Microsoft's Git Credential Manager Guide

Microsoft's Git Credential Manager Guide | Generated by AI

Home 2026.05

This is Git Credential Manager (GCM) — Microsoft’s official secure Git credential helper, version 2.8.0.

What it is:

A cross-platform (Windows/macOS/Linux) .NET application that handles Git authentication over HTTPS. When you git push or git pull and Git needs credentials, GCM intercepts that request and handles OAuth/device-code/browser-based auth flows for you.

Key facts:

Language: C# (.NET 8, solution: Git-Credential-Manager.sln)
Repository: github.com/git-credential-manager/git-credential-manager
Entry point: src/shared/Git-Credential-Manager/Program.cs
UI framework: Avalonia (cross-platform GUI for auth prompts)

Architecture:

Program.Main creates a CommandContext, registers 5 host providers (each with priority), then runs the app:

Normal priority:
  - AzureReposHostProvider   (Azure DevOps)
  - BitbucketHostProvider    (Bitbucket)
  - GitHubHostProvider       (GitHub)
  - GitLabHostProvider       (GitLab)

Low priority (fallback):
  - GenericHostProvider      (any HTTPS remote with username/password)

The HostProviderRegistry selects the right provider by querying each in priority order against the Git credential input arguments (hostname, protocol, etc.).

Project structure:

src/ shared/ Cross-platform core Core/ Core abstractions (IHostProvider, HostProviderRegistry, etc.) Git-Credential-Manager/ Main entry point + app wiring GitHub/ GitHub OAuth device-code flow GitLab/ GitLab OAuth Atlassian.Bitbucket/ Bitbucket OAuth Microsoft.AzureRepos/ Azure DevOps auth GitHub.UI.Avalonia/ GitHub-specific Avalonia UI TestInfrastructure/ Shared test mocks windows/ Windows installer (Inno Setup) linux/ Linux packaging osx/ macOS installer

It replaces the older Git Credential Manager for Windows (.NET Framework) and Git Credential Manager for Mac and Linux (Java) with a single .NET codebase.

Relevant to you: you already use a Git credential manager — this is the upstream source of that tool. If you ever need to debug auth issues with HTTPS remotes (especially through your mihomo proxy), this is the code Git calls.

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