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diff --git a/doc/development/internal_users.md b/doc/development/internal_users.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..9f1428dce80 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/development/internal_users.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +description: "Internal users documentation." +type: concepts, reference, dev +stage: none +group: Development +info: "See the Technical Writers assigned to Development Guidelines: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments-to-development-guidelines" +--- + +# Internal users + +GitLab uses internal users (sometimes referred to as "bots") to perform +actions or functions that cannot be attributed to a regular user. + +These users are created programatically throughout the codebase itself when +necessary, and do not count towards a license limit. + +They are used when a traditional user account would not be applicable, for +example when generating alerts or automatic review feedback. + +Technically, an internal user is a type of user, but they have reduced access +and a very specific purpose. They cannot be used for regular user actions, +such as authentication or API requests. + +They have email addresses and names which can be attributed to any actions +they perform. + +For example, when we [migrated](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/216120) +GitLab Snippets to [Versioned Snippets](../user/snippets.md#versioned-snippets) +in GitLab 13.0, we used an internal user to attribute the authorship of +snippets to itself when a snippet's author wasn't available for creating +repository commits, such as when the user has been disabled, so the Migration +Bot was used instead. + +For this bot: + +- The name was set to `GitLab Migration Bot`. +- The email was set to `noreply+gitlab-migration-bot@{instance host}`. + +Other examples of internal users: + +- [Alert Bot](../operations/metrics/alerts.md#trigger-actions-from-alerts) +- [Ghost User](../user/profile/account/delete_account.md#associated-records) +- [Support Bot](../user/project/service_desk.md#support-bot-user) +- Visual Review Bot |