Git access tokens are important for Dataform projects linked to remote git providers, such as GitHub. They provide authentication for accessing and controlling the git project.
User access tokens are used to authenticate git access of Dataform projects during project manipulation.
Without a valid access token, users will be unable to do things such as create branches.
They must be configured to have both read and write access to your remote repository.
They can be added or removed on the user settings page.
Scheduler access tokens are used to authenticate git access of Dataform projects when running automated schedules.
Without a valid access token, the scheduler will not be able to read the contents of the project and perform the run.
They must have read access to your remote repository.
They can be updated on the project settings page, within the app.
For projects with only a few collaborators (e.g. 3), it's ok to use a user's personal access token to authenticate the scheduler, but for larger teams a machine user is recommended. If you have a DevOps team, ask them about whether a machine user already exists.
Machine users are generally regular user accounts, but used purely to run automated (or triggered) tasks.
If a user's personal access token is used and they leave the organization or their permission is revoked, then the scheduler will fail.
Because of this, we recommend to have a global machine user on organization level, to make sure there is no disruption during scheduling.
Check this for further info on creating machine users.
Before creating a machine user on GitHub, please read their TOCs.
How to create a git access token differs between remote git providers.
Creating a GitHub access token.
For providers other than GitHub (e.g. GitLab), the access token name must be dataform , and it must have the api permission.