How to resolve GitHub API Rate Limit with Composer

This article addresses the "Create a GitHub OAuth token to go over the API rate limit" error frequently encountered by PHP developers when using Composer to install project dependencies. The error arises due to GitHub API rate limitations, which restrict the number of anonymous requests. We present the causes of the problem, detailed solutions based on the official GitHub documentation and relevant discussions on Stack Overflow, and best practices to avoid the error in the future.

When using Laradock, by accessing the container Workspace I have sometimes received the following error when trying to execute PHP composer:

COMPOSER_AUTH" does not match the expected JSON schema, this may result in errors and should be resolved:  
   - Boolean value found, but an object is required  

According to...