), gist will automatically use GitHub Enterprise instead of the public github.com

Your token for GitHub Enterprise will be stored in **.gist.\<protocol\>.\<server.name\>\[.\<port\>\]** (e.g. **~/.gist.http.github.internal.example.com** for the GITHUB\_URL example above) instead of **~/.gist**.

If you have multiple servers or use Enterprise and public GitHub often, you can work around this by creating scripts that set the env var and then run **gist**. Keep in mind that to use the public GitHub you must unset the env var. Just setting it to the public URL will not work. Use **unset GITHUB\_URL**

### Token file format

If you cannot use passwords, as most Enterprise installations do, you can generate the token via the web interface and then simply save the string in the correct file. Avoid line breaks or you might see:

-

  ```
  $ gist -l
  Error: Bad credentials
  ```

-

  - You can also use Gist as a library from inside your ruby code:

  If you need more advanced features you can also pass:

- •

  **:access\_token** to authenticate using OAuth2 (default is \`File.read("~/.gist")).

- •

  **:filename** to change the syntax highlighting (default is **a.rb**).

- •

  **:public** if you want your gist to have a guessable url.

- •

  **:description** to add a description to your gist.

- •

  **:update** to update an existing gist (can be a URL or an id).

- •

  **:copy** to copy the resulting URL to the clipboard (default is false).

- •

  **:open** to open the resulting URL in a browser (default is false).

-

  NOTE: The access\_token must have the **gist** scope and may also require the **user:email** scope.

- •

  If you want to upload multiple files in the same gist, you can:

-

  Gist.multi\_gist("a.rb" =\> "Foo.bar", "a.py" =\> "Foo.bar")

- •

  If you'd rather use gist's builtin access\_token, then you can force the user to obtain one by calling:

-

  Gist.login!

- •

  This will take them through the process of obtaining an OAuth2 token, and storing it in **~/.gist**, where it can later be read by **Gist.gist**

-

  ## Configuration

- •

  If you'd like **-o** or **-c** to be the default when you use the gist executable, add an alias to your **~/.bashrc** (or equivalent). For example:

-

  alias gist='gist -c'

- •

  If you'd prefer gist to open a different browser, then you can export the BROWSER environment variable:

-

  export BROWSER=google-chrome

-

  If clipboard or browser integration don't work on your platform, please file a bug or (more ideally) a pull request.

If you need to use an HTTP proxy to access the internet, export the **HTTP\_PROXY** or **http\_proxy** environment variable and gist will use it.

## Meta-fu

Thanks to @defunkt and @indirect for writing and maintaining versions 1 through 3. Thanks to @rking and @ConradIrwin for maintaining version 4.

Licensed under the MIT license. Bug-reports, and pull requests are welcome.