diff --git a/__tests__/authutil.test.ts b/__tests__/authutil.test.ts
index a57a317..1ec4e1e 100644
--- a/__tests__/authutil.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/authutil.test.ts
@@ -123,4 +123,13 @@ describe('authutil tests', () => {
     expect(rc['registry']).toBe('https://registry.npmjs.org/');
     expect(rc['always-auth']).toBe('true');
   });
+  it('It is already set the NODE_AUTH_TOKEN export it ', async () => {
+    process.env.NODE_AUTH_TOKEN = 'foobar';
+    await auth.configAuthentication('npm.pkg.github.com', 'false');
+    expect(fs.statSync(rcFile)).toBeDefined();
+    let rc = readRcFile(rcFile);
+    expect(rc['@ownername:registry']).toBe('npm.pkg.github.com/');
+    expect(rc['always-auth']).toBe('false');
+    expect(process.env.NODE_AUTH_TOKEN).toEqual('foobar');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/dist/index.js b/dist/index.js
index c959e0a..0276299 100644
--- a/dist/index.js
+++ b/dist/index.js
@@ -4803,8 +4803,8 @@ function writeRegistryToFile(registryUrl, fileLocation, alwaysAuth) {
     newContents += `${authString}${os.EOL}${registryString}${os.EOL}${alwaysAuthString}`;
     fs.writeFileSync(fileLocation, newContents);
     core.exportVariable('NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG', fileLocation);
-    // Export empty node_auth_token so npm doesn't complain about not being able to find it
-    core.exportVariable('NODE_AUTH_TOKEN', 'XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX');
+    // Export empty node_auth_token if didn't exist so npm doesn't complain about not being able to find it
+    core.exportVariable('NODE_AUTH_TOKEN', process.env.NODE_AUTH_TOKEN || 'XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX');
 }
 //# sourceMappingURL=authutil.js.map
 
diff --git a/src/authutil.ts b/src/authutil.ts
index 07e0b24..aaebdfd 100644
--- a/src/authutil.ts
+++ b/src/authutil.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ function writeRegistryToFile(
   newContents += `${authString}${os.EOL}${registryString}${os.EOL}${alwaysAuthString}`;
   fs.writeFileSync(fileLocation, newContents);
   core.exportVariable('NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG', fileLocation);
-  // Export empty node_auth_token so npm doesn't complain about not being able to find it
-  core.exportVariable('NODE_AUTH_TOKEN', 'XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX');
+  // Export empty node_auth_token if didn't exist so npm doesn't complain about not being able to find it
+  core.exportVariable(
+    'NODE_AUTH_TOKEN',
+    process.env.NODE_AUTH_TOKEN || 'XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX'
+  );
 }