HTTPS Tokens for VMs

The HTTPS API page shows how to authenticate to the exe.dev API. For programmatic access to VMs, we support something very similar.

Our HTTPS auth proxy gates access to websites on your VMs, but it assumes a browser and cookies. For API servers or git push over HTTPS, you can generate bearer tokens that the proxy will respect.

Using ssh-key generate-api-key --vm:

ssh exe.dev ssh-key generate-api-key --vm=my-vm --label=deploy

You can also create VM tokens locally by signing with a different namespace.

How it works

VM tokens work just like API tokens, with two differences:

1. Namespace: The signing namespace is v0@VMNAME.exe.xyz (instead of v0@exe.dev), scoping the token to a specific VM. When using ssh-key generate-api-key --vm, this is handled for you.

2. Ctx header: When a request is authenticated via token, the ctx field from the payload is passed verbatim to your VM's HTTP server in the X-ExeDev-Token-Ctx header. The contents are signed, so your server can use them for its own authorization rules.

Authentication methods

Tokens can be provided in three ways:

• Bearer token in X-Exedev-Authorization (preferred): Add an X-Exedev-Authorization: Bearer <token> HTTP header. The proxy consumes and strips this header before forwarding to your VM.
• Bearer token in Authorization (deprecated): Add an Authorization: Bearer <token> HTTP header. Prefer X-Exedev-Authorization for new integrations.
• Basic auth: Username is ignored; password is the token. This works with tools like git that use basic auth for HTTPS. (VM proxy only, not /exec.)

What your server receives

When a request is authenticated via token, your server receives these headers:

• X-ExeDev-UserID: Your exe.dev user ID
• X-ExeDev-Email: Your email address
• X-ExeDev-Token-Ctx: The ctx field from the token, passed verbatim (if present)

Using with git

For git HTTPS access, save the token to a file and configure git to supply it as the password via basic auth.

echo "$TOKEN" > ~/.ssh/exe_dev_token

git config credential.helper '!f() { echo "password=$(cat ~/.ssh/exe_dev_token)"; }; f'

git clone https://myvm.exe.xyz/repo.git