HTTP Interface for User Management

This is an introduction to ArangoDB's HTTP interface for managing users.

The interface provides a simple means to add, update, and remove users. All users managed through this interface will be stored in the system collection _users. You should never manipulate the _users collection directly.

This specialized interface intentionally does not provide all functionality that is available in the regular document REST API.

Please note that user operations are not included in ArangoDB's replication.

Create User

Create a new user.

POST /_api/user

A json post document with these Properties is required:

  • passwd: The user password as a string. If no password is specified, the empty string will be used. If you pass the special value ARANGODB_DEFAULT_ROOT_PASSWORD, the password will be set the value stored in the environment variable ARANGODB_DEFAULT_ROOT_PASSWORD. This can be used to pass an instance variable into ArangoDB. For example, the instance identifier from Amazon.
  • active: An optional flag that specifies whether the user is active. If not specified, this will default to true
  • user: The name of the user as a string. This is mandatory.
  • extra: An optional JSON object with arbitrary extra data about the user.

Create a new user. This user will not have access to any database. You need permission to the _system database in order to execute this REST call.

Example:

shell> curl -X POST --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user <<EOF
{ 
  "user" : "admin@example", 
  "passwd" : "secure" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "user" : "admin@example", 
  "active" : true, 
  "extra" : { 
  }, 
  "changePassword" : false, 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 201 
}

Return Codes

  • 201: Returned if the user can be added by the server
  • 400: If the JSON representation is malformed or mandatory data is missing from the request.

Examples

shell> curl -X POST --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user <<EOF
{ 
  "user" : "admin@example", 
  "passwd" : "secure" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

show response body

Grant or revoke database access

Grant or revoke access to a database.

PUT /_api/user/{user}/database/{dbname}

A json post document with these Properties is required:

  • grant: Use "rw" to grant access right and "none" to revoke.

Grants or revokes access to the database dbname for user user. You need permission to the _system database in order to execute this REST call.

Example:

shell> curl -X PUT --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp/database/_system <<EOF
{ 
  "grant" : "rw" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "_system" : "rw", 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 200 
}

Path Parameters

  • user (required): The name of the user.
  • dbname (required): The name of the database.

Return Codes

  • 201: Returned if the user can be added by the server
  • 400: If the JSON representation is malformed or mandatory data is missing from the request.

Examples

shell> curl -X PUT --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp/database/_system <<EOF
{ 
  "grant" : "rw" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

show response body

List the databases available to a User

List available database to the specified user

GET /_api/user/{user}/database/

Path Parameters

  • user (required): The name of the user for which you want to query the databases.

Fetch the list of databases available to the specified user. You need permission to the _system database in order to execute this REST call.

Example:

shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/anotherAdmin@secapp/database/

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "result" : { 
  }, 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 200 
}

Return Codes

  • 200: Returned if the list of available databases can be returned.
  • 400: If the access privileges aren't right etc.

Examples

shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/anotherAdmin@secapp/database/

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

show response body

Replace User

replace an existing user with a new one.

PUT /_api/user/{user}

Path Parameters

  • user (required): The name of the user

A json post document with these Properties is required:

  • passwd: The user password as a string. Specifying a password is mandatory, but the empty string is allowed for passwords
  • active: An optional flag that specifies whether the user is active. If not specified, this will default to true
  • extra: An optional JSON object with arbitrary extra data about the user.

Replaces the data of an existing user. The name of an existing user must be specified in user. You can only change the password of your self. You need access to the _system database to change the active flag.

Example:

shell> curl -X PUT --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp <<EOF
{ 
  "passwd" : "secure" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "user" : "admin@myapp", 
  "active" : true, 
  "extra" : { 
  }, 
  "changePassword" : false, 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 200 
}

Return Codes

  • 200: Is returned if the user data can be replaced by the server
  • 400: The JSON representation is malformed or mandatory data is missing from the request
  • 404: The specified user does not exist

Examples

shell> curl -X PUT --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp <<EOF
{ 
  "passwd" : "secure" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

show response body

Update User

modify attributes of an existing user

PATCH /_api/user/{user}

Path Parameters

  • user (required): The name of the user

A json post document with these Properties is required:

  • passwd: The user password as a string. Specifying a password is mandatory, but the empty string is allowed for passwords
  • active: An optional flag that specifies whether the user is active. If not specified, this will default to true
  • extra: An optional JSON object with arbitrary extra data about the user.

Partially updates the data of an existing user. The name of an existing user must be specified in user. You can only change the password of your self. You need access to the _system database to change the active flag.

Example:

shell> curl -X PATCH --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp <<EOF
{ 
  "passwd" : "secure" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "user" : "admin@myapp", 
  "active" : true, 
  "extra" : { 
  }, 
  "changePassword" : false, 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 200 
}

Return Codes

  • 200: Is returned if the user data can be replaced by the server
  • 400: The JSON representation is malformed or mandatory data is missing from the request
  • 404: The specified user does not exist

Examples

shell> curl -X PATCH --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp <<EOF
{ 
  "passwd" : "secure" 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

show response body

Remove User

delete a user permanently.

DELETE /_api/user/{user}

Path Parameters

  • user (required): The name of the user

Removes an existing user, identified by user. You need access to the _system database.

Example:

shell> curl -X DELETE --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/userToDelete@myapp <<EOF
{ 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 202 
}

Return Codes

  • 202: Is returned if the user was removed by the server
  • 404: The specified user does not exist

Examples

shell> curl -X DELETE --data-binary @- --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/userToDelete@myapp <<EOF
{ 
}
EOF

HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 202 
}

Fetch User

fetch the properties of a user.

GET /_api/user/{user}

Path Parameters

  • user (required): The name of the user

Fetches data about the specified user. You can fetch information about yourself or you need permission to the _system database in order to execute this REST call.

Example:

shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "user" : "admin@myapp", 
  "active" : true, 
  "extra" : { 
  }, 
  "changePassword" : false, 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 200 
}

Return Codes

  • 200: The user was found.
  • 404: The user with the specified name does not exist.

Examples

shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user/admin@myapp

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

show response body

List available Users

fetch the properties of a user.

GET /_api/user/

Fetches data about all users. You can only execute this call if you have access to the _system database. Otherwise, you will only get information about yourself.

The call will return a JSON object with at least the following attributes on success:

  • user: The name of the user as a string.
  • active: An optional flag that specifies whether the user is active.
  • extra: An optional JSON object with arbitrary extra data about the user.
  • changePassword: An optional flag that specifies whether the user must change the password or not.

Example:

shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

{ 
  "result" : [ 
    { 
      "user" : "tester", 
      "active" : false, 
      "extra" : { 
      }, 
      "changePassword" : false 
    }, 
    { 
      "user" : "admin", 
      "active" : true, 
      "extra" : { 
      }, 
      "changePassword" : false 
    }, 
    { 
      "user" : "root", 
      "active" : true, 
      "extra" : { 
      }, 
      "changePassword" : false 
    }, 
    { 
      "user" : "admin@example", 
      "active" : true, 
      "extra" : { 
      }, 
      "changePassword" : false 
    } 
  ], 
  "error" : false, 
  "code" : 200 
}

Return Codes

  • 200: The users that were found.

Examples

shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/user

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8

show response body