When the GitHub plugin says Needs auth but has no sign-in link

On Grok Bot desktop, the official GitHub marketplace plugin can stay on Needs auth. Clicking Authenticate may toast “Github didn’t provide a sign-in link” (or later “Couldn’t start sign-in… fetch failed”) with no browser window. Staff (mohitjain, Sep 8, 2026) said this is often a labeling issue: the plugin authenticates with the personal access token you enter under Setup Values (Edit Values). Authenticate looks for a browser OAuth URL that this plugin never issues, so the badge stays noisy while tools already work. Thread: forum 170898.

Confirm the connector already works

1. Open Settings → Plugins → GitHub.
2. Under Setup Values / Edit Values, confirm a PAT is saved for the account row (often labeled default).
3. In any Bot, ask: Using the GitHub connector, which GitHub user am I signed in as?
4. If it returns your username and GitHub tools respond, ignore the Needs auth badge for now. Staff are tracking the label.

You do not need a second custom “github-local” PAT MCP while the marketplace tools are loading with your token.

If tools actually fail

1. Re-open Edit Values, paste a fresh classic or fine-scoped PAT with the scopes the plugin asks for, save, and retry the “which user am I” check.
2. Uninstall → reinstall the marketplace GitHub plugin only after the PAT path fails — OP saw the toast text change to fetch failed after that cycle; treat that as a separate network/sign-in path staff still want reports on.
3. For Cursor IDE’s GitHub auth screen, staff asked for a separate screenshot; that path is not the same as Bot Setup Values.
4. Consumer grok.com GitHub OAuth is a different product surface: Connect GitHub so Grok can search repos, issues, and PRs.

Pitfalls

• Chasing a browser OAuth window that this plugin never opens when a PAT is the real credential.
• Rotating the PAT in chat instead of Setup Values.
• Distinct from MCP needsAuth after AuthenticateMcpServer on other remotes, and from stdio secrets tied to a deleted agent.