diff --git a/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/personal_access_token.go b/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/personal_access_token.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..1d7ec02ccb080b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/personal_access_token.go
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2022 Gitpod GmbH. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+// See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+
+package auth
+
+import (
+	"crypto/rand"
+	"crypto/subtle"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"math/big"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+const PersonalAccessTokenPrefix = "gitpod_pat_"
+
+// PersonalAccessToken token is an Access Token for individuals. Any action taken with this token will act on behalf of the token creator.
+// The PersonalAccessToken, in string form, takes the following shape: gitpod_pat_<signature>.<value>
+// E.g. gitpod_pat_ko8KC1tJ-GkqIwqNliwF4tBUk2Jd5nEe9qOWqYfobtY.6ZDQVanpaTKj9hQuji0thCe8KFCcmEDGpsaTkSSb
+type PersonalAccessToken struct {
+	// prefix is the human readable prefix for the token used to identify which type of token it is,
+	// but also for code-scanning of leaked credentials.
+	// e.g. `gitpod_pat_`
+	prefix string
+
+	// value is the secret value of the token
+	value string
+
+	// signature is the generated signature of the value
+	// signature is used to validate the personal access token before using it
+	// signature is Base 64 URL Encoded, without padding
+	signature string
+}
+
+func (t *PersonalAccessToken) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s%s.%s", t.prefix, t.signature, t.value)
+}
+
+func (t *PersonalAccessToken) Value() string {
+	return t.value
+}
+
+func GeneratePersonalAccessToken(signer Signer) (PersonalAccessToken, error) {
+	if signer == nil {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, errors.New("no personal access token signer available")
+	}
+
+	value, err := generateTokenValue(40)
+	if err != nil {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to generate personal access token value: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	signature, err := signer.Sign([]byte(value))
+	if err != nil {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to sign personal access token value: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	return PersonalAccessToken{
+		prefix: PersonalAccessTokenPrefix,
+		value:  value,
+		// We use base64.RawURLEncoding because we do not want padding in the token in the form of '=' signs
+		signature: base64.RawURLEncoding.EncodeToString(signature),
+	}, nil
+}
+
+func ParsePersonalAccessToken(token string, signer Signer) (PersonalAccessToken, error) {
+	if token == "" {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, errors.New("empty personal access")
+	}
+	// Assume we start with the following token: gitpod_pat_ko8KC1tJ-GkqIwqNliwF4tBUk2Jd5nEe9qOWqYfobtY.6ZDQVanpaTKj9hQuji0thCe8KFCcmEDGpsaTkSSb
+	// First, we identify if the token contains the required prefix
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(token, PersonalAccessTokenPrefix) {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, fmt.Errorf("personal access token does not have %s prefix", PersonalAccessTokenPrefix)
+	}
+
+	// Remove the gitpod_pat_ prefix
+	token = strings.TrimPrefix(token, PersonalAccessTokenPrefix)
+
+	// We now have the token in the following form:
+	// ko8KC1tJ-GkqIwqNliwF4tBUk2Jd5nEe9qOWqYfobtY.6ZDQVanpaTKj9hQuji0thCe8KFCcmEDGpsaTkSSb
+	// Break it into <signature>.<value>
+	parts := strings.SplitN(token, ".", 2)
+	if len(parts) != 2 {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, errors.New("failed to break personal access token into signature and value")
+	}
+
+	// Sanity check the extracted values
+	signature, value := parts[0], parts[1]
+	if signature == "" {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, errors.New("personal access token has empty signature")
+	}
+	if value == "" {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, errors.New("personal access token has empty value")
+	}
+
+	// We must validate the signature before we proceed further.
+	signatureForValue, err := signer.Sign([]byte(value))
+	if err != nil {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to compute signature of personal access token value: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// The signature we receive is Base64 encoded, we also encode the signature for value we've just generated.
