How do I deactivate a user using the REST API?

[Poul Sørensen]

I have tried to PUT to rest/api/2/user?username=xyzzy with  \{ active: false, ... \} , but that does not do the trick.

[Poul Sørensen · Accepted solution]

Well, I found the solution:

deactivating/disablling a user is the same as removing the user from all groups:

DELETE https://.../group/user?groupname=$groupname&username=$username

[Earl McCutcheon]

Removing a user from all groups is not the same as deactivating a user and as noted By Arun Thundyill Saseendran  in another comment on this thread below.  This can cause a security concern if done in this manner, as a user can still receive notification from the system depending on the configuration of the notification scheme, an example is if set to send notifications to assignee or reporter and an issue is updated the and the user is the historical reporter or assignee,  A user needs to be deactivated to block all outgoing notification possibilities, the UI deactivation of a user is covered here:

• https://confluence.atlassian.com/cloud/add-edit-and-remove-users-744721624.html

The ability to Deactivate users via API is being tracked in this feature request:

• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-44801

Deactivating a user at his time is only possible Via the UI

[Karthick Jothimani]

When can we expect the API to be in place, we are waiitng to automate the process, so we need API's for Revoking Site access, de-activating and disabling.

[Earl McCutcheon]

HI Karthick,

The Feature Request JRA-44801 was moved to the "Waiting for Realease" status just a few days ago so it is coming soon but we do not have an exact timeline. 

As covered in the feature request it does note a tentative timeline:

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your votes and comments on this issue.

After reviewing the issue again we've decided to prioritize it on Jira Server roadmap. Expect to hear an update on our progress within the next 6 weeks.

To read about our recent investments as well as plans for Jira Server and Data Center check out this community post.

Kind regards,

Katarzyna Derenda
Product manager, Jira Server

Regards,
Earl

[Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran]

I understand that removing the user from all the groups listed under 'JIRA Users' in 'Global Permissions' virtually deactivates a user and does not consume license. This is possible using REST and was the approach followed.

However, when a user is not deactivated, and if the user has issues assigned, then emails will be send as per the notification scheme. This is the problem I am facing. Hence I need a way to deactivate the user using REST.

Any suggestion is welcome.

[Earl McCutcheon]

Hello,

We have a feature request to add this in, viewable here:

• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-44801

But at the moment it is not currently a callable resource

[Poul Sørensen]

But that sounds hard to do, as we are using JIRA Cloud at atlassian.net, and we need to synchronize users...

The Atlassian recomended way is to deactivate the user instead of deleting her, for several reasons, one being that it is not possible to delete a user who are assigned an issue.

[paul grant]

This can be accomplished via selenium:

https://github.com/paulfgrant01/jira-disable-user

[Rob V]

"You do not have permission to view this request."

get that when i click the JST-166532

[Rob V]

is this still not possible with the REST API???

when i try and run it i get 

{"errorMessages":["No value found to be changed."],"errors":{}}

...yeah, cause you won't let me!

[Timothy]

The REST API does not accept that input. You might need to extend and create your own REST API.