#And here is my test: it "passes the token" do get :new, nil, :authorization => ActionController::HttpAuthentication::Token.encode_credentials("test_access1") assigns(:token).should be "test_access1" end #Here's my before filter: def restrict_access authenticate_or_request_with_http_token do |token, options| api_key = ApiKey.find_by_access_token(token) @user = api_key.user unless api_key.nil? @token = token #set just for the sake of testing !api_key.nil? end end