+	encodedSignatureForValue := base64.RawURLEncoding.EncodeToString(signatureForValue)
+
+	// Perform a cryptographically safe comparison between the signature, and the value we've just signed
+	if subtle.ConstantTimeCompare([]byte(signature), []byte(encodedSignatureForValue)) != 1 {
+		return PersonalAccessToken{}, errors.New("personal access token signature does not match token value")
+	}
+
+	return PersonalAccessToken{
+		prefix:    PersonalAccessTokenPrefix,
+		value:     value,
+		signature: signature,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+func generateTokenValue(size int) (string, error) {
+	if size <= 0 {
+		return "", errors.New("token size must be greater than 0")
+	}
+
+	// letters represent the resulting character-set of the token
+	// we use only upper/lower alphanumberic to ensure the token is
+	// * easy to select by double-clicking it
+	// * URL safe
+	const letters = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
+	ret := make([]byte, size)
+	for i := 0; i < size; i++ {
+		num, err := rand.Int(rand.Reader, big.NewInt(int64(len(letters))))
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+		ret[i] = letters[num.Int64()]
+	}
+
+	return string(ret), nil
+}
diff --git a/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/personal_access_token_test.go b/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/personal_access_token_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..177cd3f2938841
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/personal_access_token_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2022 Gitpod GmbH. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+// See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+
+package auth
+
+import (
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestGeneratePersonalAccessToken(t *testing.T) {
+	signer := NewHS256Signer([]byte("my-secret"))
+
+	pat, err := GeneratePersonalAccessToken(signer)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	signature, err := signer.Sign([]byte(pat.value))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	require.NotEmpty(t, pat.value)
+	require.Len(t, pat.value, 40)
+	require.Equal(t, PersonalAccessToken{
+		prefix:    PersonalAccessTokenPrefix,
+		value:     pat.value,
+		signature: base64.RawURLEncoding.EncodeToString(signature),
+	}, pat)
+	require.Equal(t, fmt.Sprintf("%s%s.%s", pat.prefix, pat.signature, pat.value), pat.String())
+
+	// must also be able to parse the token back
+	parsed, err := ParsePersonalAccessToken(pat.String(), signer)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, pat, parsed)
+}
+
+func TestParsePersonalAccessToken_Errors(t *testing.T) {
+	signer := NewHS256Signer([]byte("my-secret"))
+
+	scenarios := []struct {
+		Name  string
+		Token string
+	}{
+		{
+			Name:  "empty token is rejected",
+			Token: "",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "invalid prefix",
+			Token: "gitpod_yolo_fooo",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "invalid token with correct prefix",
+			Token: "gitpod_pat_foo",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "invalid token with correct prefix and empty value and signature",
+			Token: "gitpod_pat_.",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "invalid token with correct prefix but missing signature",
+			Token: "gitpod_pat_.value",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "invalid token with correct prefix but missing value",
+			Token: "gitpod_pat_signature.",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "invalid signature",
+			Token: "gitpod_pat_signature.value",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, s := range scenarios {
+		t.Run(s.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			_, err := ParsePersonalAccessToken(s.Token, signer)
+			require.Error(t, err)
+		})
+
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGenerateTokenValue_OnlyAlphaNumberic(t *testing.T) {
+	sizes := []int{10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80}
+
+	var tokens []string
+	for _, size := range sizes {
+		for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+			token, err := generateTokenValue(size)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			tokens = append(tokens, token)
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, token := range tokens {
+		rxp := regexp.MustCompile(`([a-zA-Z]|\d)+`)
+		require.Regexp(t, rxp, token, "must match alphanumeric")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGenerateTokenValue_FailsWithSizeZeroOrSmaller(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := generateTokenValue(0)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+
+	_, err = generateTokenValue(-1)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+}
diff --git a/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/signature.go b/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/signature.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3eafc10de713fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/public-api-server/pkg/auth/signature.go
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2022 Gitpod GmbH. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+// See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+
+package auth
+
+import (
+	"crypto/hmac"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+type Signer interface {
+	Sign(message []byte) ([]byte, error)
+}
+
+func NewHS256Signer(key []byte) *HS256Signer {
+	return &HS256Signer{
+		key: key,
+	}
+}
+
+type HS256Signer struct {
+	key []byte
+}
+
+// Signs message with HS256 (HMAC with SHA-256)
+func (s *HS256Signer) Sign(message []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+	h := hmac.New(sha256.New, s.key)
+	_, err := h.Write(message)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to sign secret: %w", err)
+	}
+	return h.Sum(nil), nil
+}