magistrala/users

Users

Users service provides an HTTP API for managing users. Through this API clients are able to do the following actions:

• register new accounts
• login
• manage account(s) (list, update, delete)

For in-depth explanation of the aforementioned scenarios, as well as thorough understanding of Magistrala, please check out the official documentation.

Configuration

The service is configured using the environment variables presented in the following table. Note that any unset variables will be replaced with their default values.

Variable	Description	Default
MG_USERS_LOG_LEVEL	Log level for users service (debug, info, warn, error)	info
MG_USERS_ADMIN_EMAIL	Default user, created on startup	admin@example.com
MG_USERS_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Default user password, created on startup	12345678
MG_USERS_PASS_REGEX	Password regex	^.{8,}$
MG_USERS_HTTP_HOST	Users service HTTP host	localhost
MG_USERS_HTTP_PORT	Users service HTTP port	9002
MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_CERT	Path to the PEM encoded server certificate file	""
MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_KEY	Path to the PEM encoded server key file	""
MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_CA_CERTS	Path to the PEM encoded server CA certificate file	""
MG_USERS_HTTP_CLIENT_CA_CERTS	Path to the PEM encoded client CA certificate file	""
MG_AUTH_GRPC_URL	Auth service GRPC URL	localhost:8181
MG_AUTH_GRPC_TIMEOUT	Auth service GRPC timeout	1s
MG_AUTH_GRPC_CLIENT_CERT	Path to the PEM encoded client certificate file	""
MG_AUTH_GRPC_CLIENT_KEY	Path to the PEM encoded client key file	""
MG_AUTH_GRPC_SERVER_CA_CERTS	Path to the PEM encoded server CA certificate file	""
MG_USERS_DB_HOST	Database host address	localhost
MG_USERS_DB_PORT	Database host port	5432
MG_USERS_DB_USER	Database user	magistrala
MG_USERS_DB_PASS	Database password	magistrala
MG_USERS_DB_NAME	Name of the database used by the service	users
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_MODE	Database connection SSL mode (disable, require, verify-ca, verify-full)	disable
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_CERT	Path to the PEM encoded certificate file	""
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_KEY	Path to the PEM encoded key file	""
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_ROOT_CERT	Path to the PEM encoded root certificate file	""
MG_EMAIL_HOST	Mail server host	localhost
MG_EMAIL_PORT	Mail server port	25
MG_EMAIL_USERNAME	Mail server username	""
MG_EMAIL_PASSWORD	Mail server password	""
MG_EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS	Email "from" address	""
MG_EMAIL_FROM_NAME	Email "from" name	""
MG_PASSWORD_RESET_URL_PREFIX	Password reset URL prefix	http://localhost/password/reset
MG_PASSWORD_RESET_EMAIL_TEMPLATE	Password reset email template	reset-password-email.tmpl
MG_VERIFICATION_URL_PREFIX	Verification URL prefix	http://localhost/verify-email
MG_VERIFICATION_EMAIL_TEMPLATE	Verification email template	verification-email.tmpl
MG_USERS_ES_URL	Event store URL	nats://localhost:4222
MG_JAEGER_URL	Jaeger server URL	http://localhost:4318/v1/traces
MG_OAUTH_UI_REDIRECT_URL	OAuth UI redirect URL	http://localhost:9095/domains
MG_OAUTH_UI_ERROR_URL	OAuth UI error URL	http://localhost:9095/error
MG_USERS_DELETE_INTERVAL	Interval for deleting users	24h
MG_USERS_DELETE_AFTER	Time after which users are deleted	720h
MG_JAEGER_TRACE_RATIO	Jaeger sampling ratio	1.0
MG_SEND_TELEMETRY	Send telemetry to magistrala call home server.	true
MG_USERS_INSTANCE_ID	Magistrala instance ID	""

Deployment

The service itself is distributed as Docker container. Check the users service section in docker-compose file to see how service is deployed.

