diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aa17f6b..eed49e8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ jobs:
 | `gds-token`     | `''`     | Download token for the GraalVM Download Service. If a non-empty token is provided, the action will set up GraalVM Enterprise Edition (see [GraalVM EE template](#basic-graalvm-enterprise-edition-template)). |
 | `java-version`<br>*(required)* | n/a | `'17'` or `'19'` for a specific Java version, `'dev'` for the highest Java version available (requires `version: 'dev'`).<br>(`'8'`, `'11'`, `'16'` are supported for older GraalVM releases.) |
 | `components`    | `''`     | Comma-spearated list of GraalVM components (e.g., `native-image` or `ruby,nodejs`) that will be installed by the [GraalVM Updater][gu]. |
-| `github-token`  | `''`     | Token for communication with the GitHub API. Please set to `${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}` (see [templates](#templates)) to allow the action to authenticate with the GitHub API, which helps to reduce rate limiting issues. |
+| `github-token`  | `'${{ github.token }}'`     | Token for communication with the GitHub API. Please set to `${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}` (see [templates](#templates)) to allow the action to authenticate with the GitHub API, which helps to reduce rate limiting issues. |
 | `set-java-home` | `'true'` | If set to `'true'`, instructs the action to set `$JAVA_HOME` to the path of the GraalVM installation. Overrides any previous action or command that sets `$JAVA_HOME`. |
 | `cache`         | `''`     | Name of the build platform to cache dependencies. It can be `'maven'`, `'gradle'`, or `'sbt'` and works the same way as described in [actions/setup-java][setup-java-caching]. |
 | `check-for-updates` | `'true'`  | [Annotate jobs][gha-annotations] with update notifications, for example, when a new GraalVM release is available. |
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 174ec56..be98603 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ inputs:
     default: ''
   github-token:
     required: false
-    description: 'Set it to secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN to increase rate limits when accessing the GitHub API.'
-    default: ''
+    description: 'Set it to secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN to increase rate limits when accessing the GitHub API. Defaults to github.token.'
+    default: ${{ github.token }}
   set-java-home:
     required: false
     description: 'Set $JAVA_HOME to the GraalVM installation. Default: true.'