I am in the process of setting up a CI/CD pipeline and need some guidance on configuring my script to automatically pull changes from a target branch. I would like to achieve this without the need to input a username and password. Instead, I want to use either an SSH key or an access token to authenticate and pull the changes.

Here is a brief overview of what I’m trying to accomplish:

Environment: I have a script within a CI/CD pipeline that needs to pull the latest changes from a specific branch in a GitHub repository.

Authentication: I want to avoid using a username and password for authentication. Instead, I prefer to use an SSH key or a GitHub access token to authenticate the script.

Configuration: I need guidance on how to configure the GitHub repository and the script to use the SSH key or access token for seamless authentication and pulling of changes.

Could someone provide a step-by-step guide or point me to relevant documentation on how to set this up? Specifically, I’m looking for:

• Instructions on generating and adding an SSH key to the GitHub repository.

• How to configure the CI/CD pipeline script to use the SSH key or access token for authentication.

• Any best practices or tips for securely managing the SSH key or access token within the pipeline.