To start the service outside of the container, execute the following shell script:

# download the latest version of the service
git clone https://github.com/absmach/magistrala

cd magistrala

# compile the service
make users

# copy binary to bin
make install

# set the environment variables and run the service
MG_USERS_LOG_LEVEL=info \
MG_USERS_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com \
MG_USERS_ADMIN_PASSWORD=12345678 \
MG_USERS_PASS_REGEX="^.{8,}$" \
MG_USERS_HTTP_HOST=localhost \
MG_USERS_HTTP_PORT=9002 \
MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_CERT="" \
MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_KEY="" \
MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_CA_CERTS="" \
MG_USERS_HTTP_CLIENT_CA_CERTS="" \
MG_AUTH_GRPC_URL=localhost:8181 \
MG_AUTH_GRPC_TIMEOUT=1s \
MG_AUTH_GRPC_CLIENT_CERT="" \
MG_AUTH_GRPC_CLIENT_KEY="" \
MG_AUTH_GRPC_SERVER_CA_CERTS="" \
MG_USERS_DB_HOST=localhost \
MG_USERS_DB_PORT=5432 \
MG_USERS_DB_USER=magistrala \MG_USERS_DB_PASS=magistrala \MG_USERS_DB_NAME=users \
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_MODE=disable \
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_CERT="" \
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_KEY="" \
MG_USERS_DB_SSL_ROOT_CERT="" \
MG_EMAIL_HOST=smtp.mailtrap.io \
MG_EMAIL_PORT=2525 \
MG_EMAIL_USERNAME="18bf7f7070513" \
MG_EMAIL_PASSWORD="2b0d302e775b1e" \
MG_EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=from@example.com \
MG_EMAIL_FROM_NAME=Example \
MG_PASSWORD_RESET_URL_PREFIX=http://localhost:9002/password/reset \
MG_PASSWORD_RESET_EMAIL_TEMPLATE=docker/templates/reset-password-email.tmpl \
MG_VERIFICATION_URL_PREFIX=http://localhost:9002/users/verify-email \
MG_VERIFICATION_EMAIL_TEMPLATE=docker/templates/verification-email.tmpl \
MG_USERS_ES_URL=nats://localhost:4222 \
MG_JAEGER_URL=http://localhost:14268/api/traces \
MG_JAEGER_TRACE_RATIO=1.0 \
MG_SEND_TELEMETRY=true \
MG_OAUTH_UI_REDIRECT_URL=http://localhost:9095/domains \
MG_OAUTH_UI_ERROR_URL=http://localhost:9095/error \
MG_USERS_DELETE_INTERVAL=24h \
MG_USERS_DELETE_AFTER=720h \
MG_USERS_INSTANCE_ID="" \
$GOBIN/magistrala-users

If MG_EMAIL_TEMPLATE doesn't point to any file service will function but password reset functionality will not work. The email environment variables are used to send emails with password reset link. The service expects a file in Go template format. The template should be something like this.

Setting MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_CERT and MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_KEY will enable TLS against the service. The service expects a file in PEM format for both the certificate and the key. Setting MG_USERS_HTTP_SERVER_CA_CERTS will enable TLS against the service trusting only those CAs that are provided. The service expects a file in PEM format of trusted CAs. Setting MG_USERS_HTTP_CLIENT_CA_CERTS will enable TLS against the service trusting only those CAs that are provided. The service expects a file in PEM format of trusted CAs.

Setting MG_AUTH_GRPC_CLIENT_CERT and MG_AUTH_GRPC_CLIENT_KEY will enable TLS against the auth service. The service expects a file in PEM format for both the certificate and the key. Setting MG_AUTH_GRPC_SERVER_CA_CERTS will enable TLS against the auth service trusting only those CAs that are provided. The service expects a file in PEM format of trusted CAs.

HTTP API

Base URL defaults to http://localhost:9002. Unless otherwise noted, endpoints require Authorization: Bearer <access_token>.

Usage

Operation	Description
Register	Create a user; optionally protected if self-registration is disabled.
Issue token	Exchange identity (email/username) and secret for access/refresh tokens.
Refresh token	Exchange a refresh token for a new access token.
Profile	Fetch the authenticated user profile.
List/search users	Page and filter users.
View user	Retrieve a user by ID .
Update user	Patch names/metadata/tags/profile picture; update email/username/role/tags/password via dedicated endpoints.
Status	Enable/disable a user or delete a user.
Verification	Send verification email; verify via emailed link.
Password reset	Request a reset link and set a new password.

