Personal access tokens (PATs) authenticate most of the automation that runs in GitLab. When a token is issued with a broad scope like api or read_api , it extends permissions across many projects and groups. Fine-grained permissions for PATs, now in beta, let you scope a token to exactly the privileges the job requires — read access to one project's code, say, instead of read access across every project the user can reach. The case for narrowing PAT privileges A maintainer on 20 projects might carry a single token that can read source, modify pipelines, pull from the container registry, and decrypt CI/CD variables across all those projects. The token is scoped to the user, not a specific task, so if it leaks, it exposes every project the user can touch. Fine-grained PATs let teams ensure that scope follows the task: A read-only token issued for one project is read-only on that project alone. When exposed, investigation and remediation start and end there.…