About deleting users¶

Deleting a user marks the account as both disabled and deleted. The system retains information about the user for audit and compliance purposes, but you can't restore or reactivate it. After deletion, the user can't sign in, use API keys, or perform any actions.

Although the account is permanently deleted from active use, the system preserves the internal record so it can continue to appear in historical references, API responses (when explicitly requested), and audit logs.

What Happens When You Delete a User¶

When you delete a user:

• The user’s account and all API keys are immediately disabled.
• All active sessions end.
• The user can’t be restored or reactivated.
• References to the user remain in audit logs and historical records, such as Created by or Updated by.
• If a person with the same email address is added again, the system treats them as a new user with no connection to the previous account.

Delete vs. Disable vs Revoke SSO¶

When managing user access, you have three options: disable the user account, delete the user account, or revoke their SSO access. Each option has different implications for access, reactivation, and data retention.

You need to decide if you want to actually delete the account, or if it's sufficient to disable the user's account. Deleting a user is permanent. Disabling a user temporarily suspends their access but keeps the account available for reactivation.

Use disable to temporarily block access while keeping the account available for reactivation. The username remains reserved.

Use delete to permanently remove access, with no possibility of reactivation. The username becomes available for reuse, and any new user created with the same email is treated as a completely new account.

Use revoke SSO to block UI login while keeping API key access intact.

| Action | Access | Can be re-enabled | Historical references | Can re-create with same email | API visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Disable | All blocked | Yes | Preserved | No
(The user still exists and you can't duplicate usernames/emails.) | Visible. Returned in standard user queries (disabled=true and deleted=false). | | Delete | All blocked | No | Preserved | Yes
(Creates new user that isn't linked to the old account) | Hidden by default. Only returned when querying with deleted=true (disabled=true, deleted=true). | | Revoke SSO | API key enabled;Login disabled | Yes | Preserved | Not applicable | Visible. Normal API user object (disabled=false, deleted=false). |

Security Considerations¶

• Deleting a user immediately revokes access and credentials.
• Audit logs preserve all past actions performed by that user for compliance and traceability.
• If the same person is added again later, the new account doesn’t inherit previous permissions, ownership, or roles. The new account isn't linked to the old account at all.

Implications for deleted user accounts¶

When a user is deleted from the system, their account information will continue to appear in historical records, such as if they created or were the last modifier of objects. In those cases, the UI identifies the user according to how that subsystem currently handles deleted accounts. In most systems this appears as Deleted, but in some legacy views it may temporarily appear as Disabled until updated.

What's Next¶

To learn how to delete users from the system, continue to the next topic, Delete User.