Best practices

• Disable self-registration in production; onboard users via admin tokens or your IdP.
• Keep allow_unverified_user false and require email verification before granting domain roles.
• Enforce TLS for HTTP and mTLS for gRPC by setting server/client cert env vars.
• Harden passwords with MG_USERS_PASS_REGEX and rotate credentials; purge stale accounts via MG_USERS_DELETE_AFTER.
• Rate-limit token issuance and password reset endpoints at your API gateway; export Prometheus metrics to watch for abuse.
• Store SMTP credentials and certificates in a secrets manager; avoid embedding secrets in images or repos.

API examples

Register a user

curl -X POST "http://localhost:9002/users" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "first_name": "Ada",
    "last_name": "Lovelace",
    "credentials": { "username": "ada", "secret": "changeMe123" },
    "email": "ada@example.com",
    "role": 0,
    "status": 0,
    "tags": ["iot", "beta"],
    "metadata": { "team": "core" }
  }'

Expected response (201 Created):

{
  "id": "c0b0c68c-5b93-4a93-8f1a-5d63a3f5c3c7",
  "first_name": "Ada",
  "last_name": "Lovelace",
  "email": "ada@example.com",
  "role": 0,
  "status": 0,
  "tags": ["iot", "beta"],
  "metadata": { "team": "core" },
  "created_at": "2024-10-24T13:31:52Z"
}

Issue access/refresh tokens (login)

curl -X POST "http://localhost:9002/users/tokens/issue" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "identity": "ada@example.com", "secret": "changeMe123" }'

Expected response (201 Created):

{
  "access_token": "eyJhbGciOi...",
  "refresh_token": "eyJhbGciOi...",
  "access_type": "Bearer"
}

View authenticated profile

curl -X GET "http://localhost:9002/users/profile" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN"

Expected response:

{
  "id": "c0b0c68c-5b93-4a93-8f1a-5d63a3f5c3c7",
  "first_name": "Ada",
  "last_name": "Lovelace",
  "email": "ada@example.com",
  "role": 0,
  "status": 0,
  "tags": ["iot", "beta"],
  "metadata": { "team": "core" },
  "verified_at": "2024-10-24T14:02:00Z",
  "created_at": "2024-10-24T13:31:52Z",
  "updated_at": "2024-10-24T14:02:00Z"
}

List users

curl -X GET "http://localhost:9002/users?limit=5&status=enabled&dir=desc" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN"

Expected response:

{
  "total": 2,
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 5,
  "users": [
    {
      "id": "c0b0c68c-5b93-4a93-8f1a-5d63a3f5c3c7",
      "first_name": "Ada",
      "last_name": "Lovelace",
      "email": "ada@example.com",
      "role": 0,
      "status": 0,
      "tags": ["iot", "beta"],
      "created_at": "2024-10-24T13:31:52Z"
    }
  ]
}

Update user metadata and name

curl -X PATCH "http://localhost:9002/users/${USER_ID}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "first_name": "Ada",
    "last_name": "Byron",
    "metadata": { "team": "edge" },
    "tags": ["edge", "beta"]
  }'

Expected response:

{
  "id": "c0b0c68c-5b93-4a93-8f1a-5d63a3f5c3c7",
  "first_name": "Ada",
  "last_name": "Byron",
  "email": "ada@example.com",
  "tags": ["edge", "beta"],
  "metadata": { "team": "edge" },
  "status": 0,
  "role": 0,
  "updated_at": "2024-10-24T14:45:10Z",
  "updated_by": "a5b6c7d8-e901-4fab-9bcd-123456789abc"
}

Request password reset

curl -X POST "http://localhost:9002/password/reset-request" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "email": "ada@example.com" }'

Expected response (201 Created):

{ "msg": "Email with reset link is sent" }

Health check

curl -X GET "http://localhost:9002/health"

Expected response:

{
  "status": "pass",
  "version": "0.18.0",
  "commit": "ffffffff",
  "description": "users service",
  "build_time": "1970-01-01_00:00:00",
  "instance_id": "b4f1d5d2-4f24-4c2a-9a40-123456789abc"
}