Jfrog Create Users Groups

JFrog Create Users & Groups

Prefer jf api (../../../platform-features/skills/jfrog-cli/jf-api-patterns.md); curl in checks below is fallback.

Creates users and groups on the JFrog Platform. Typically invoked during onboarding when the manifest references users or groups that do not yet exist, but can also be used standalone.

Inputs

• users -- list of users to create:

  users:
    - { name: alice, email: alice@example.com, groups: [backend-team] }
    - { name: bob, email: bob@example.com }
  

• groups -- list of groups to create:

  groups:
    - { name: backend-team, description: "Backend developers" }
    - { name: devops, description: "DevOps team" }
  

• default_password -- password to set for newly created users (from manifest jfrog.default_password or prompted interactively)

Load Credentials

# Load .env if JFROG_URL or JFROG_ACCESS_TOKEN are not already set
if [ -z "$JFROG_URL" ] || [ -z "$JFROG_ACCESS_TOKEN" ]; then
  if [ -f .env ]; then
    set -a; source .env; set +a
  fi
fi

Workflow

1. Determine Default Password

The default password is required for creating new users. Resolve it in this order:

1. Manifest field: Read jfrog.default_password from the manifest YAML
2. Interactive prompt: If not in the manifest, ask the user to provide a default password

Password requirements: at least 8 characters, must include uppercase, lowercase, and a digit. Validate before proceeding.

2. Create Groups First

Groups must be created before users so that users can be assigned to groups during creation.

Check if group exists

jf api "/access/api/v2/groups/$GROUP_NAME" >/tmp/jf-cug-group.json 2>/tmp/jf-cug-group.code
HTTP_CODE=$(tr -d '\r\n' < /tmp/jf-cug-group.code)

• 200 = already exists, skip creation
• 404 = does not exist, proceed to create

Create a group (run with required_permissions: ["full_network"])

jf api /access/api/v2/groups -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "'"$GROUP_NAME"'",
    "description": "'"$GROUP_DESCRIPTION"'",
    "auto_join": false
  }'

Expected response: HTTP 201 with the created group JSON.

3. Create Users

After all groups are created, create users. Users can optionally be assigned to groups during creation.

Check if user exists

jf api "/access/api/v2/users/$JFROG_USER_NAME" >/tmp/jf-cug-user.json 2>/tmp/jf-cug-user.code
HTTP_CODE=$(tr -d '\r\n' < /tmp/jf-cug-user.code)

• 200 = already exists, skip creation
• 404 = does not exist, proceed to create

Create a user (run with required_permissions: ["full_network"])

jf api /access/api/v2/users -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "username": "'"$JFROG_USER_NAME"'",
    "password": "'"$DEFAULT_PASSWORD"'",
    "email": "'"$EMAIL"'",
    "admin": false,
    "profile_updatable": true,
    "disable_ui_access": false,
    "internal_password_disabled": false,
    "groups": ['"$GROUPS_JSON_ARRAY"']
  }'

Expected response: HTTP 201 with the created user JSON.

Expire password (force change on first login)

Immediately after successfully creating a user, expire their password so they are forced to set a new one on first login to Artifactory. Run with required_permissions: ["full_network"]:

jf api /access/api/v2/users/$JFROG_USER_NAME/password/expire -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Expected response: HTTP 200. If this call fails, log a warning but do not fail the overall user creation -- the user was already created successfully.

Field details:

4. Verify Creation

After creating all users and groups, verify they exist:

# Verify user
jf api "/access/api/v2/users/$JFROG_USER_NAME" | jq '{username, email, status}'

# Verify group
jf api "/access/api/v2/groups/$GROUP_NAME" | jq '{name, description}'

Integration with Onboarding Workflow

When called from the onboarding orchestration (via jfrog-manage-members), the flow is:

1. Validate all users and groups referenced in the manifest
2. Collect missing users and groups into two lists
3. Prompt the user: Display the missing users/groups and ask whether to create them
   • If the user confirms, invoke this skill to create them
   • If the user declines, abort onboarding (same as the original behavior)
4. Re-validate: After creation, confirm all users/groups now exist before proceeding to role assignment

Prompt Format

When missing users/groups are found, present them clearly:

The following users/groups referenced in the manifest do not exist in the JFrog Platform:

Missing users:
  - alice
  - bob

Missing groups:
  - backend-team

Would you like to create them now? (Yes / No)

Use the AskQuestion tool with Yes/No options. If Yes, proceed with creation. If No, abort.

User Details Collection

For each missing user, if the manifest does not include email, ask the user to provide emails -- or offer to auto-generate them using the pattern {username}@{jfrog-domain}.

For group assignments during user creation:

• Manifest mode: Check the manifest for any groups field on the user entry. If no groups are specified for a user, assign them to the readers group by default.
• Interactive mode: For each user, ask which group(s) they should belong to (one question at a time per the interaction-questions rule). If the user does not specify a group, default to the readers group.

The readers group is a built-in JFrog group and does not need to be created. However, if any other default or user-specified group does not exist, it must be created in Step 2 before user creation. Every user must belong to at least one group.

If the user entry includes groups that are also being created, those groups are created first (Step 2 above).

Batch Processing

CRITICAL -- Shell Variable Naming: When iterating over users in loops or functions, never use USERNAME as a variable name (not even as a local variable). On macOS and Linux, $USERNAME is a reserved environment variable that resolves to the current OS user. Use $JFROG_USER_NAME or another prefixed name like $UNAME instead. See the jfrog-platform rule for the full list.

When processing multiple users/groups from the manifest:

1. Create all groups first -- iterate and create each, collecting successes and failures
2. Create all users -- iterate and create each (with group assignments), and immediately expire each new user's password to force a change on first login. Collect successes and failures.
3. Report results -- display a summary of what was created and what failed

Creation Summary:
  Groups created: backend-team, devops
  Groups skipped (already existed): platform-team
  Users created: alice, bob
  Users failed: charlie (HTTP 400: invalid email)

Error Handling

• 201 Created: Success
• 409 Conflict: User/group already exists -- treat as success, skip creation
• 400 Bad Request: Invalid input (e.g., bad email, weak password) -- report the error and continue with remaining items
• 403 Forbidden: Token lacks permission -- abort and report
• 415 Unsupported Media Type: Missing Content-Type: application/json header -- fix and retry

Security Notes

• The default password is a temporary password. The skill automatically expires it after creation, forcing users to set a new password on first login to Artifactory.
• Never log or echo passwords in command output. Use -s (silent) flag on curl.
• The default_password in the manifest is sensitive -- remind users not to commit it to git. The .env file pattern is preferred for secrets.