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---
layout: docs
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page_title: User resource
description: >-
Learn how the user resource identifies a person or entity for access control purposes. Understand how to assign groups and roles so users inherit permissions.
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---
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# Users
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A user is a resource
that represents an individual person or entity
for the purposes of access control.
A user can be associated with zero or more [accounts][].
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A user authenticates to Boundary through an associated account
and must be associated with at least one account before they can access Boundary.
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A user is also a principal
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which allows it to be assigned to [roles][].
A user receives all the [permissions][]
of the roles assigned directly to the user
and all the permissions of roles assigned to [groups][] the user is in.
Users can be defined at either a [Global][] or [Organization][] [scope][].
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A user can only be associated with accounts from an [auth method][]
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configured in the same scope.
## Attributes
A user has the following configurable attributes:
- `name` - (optional)
If set, the `name` must be unique within the user's immediate parent [scope][].
- `description` - (optional)
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## Referenced by
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- [Account][]
- [Global][]
- [Group][]
- [Organization][]
- [Role][]
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[account]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/accounts
[accounts]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/accounts
[auth method]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/auth-methods
[global]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/scopes#global
[group]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/groups
[groups]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/groups
[organization]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/scopes#organizations
[permissions]: /boundary/docs/concepts/security/permissions
[role]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/roles
[roles]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/roles
[scope]: /boundary/docs/concepts/domain-model/scopes
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## Service API docs
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The following services are relevant to this resource:
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- [User Service](/boundary/api-docs/user-service)
