diff --git a/tools/github_login.py b/tools/github_login.py
index 3e0d61ae..a811226c 100644
--- a/tools/github_login.py
+++ b/tools/github_login.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import argparse
 import os
 import sys
+import subprocess
 from getpass import getpass
 import github3
 from .config import read_config, write_config
@@ -20,6 +21,14 @@ def login():
     else:
         config = read_config()
         token = config.get("GitHub", "token")
+        if not token:
+            try:
+                # attempt to get token from gh
+                token = subprocess.check_output(
+                    ["gh", "auth", "token"], text=True
+                ).strip()
+            except subprocess.SubprocessError:
+                pass
     if not token:
         raise GitHubLoginError(
             "No token has been generated for this script. "