...but not to download. You can clone a repo and download release artifacts without a PAT. That's only necessary for interacting with the API for actions that need authentication, which would be anything involving mutating a repository.
GitHub access tokens are a bit of a nightmare since you can't limit the permissions for a token. Only workaround I've found is to create another GitHub user for an access token and restrict that user's access.
Not an SSH key, but you do need an access token:
> You need an access token to publish, install, and delete packages in GitHub Packages.
https://docs.github.com/en/packages/using-github-packages-wi...
...but not to download. You can clone a repo and download release artifacts without a PAT. That's only necessary for interacting with the API for actions that need authentication, which would be anything involving mutating a repository.
Yes, you need one to download. Note that you'll get an auth prompt for this Registry API URL:
https://docker.pkg.github.com/v2/test/test/test/tags/list
> "code": "UNAUTHORIZED", "message": "GitHub Docker Registry needs login"
Using the GitHub Docker Registry requires auth, even just for downloads.
https://docs.github.com/en/packages/using-github-packages-wi...
GitHub Packages is different from GitHub Releases (and their artifacts) or cloning repos.
> You need an access token to publish, install, and delete packages in GitHub Packages.
Yes, you do.
GitHub access tokens are a bit of a nightmare since you can't limit the permissions for a token. Only workaround I've found is to create another GitHub user for an access token and restrict that user's access.