Wikipedia:WPCleaner/BotPasswords

WPCleaner is using the action=login method to authenticate the user on Wikipedia. This method of authentication has a few drawbacks, when using your account regular password

• It doesn't work when you have activated the two factor authentication option on your account
• It's also deprecated by MediaWiki API and may stop working at any moment without any further notice

The recommended way to proceed is to use a dedicated password for WPCleaner. This allows giving restricted rights to WPCleaner (just the minimum needed).

To create a dedicated password for WPCleaner:

• Go to Special:BotPasswords
• Input a name identifying this dedicated password (like WPCleaner) and click Create
• On the following page, select which rights you want to grant to WPCleaner. To function properly, it requires at least:
  • Basic rights (you can't deselect them)
  • Edit existing pages: obviously, WPCleaner need to be able to edit pages, otherwise you won't be able to save your modifications
  • Create, edit and move pages: depending on the configuration of the wiki, sometimes WPCleaner may create a talk page or a todo subpage
• Unless you know exactly what you're doing, leave the Allowed IP ranges block empty
• Leave the Allowed pages for editing empty to allow WPCleaner to edit all pages
• Click on Create
• A new password will be generated, you need to record it to be able to use it afterwards. It's available in 2 forms : User@Bot / generated password or User / Bot@generated password
• Your new bot password will be visible in Special:BotPasswords, and you can later modify it