# Registering users This documentation page tells you how to create user accounts on your Matrix server. Table of contents: - [Registering users](#registering-users) - [Registering users manually](#registering-users-manually) - [Managing users via a Web UI](#managing-users-via-a-web-ui) - [Letting certain users register on your private server](#letting-certain-users-register-on-your-private-server) - [Enabling public user registration](#enabling-public-user-registration) - [Adding/Removing Administrator privileges to an existing user](#addingremoving-administrator-privileges-to-an-existing-user) ## Registering users manually **Notes**: - Make sure to adjust `USERNAME_HERE` and `PASSWORD_HERE` - For `USERNAME_HERE`, use a plain username like `alice`, not a full ID (`@alice:example.com`) - Use `admin=yes` or `admin=no` depending on whether you wish to make the user an administrator of the Matrix server After registering a user (using one of the methods below), **you can log in with that user** via the [Element Web](configuring-playbook-client-element-web.md) service that this playbook has installed for you at a URL like this: `https://element.example.com/`. ### Registering users via the Ansible playbook It's best to register users via the Ansible playbook, because it works regardless of homeserver implementation (Synapse, Dendrite, etc) or usage of [Matrix Authentication Service](configuring-playbook-matrix-authentication-service.md) (MAS). To register a user via this Ansible playbook: ```sh just register-user USERNAME_HERE PASSWORD_HERE # Example: `just register-user alice secret-password yes` ``` **or** by invoking `ansible-playbook` manually: ```sh ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --extra-vars='username=USERNAME_HERE password=PASSWORD_HERE admin=' --tags=register-user # Example: ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --extra-vars='username=alice password=secret-password admin=yes' --tags=register-user ``` Feel free to register as many users (for friends, family, etc.) as you want. Still, perhaps you should grant full administrative access to your user account only (with `admin=yes`), and others should be created with `admin=no`. > [!WARNING] > If you're registering users against Matrix Authentication Service, do note that it [still insists](https://github.com/element-hq/matrix-authentication-service/issues/1505) on having a verified email address for each user. Upon a user's first login, they will be asked to confirm their email address. This requires that email sending is [configured](./configuring-playbook-email.md). You can also consult the [Working around email deliverability issues](./configuring-playbook-matrix-authentication-service.md#working-around-email-deliverability-issues) section for more information. ### Registering users manually for Synapse If you're using the [Synapse](configuring-playbook-synapse.md) homeserver implementation (which is the default), you can register users via the command-line after **SSH**-ing to your server (requires that [all services have been started](installing.md#install-matrix-server-and-services)): ```sh /matrix/synapse/bin/register-user USERNAME_HERE PASSWORD_HERE # Example: `/matrix/synapse/bin/register-user alice secret-password 1` ``` ### Registering users manually for Dendrite If you're using the [Dendrite](./configuring-playbook-dendrite.md) homeserver implementation, you can register users via the command-line after **SSH**-ing to your server (requires that [all services have been started](installing.md#install-matrix-server-and-services)): ```sh /matrix/dendrite/bin/create-account USERNAME_HERE PASSWORD_HERE # Example: `/matrix/dendrite/bin/create-account alice secret-password 1` ``` ### Registering users manually for Matrix Authentication Service If you're using the [Matrix Authentication Service](./configuring-playbook-matrix-authentication-service.md) and your existing homeserver (most likely [Synapse](./configuring-playbook-synapse.md)) is delegating authentication to it, you can register users via the command-line after **SSH**-ing to your server (requires that [all services have been started](installing.md#install-matrix-server-and-services)): ```sh /matrix/matrix-authentication-service/bin/register-user USERNAME_HERE PASSWORD_HERE # Example: `/matrix/matrix-authentication-service/bin/register-user alice secret-password 1` ``` This `register-user` script actually invokes the `mas-cli manage register-user` command under the hood. If you'd like more control over the registration process, consider invoking the `mas-cli` command directly: ```sh /matrix/matrix-authentication-service/bin/mas-cli manage register-user --help ``` > [!WARNING] > Matrix Authentication Service [still insists](https://github.com/element-hq/matrix-authentication-service/issues/1505) on having a verified email address for each user. Upon a user's first login, they will be asked to confirm their email address. This requires that email sending is [configured](./configuring-playbook-email.md). You can also consult the [Working around email deliverability issues](./configuring-playbook-matrix-authentication-service.md#working-around-email-deliverability-issues) section for more information. ## Managing users via a Web UI To manage users more easily (via a web user-interace), you can install [Synapse Admin](configuring-playbook-synapse-admin.md). > [!WARNING] > If you're using [Matrix Authentication Service](configuring-playbook-matrix-authentication-service.md), note that user management via synapse-admin is not fully working yet. See the [Expectations](configuring-playbook-matrix-authentication-service.md#expectations) section for more information. ## Letting certain users register on your private server If you'd rather **keep your server private** (public registration closed, as is the default), and **let certain people create accounts by themselves** (instead of creating user accounts manually like this), consider installing and making use of [matrix-registration](configuring-playbook-matrix-registration.md). ## Enabling public user registration To **open up user registration publicly** (usually **not recommended**), add the following configuration to your `inventory/host_vars/matrix.example.com/vars.yml` file: For Synapse: ```yaml matrix_synapse_enable_registration: true ``` For Dendrite: ```yaml matrix_dendrite_client_api_registration_disabled: false ``` After configuring the playbook, run it with [playbook tags](playbook-tags.md) as below: ```sh ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start ``` **Notes**: - The shortcut commands with the [`just` program](just.md) are also available: `just install-all` or `just setup-all` `just install-all` is useful for maintaining your setup quickly ([2x-5x faster](../CHANGELOG.md#2x-5x-performance-improvements-in-playbook-runtime) than `just setup-all`) when its components remain unchanged. If you adjust your `vars.yml` to remove other components, you'd need to run `just setup-all`, or these components will still remain installed. Note these shortcuts run the `ensure-matrix-users-created` tag too. - If you're opening up registrations publicly like this, you might also wish to [configure CAPTCHA protection](configuring-captcha.md). ## Adding/Removing Administrator privileges to an existing user ### Adding/Removing Administrator privileges to an existing user in Synapse To change the admin privileges for a user in Synapse's local database, you need to run an SQL query like this against the `synapse` database: ```sql UPDATE users SET admin=ADMIN_VALUE WHERE name = '@alice:example.com'; ``` where: - `ADMIN_VALUE` being either `0` (regular user) or `1` (admin) - `USER` and `example.com` pointing to a valid user on your server If you're using the integrated Postgres server and not an [external Postgres server](configuring-playbook-external-postgres.md), you can launch a Postgres into the `synapse` database by: - running `/matrix/postgres/bin/cli` — to launch [`psql`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-psql.html) - running `\c synapse` — to change to the `synapse` database You can then proceed to run the query above. **Note**: directly modifying the raw data of Synapse (or any other software) could cause the software to break. You've been warned! ### Adding/Removing Administrator privileges to an existing user in Matrix Authentication Service Promoting/demoting a user in Matrix Authentication Service cannot currently (2024-10-19) be done via the [`mas-cli` Management tool](./configuring-playbook-matrix-authentication-service.md#management). You can do it via the [MAS Admin API](https://element-hq.github.io/matrix-authentication-service/api/index.html)'s `POST /api/admin/v1/users/{id}/set-admin` endpoint.