User Management
Adding users is one of the first things you'll do on a new site.
Creating a user
User → New:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Used as login AND as the user's primary key — choose carefully | |
| First / Last Name | Display name |
| User Type | System User (desk access) or Website User (portal only) — see System vs Website Users |
| Roles | What they can do — see Permissions |
| Send Welcome Email | Frappe emails a password-reset link so the user sets their own password |
Login methods
| Method | When |
|---|---|
| Email + password | Default |
| OAuth (Google, Microsoft, GitHub) | Configure under Integrations → Social Login Key |
| LDAP / Active Directory | For enterprises with on-prem identity |
| 2FA | See Two-Factor Authentication |
The Administrator user
Frappe ships with a built-in Administrator user — the equivalent of root. It has all roles by default and bypasses User Permissions. Treat it like a root account:
- Set a strong password at install
- Don't log in as Administrator for routine work — create a named System Manager account for yourself
- Avoid sharing the Administrator credentials; rotate them when staff leave
- The Administrator can't be deleted or disabled in the desk
On managed sites (Prilk-managed, Frappe Cloud), the Administrator password is managed by the operator and not normally exposed.
Role Profile
Assigning roles one at a time gets tedious when you have many similar users. Role Profile bundles a set of roles into a named profile:
- Role Profile → New — name it ("Salesperson", "Junior Accountant")
- Add the roles the profile should contain
- On the User form, set Role Profile — all its roles are applied
Useful for:
- Onboarding waves of similar users (whole-team setup)
- Standardising "what does a Salesperson see" across the company
- Audits — checking that everyone in a function has identical access
A user can have one Role Profile plus additional individual roles on top.
Password policy
System Settings → Password Settings:
- Minimum length, complexity, history
- Force change every N days
- Lock-out after N failed attempts
Disabling vs deleting
Prefer Enabled = No over delete. Deleting a user breaks references — Comments, Assignments, Activity Log all point at the now-gone record. Disabling preserves the audit trail while preventing login.
Roles vs User Permissions
Roles answer "what actions can they do" (Read, Write, Submit). User Permissions answer "on which records" — e.g., Alice can edit Sales Invoices, but only for Customer A. The two combine; see Permissions.
Portal users
Customers, Suppliers and Employees who log into the public portal (not the desk) use the Website User type plus an entry in their party-type's portal_users child table. See System vs Website Users.