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Overview

Service Users (previously called Bot Users) are similar to Users, but they’re for automated systems that interact with your ngrok account, either by starting ngrok Agents or by calling the API. Service Users own credentials (authtokens, API keys, and SSH keys) that they use to authenticate with ngrok.
Other platforms sometimes call this concept a service account.
You can see and manage your Service Users in the ngrok Dashboard.

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When to use a Service User

Use Service Users whenever an automated process uses your ngrok account. Service Users keep your agents and programs working after the person who set them up leaves your account. When a user leaves an account, ngrok revokes all of their credentials, and any service still using them stops working.

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Differences from users

Service Users work like Users, with a few exceptions:
  • Service Users can’t log into the Dashboard.
  • Service Users can hold only a few roles, and never the Administrator role.
  • Service Users can’t be a member of more than one Account. If you’re on a free plan, ngrok doesn’t count Service Users when it computes how many seats to charge you for.

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Role-based access control

Every Service User holds at least one role. New Service Users get the developer role unless you choose another. A Service User can hold these roles:
  • developer, the read/write Developer role.
  • developer-readonly, the read-only Developer role.
  • team-manager, the Manager Team role.
A Service User can’t hold developer and developer-readonly at the same time. Service Users can’t be Administrators or have billing access. Only Administrators can set a Service User’s roles. Set them with the roles field when you create or update a Service User through the API. Any role other than developer requires a plan that includes RBAC. A Service User’s roles limit what its personal access tokens can do. They don’t restrict its API keys.

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Event logs

When a Service User takes actions against your ngrok account, the event log records it as the Principal. This shows you what each automated service is doing in your account.

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Service Users pricing

Service Users are available on Pay-as-you-go plans only. For more information, see the ngrok Pricing page.