diff --git a/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/security/ApiKeyTokenHandler.java b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/security/ApiKeyTokenHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33ea38a593
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/security/ApiKeyTokenHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+/*
+ * MIT License
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2020-present Cloudogu GmbH and Contributors
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+ * copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+ * SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+package sonia.scm.security;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import io.jsonwebtoken.io.Decoder;
+import io.jsonwebtoken.io.Decoders;
+import io.jsonwebtoken.io.DecodingException;
+import io.jsonwebtoken.io.Encoder;
+import io.jsonwebtoken.io.Encoders;
+import lombok.AllArgsConstructor;
+import lombok.Getter;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import static java.util.Optional.empty;
+import static java.util.Optional.of;
+
+class ApiKeyTokenHandler {
+
+  private static final Encoder<byte[], String> encoder = Encoders.BASE64URL;
+  private static final Decoder<String, byte[]> decoder = Decoders.BASE64URL;
+  private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ApiKeyTokenHandler.class);
+  private static final ObjectMapper OBJECT_MAPPER = new ObjectMapper();
+
+  String createToken(String user, ApiKey apiKey, String passphrase) {
+    final Token token = new Token(apiKey.getId(), user, passphrase);
+    try {
+      return encoder.encode(OBJECT_MAPPER.writeValueAsBytes(token));
+    } catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
+      LOG.error("could not serialize token");
+      throw new TokenSerializationException(e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  Optional<Token> readToken(String asString) {
+    try {
+      return of(OBJECT_MAPPER.readValue(decoder.decode(asString), Token.class));
+    } catch (IOException | DecodingException e) {
+      LOG.warn("error reading api token", e);
+      return empty();
+    }
+  }
+
+  @AllArgsConstructor
+  @Getter
+  public static class Token {
+    private final String apiKeyId;
+    private final String user;
+    private final String passphrase;
+  }
+
+  private static class TokenSerializationException extends RuntimeException {
+    public TokenSerializationException(Throwable cause) {
+      super(cause);
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/scm-webapp/src/test/java/sonia/scm/security/ApiKeyTokenHandlerTest.java b/scm-webapp/src/test/java/sonia/scm/security/ApiKeyTokenHandlerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9b45323627
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scm-webapp/src/test/java/sonia/scm/security/ApiKeyTokenHandlerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+ * MIT License
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2020-present Cloudogu GmbH and Contributors
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+ * copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+ * SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+package sonia.scm.security;
+
+import io.jsonwebtoken.io.Encoders;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+class ApiKeyTokenHandlerTest {
+
+  ApiKeyTokenHandler handler = new ApiKeyTokenHandler();
+
+  @Test
+  void shouldSerializeAndDeserializeToken() {
+    final String tokenString = handler.createToken("dent", new ApiKey("42", "hg2g", "READ"), "some secret");
+
+    System.out.println(tokenString);
+
+    final Optional<ApiKeyTokenHandler.Token> token = handler.readToken(tokenString);
+
+    assertThat(token).isNotEmpty();
+    assertThat(token).get().extracting("user").isEqualTo("dent");
+    assertThat(token).get().extracting("apiKeyId").isEqualTo("42");
+    assertThat(token).get().extracting("passphrase").isEqualTo("some secret");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void shouldNotFailWithInvalidTokenEncoding() {
+    final Optional<ApiKeyTokenHandler.Token> token = handler.readToken("invalid token");
+
+    assertThat(token).isEmpty();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void shouldNotFailWithInvalidTokenContent() {
+    final Optional<ApiKeyTokenHandler.Token> token = handler.readToken(Encoders.BASE64URL.encode("{\"invalid\":\"token\"}".getBytes()));
+
+    assertThat(token).isEmpty();
+  }
+}