How to fix LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication required in Git

GitINTERMEDIATEMEDIUMUpdated Dec 6, 2025· 268 views

This error occurs when Git LFS cannot authenticate with the LFS server to download or upload large files. Common causes include missing or expired credentials, incorrect credential helper configuration, or repository permission issues. Fix by configuring credential caching or using SSH authentication.

Quick fix

Fixes LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication required

# Check Git LFS version and configuration
git lfs env

# Check Git configuration
git config -l | grep -E "(credential|lfs)"

# View the last error from Git LFS
git lfs logs last

Check your Git LFS environment and configuration
Configure a credential helper
Create and use a personal access token (PAT)
Switch to SSH authentication

git — error

$# Check Git LFS version and configuration
git lfs env
# Check Git configuration
git config -l | grep -E "(credential|lfs)"
# View the last error from Git LFS
git lfs logs last
LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication required

What this error means

Git Large File Storage (LFS) uses a separate HTTP API to upload and download large files tracked by LFS. When you clone, pull, or push a repository containing LFS-tracked files, Git LFS must authenticate with the LFS server (such as GitHub's lfs.github.com) to access these objects. The "Authentication required" error indicates that Git LFS failed to authenticate when trying to access LFS objects. Unlike regular Git operations which may use cached credentials or SSH keys seamlessly, Git LFS has its own authentication flow that sometimes requires additional configuration. This error commonly appears when: - **Cloning a repository** with LFS files for the first time - **Pulling changes** that include new or modified LFS objects - **Pushing commits** that add or update LFS-tracked files - **Running in CI/CD pipelines** where credentials are not properly configured - **Using HTTPS** without a credential helper set up Git LFS uses HTTP Basic Authentication for its API requests, which is why HTTPS configuration and credential management are critical. The error can also occur if you have repository read access but the LFS storage has different permission requirements.

Typical symptoms

Git clone, pull, or push fails with 'LFS: Client error... Authentication required'
LFS file downloads fail while regular Git operations succeed
Prompted repeatedly for username and password during LFS operations
CI/CD pipelines fail when checking out repositories with LFS files
Error message mentions lfs.github.com, lfs.gitlab.com, or similar LFS endpoints

Common causes

Git credentials not cached or credential helper not configured (most common)
Personal access token (PAT) not set up or lacks required scopes for LFS
HTTPS authentication deprecated - GitHub no longer accepts passwords for Git operations
Repository permission issues - user lacks access to LFS storage
Expired or revoked personal access token
Incorrect lfs.url configuration in repository
Proxy or firewall blocking LFS authentication requests
Git LFS version incompatibility with the LFS server API

How to fix "LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication required"

1Check your Git LFS environment and configuration

First, diagnose the issue by examining your Git LFS configuration:

bash

# Check Git LFS version and configuration
git lfs env

# Check Git configuration
git config -l | grep -E "(credential|lfs)"

# View the last error from Git LFS
git lfs logs last

Look for:
- The Endpoint URL Git LFS is trying to reach
- Whether a credential helper is configured
- Any SSH or HTTPS-related settings

If you see no credential helper configured, that's likely the issue.

2Configure a credential helper

Set up credential caching so Git LFS can reuse your authentication:

On macOS (using Keychain):

bash

git config --global credential.helper osxkeychain

On Windows (using Git Credential Manager):

bash

git config --global credential.helper manager-core
# Or for older versions:
git config --global credential.helper wincred

On Linux (using cache with timeout):

bash

# Cache credentials in memory for 1 hour (3600 seconds)
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=3600'

On Linux (persistent storage with libsecret):

bash

# Install libsecret (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt-get install libsecret-1-0 libsecret-1-dev
cd /usr/share/doc/git/contrib/credential/libsecret
sudo make
git config --global credential.helper /usr/share/doc/git/contrib/credential/libsecret/git-credential-libsecret

After configuring, try your Git LFS operation again - you'll be prompted once for credentials which will then be cached.

3Create and use a personal access token (PAT)

GitHub (and most Git hosts) require personal access tokens instead of passwords for HTTPS Git operations.

Create a GitHub PAT:

1. Go to GitHub.com -> Settings -> Developer settings -> Personal access tokens -> Tokens (classic)
2. Click "Generate new token (classic)"
3. Give it a descriptive name like "Git LFS access"
4. Select scopes: repo (full control of private repositories) - this includes LFS access
5. Click "Generate token"
6. Copy the token immediately - you won't see it again!

