> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://icij.gitbook.io/datashare/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://icij.gitbook.io/datashare/server-mode/manage-users-from-the-cli.md).

# Manage users from the CLI

The `datashare user` subcommands let you provision and remove users directly from the command line, without writing SQL or Redis commands by hand:

| Subcommand    | Description                                      |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| `user create` | Create a Datashare user                          |
| `user delete` | Delete a Datashare user and all their owned data |

Run these commands with the same data-store settings as your server (`--dataSourceUrl`, and `--redisAddress` if your deployment uses Redis) so they operate on the same user inventory.

## Create a user

```bash
datashare user create alice --email alice@example.org
```

The login can be passed as a positional argument (as above) or with `--login`. Useful options:

| Option            | Description                                       |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| `--email`         | RFC 5322 email address                            |
| `--name`          | Display name (default: login)                     |
| `--password`      | Password, for the `local` provider                |
| `--provider`      | `local`, `oauth` or `external` (default: `local`) |
| `--groups`        | Comma-separated project names the user can access |
| `--if-not-exists` | Idempotent: exit 0 if the user already exists     |
| `--json`          | Emit a JSON result on stdout                      |
| `--no-input`      | Disable interactive prompts                       |

For example, to create a local user with a password and access to two projects:

```bash
datashare user create alice \
    --email alice@example.org \
    --password "$PW" \
    --groups project1,project2
```

Or to provision a user authenticated by an external identity provider (see [OAuth2](/datashare/server-mode/user-management/oauth2.md)):

```bash
datashare user create alice --email alice@example.org --provider oauth --no-input
```

{% hint style="info" %}
Prefer passing the password through an environment variable (as in the example above) rather than typing it literally, so it doesn't end up in your shell history.
{% endhint %}

With Docker Compose, prefix the command with the web container's entrypoint:

```bash
docker compose exec datashare_web /entrypoint.sh \
  user create alice \
  --email alice@example.org \
  --dataSourceUrl 'jdbc:postgresql://postgres/datashare?user=<username>&password=<password>'
```

## Delete a user

```bash
datashare user delete alice --yes
```

{% hint style="danger" %}
Deleting a user removes the user **and all their owned data**. This cannot be undone.
{% endhint %}

| Option        | Description                                  |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| `--yes`, `-y` | Skip the confirmation prompt                 |
| `--if-exists` | Idempotent: exit 0 if the user doesn't exist |
| `--json`      | Emit a JSON result on stdout                 |
| `--no-input`  | Disable interactive prompts (forces `--yes`) |

## Scripting

All `user` subcommands are script-friendly: combine `--json` (machine-readable output), `--no-input` (no prompts) and the idempotency flags (`--if-not-exists` / `--if-exists`) to write provisioning scripts that can safely be re-run:

```bash
datashare user create alice --email alice@example.org --if-not-exists --no-input --json
```

## Related pages

* [User management](/datashare/server-mode/user-management.md) for choosing an authentication method and the user record format.
* [Manage projects from the CLI](/datashare/server-mode/manage-projects-from-the-cli.md) for granting users a role on a project.


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