Create users

User accounts form the foundation of GitLab collaboration. Every person who needs access to your GitLab projects requires an account. User accounts control access permissions, track contributions, and maintain security across your instance.

You can create user accounts in GitLab in different ways:

• Self-registration for teams who value autonomy
• Admin-driven creation for controlled onboarding
• Authentication integration for enterprise environments
• Console access for automation and bulk operations

You can also use the users API endpoint to automatically create users.

Choose the right method based on your organization’s size, security requirements, and workflows.

Create users on sign-in page

By default, any user visiting your GitLab instance can register for an account. If you have previously disabled this setting, you must turn it back on.

Users can create their own accounts by either:

• Selecting the Register now link on the sign-in page.
• Navigating to your GitLab instance’s sign-up link (for example: https://gitlab.example.com/users/sign_up).

Create users in Admin area

Prerequisites:

• You must have administrator access to the instance.

To create a user manually:

1. On the left sidebar, at the bottom, select Admin.
2. Select Overview > Users.
3. Select New user.
4. Complete the required fields, such as name, username, and email.
5. Select Create user.

A reset link is sent to the user’s email, and they are required to set their password when they first sign in.

Set user password

To set a user’s password without relying on the email confirmation, after you create a user:

1. Select the user.
2. Select Edit.
3. Complete the password and password confirmation fields.
4. Select Save changes.

The user can now sign in with the new username and password, and they are required to change the password you set up for them.

Create users through authentication integrations

GitLab can automatically create user accounts through authentication integrations. Users are created when they:

• Sign in for the first time with:
  • LDAP
  • Group SAML
  • An OmniAuth provider that has the setting allow_single_sign_on turned on
• Are provisioned through SCIM in the identity provider.

Create users through the Rails console

To create a user through the Rails console:

1. Start a Rails console session.
2. Run the command according to your GitLab version:

u = User.new(username: 'test_user', email: 'test@example.com', name: 'Test User', password: 'password', password_confirmation: 'password')
# u.assign_personal_namespace
u.skip_confirmation! # Use only if you want the user to be automatically confirmed. If you do not use this, the user receives a confirmation email.
u.save!

u = User.new(username: 'test_user', email: 'test@example.com', name: 'Test User', password: 'password', password_confirmation: 'password')
u.assign_personal_namespace(Organizations::Organization.default_organization)
u.skip_confirmation! # Use only if you want the user to be automatically confirmed. If you do not use this, the user receives a confirmation email.
u.save!

u = Users::CreateService.new(nil,
  username: 'test_user',
  email: 'test@example.com',
  name: 'Test User',
  password: '123password',
  password_confirmation: '123password',
  organization_id: Organizations::Organization.first.id,
  skip_confirmation: true
).execute