Use the PAT:

When prompted for credentials during Git LFS operations:
- Username: Your GitHub username
- Password: Your personal access token (NOT your GitHub password)

Store the PAT in your credential helper:

bash

# This will prompt for credentials and store them
git config --global credential.helper store
git lfs pull
# Enter username and PAT when prompted

Note: credential.helper store saves credentials in plaintext. For better security, use a credential manager (see previous step).

4Switch to SSH authentication

SSH authentication often works more reliably with Git LFS and doesn't require credential caching.

Check if you have an SSH key:

bash

ls -la ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# or
ls -la ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Generate a new SSH key if needed:

bash

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

Add your SSH key to GitHub:

1. Copy your public key: cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
2. Go to GitHub -> Settings -> SSH and GPG keys -> New SSH key
3. Paste the key and save

Change your remote to use SSH:

bash

# Check current remote
git remote -v

# Change from HTTPS to SSH
git remote set-url origin git@github.com:username/repository.git

Test SSH connection:

bash

ssh -T git@github.com

Now try your Git LFS operation again.

5Fix incorrect LFS URL configuration

Sometimes the LFS URL gets misconfigured. Check and reset it:

bash

# Check current LFS configuration
git config -l | grep lfs

# Check if lfs.url is set (it usually shouldn't be)
git config lfs.url

If lfs.url is incorrectly set, remove it:

bash

# Remove local lfs.url setting
git config --unset lfs.url

# Remove global lfs.url setting if present
git config --global --unset lfs.url

Git LFS should auto-discover the correct URL from your Git remote. The URL should be derived as <remote-url>/info/lfs, not set manually to something like lfs.github.com.

Verify the fix:

bash

git lfs env
# Should show correct endpoint derived from your remote

6Verify repository permissions

Ensure you have the correct permissions for both the repository and its LFS storage:

Check your access level:

bash

# For GitHub, check if you can access the repository
gh repo view owner/repo

Common permission scenarios:

1. Public repository, LFS files: You should be able to pull without authentication, but pushing requires write access
2. Private repository: You need at least read access; pushing requires write access
3. Forked repository: You may need to configure LFS for your fork separately

For GitHub:
- Go to the repository Settings -> Collaborators to verify your access level
- For organizations, check if you're a member with appropriate permissions

For GitLab:
- Check project members and your role
- Ensure Git LFS is enabled in repository settings

If you're a collaborator but still get errors:

bash

# Clear any cached bad credentials
git credential reject
# Then enter:
protocol=https
host=github.com
# Press Ctrl+D

# Try again
git lfs pull

7Debug authentication issues

Enable verbose logging to identify exactly where authentication fails:

bash

# Enable Git tracing
GIT_TRACE=1 GIT_CURL_VERBOSE=1 git lfs pull

# Or for more LFS-specific debugging
GIT_TRACE=1 git lfs pull 2>&1 | grep -i auth

Check the LFS logs:

bash

git lfs logs last

Common issues revealed by debugging:

1. 401 Unauthorized: Credentials not sent or invalid
2. 403 Forbidden: Valid credentials but insufficient permissions
3. 407 Proxy Authentication Required: Corporate proxy needs authentication

For proxy issues:

bash

# Configure proxy for Git
git config --global http.proxy http://proxy.example.com:8080
git config --global https.proxy https://proxy.example.com:8080

# For authenticated proxy
git config --global http.proxy http://username:password@proxy.example.com:8080

8Update Git LFS to the latest version

Older versions of Git LFS may have authentication bugs or incompatibilities:

Check current version:

bash

git lfs version

Update on macOS (Homebrew):

bash

brew upgrade git-lfs
git lfs install

Update on Ubuntu/Debian:

bash

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt-get install git-lfs
git lfs install

Update on Windows:

bash

# Using winget
winget upgrade GitHub.GitLFS

# Or using Chocolatey
choco upgrade git-lfs

Verify the update:

bash

git lfs version
git lfs env

Known version-specific issues:
- Git LFS 3.x removed NTLM authentication support (affects Azure DevOps users)
- Some older versions don't properly negotiate with newer LFS servers

Advanced notes

### How Git LFS Authentication Works

Git LFS uses a separate authentication flow from regular Git:

1. Git LFS makes an HTTP request to the LFS server's batch API
2. The server returns pre-signed URLs or requires authentication
3. Git LFS uses Git's credential helpers to obtain credentials
4. Credentials are sent via HTTP Basic Authentication

This is why SSH keys that work for Git don't automatically work for LFS - Git LFS still uses HTTPS for its API even when Git uses SSH.

### Using git-lfs-authenticate for SSH

When using SSH remotes, Git LFS calls a special command git-lfs-authenticate on the server. GitHub and GitLab implement this automatically. For self-hosted servers, you may need to set this up manually.

bash

# Test if git-lfs-authenticate works
ssh git@github.com git-lfs-authenticate owner/repo download

### Credential Helpers and LFS

Git LFS respects the same credential helper configuration as Git. The helpers are tried in order:

1. Environment variables (GIT_ASKPASS, SSH_ASKPASS)
2. credential.helper configuration
3. Interactive prompt

You can configure different helpers for different hosts:

bash

git config --global credential.https://github.com.helper osxkeychain
git config --global credential.https://gitlab.com.helper store

### LFS Access Configuration

For fine-grained control, you can set the access type per LFS endpoint:

bash

# Force basic authentication for a specific endpoint
git config lfs.https://lfs.github.com/.access basic

# Or for all LFS endpoints
git config lfs.access basic

### CI/CD Pipeline Configuration

For GitHub Actions:

yaml

- uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    lfs: true
    # Uses GITHUB_TOKEN automatically

For GitLab CI:

yaml

variables:
  GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE: 1  # Optional: skip LFS during clone

before_script:
  - git lfs pull

For custom CI with PAT:

bash

# Set credentials via environment
git config --global credential.helper store
echo "https://${GIT_USER}:${GIT_TOKEN}@github.com" > ~/.git-credentials

### Partial LFS Clone

If you only need some LFS files, you can be selective:

bash

# Clone without downloading LFS files
GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 git clone repo-url

# Then fetch only needed files
git lfs pull --include="path/to/needed/files/*"

### Multiple Accounts on Same Host

If you have multiple GitHub accounts, configure credentials per-repository:

bash

# Use different credentials for different repos
git config --local credential.helper store
git config --local credential.useHttpPath true

This ensures each repository path uses its own set of credentials.

Frequently asked questions

What does "LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication requi" mean?: Git Large File Storage (LFS) uses a separate HTTP API to upload and download large files tracked by LFS. com) to access these objects. The "Authentication required" error indicates that Git LFS failed to authenticate when trying to access LFS objects.
How do I fix "LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication requi"?: This error occurs when Git LFS cannot authenticate with the LFS server to download or upload large files. Common causes include missing or expired credentials, incorrect credential helper configuration, or repository permission issues. Fix by configuring credential caching or using SSH authentication.
What causes "LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication requi"?: Git credentials not cached or credential helper not configured (most common) Personal access token (PAT) not set up or lacks required scopes for LFS HTTPS authentication deprecated - GitHub no longer accepts passwords for Git operations
Is the "LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication requi" error serious?: It is a medium-severity error — more of a blocker than a risk. The steps above resolve it.

Official resources & further reading

📚Git Official Documentation
📖
Git LFS Authentication API Documentation(Official Docs)
📖
Troubleshooting Git LFS - GitLab Docs(Official Docs)
📖
git-credential-cache Documentation(Official Docs)
📖
Managing Personal Access Tokens - GitHub Docs(Official Docs)
🐙
Authentication error since version 3 - git-lfs GitHub(GitHub)
🐙
Authentication required: You must have push access - git-lfs GitHub(GitHub)
🐙
git-lfs failing to authenticate during push - git-lfs GitHub(GitHub)
💬
How to fix GitLFS Authorization error via SSH - Stack Overflow(Stack Overflow)
💬
Does Git LFS use different authentication logic to Git client - Stack Overflow(Stack Overflow)
💬
Bitbucket git LFS authentication error - Stack Overflow(Stack Overflow)

How to fix LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication required in Git

Quick fix

What this error means

Typical symptoms

Common causes

How to fix "LFS: Client error: https://lfs.github.com/objects Authentication required"

Advanced notes

Frequently asked questions

Related errors

Official resources & further reading