Creating Users

Homestead is multi-user: each member of your household gets their own account. This page covers claiming a fresh instance and adding everyone else.

Table of Contents

• Claiming a New Instance
• Adding Users
• Editing and Removing Users
• Recovering a Lost Password

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Claiming a New Instance

A brand-new instance has no accounts yet. The first time you open it, the login screen asks you to create the admin (superuser) account instead of signing in.

1. Open the app in your browser.
2. Enter an email.
3. Enter a password (at least 8 characters) and confirm it.
4. Click Create Admin Account. You're now signed in as the superuser.

This is a one-time step. After that, the instance shows the normal login screen, and only a superuser can create more accounts.

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Adding Users

Only superusers can add users.

1. Go to Settings → Users.

2. Click Add User.

3. Fill in the form:

   Field	Notes
   Email	Required. Used to sign in.
   Display Name	Optional. Shown around the app.
   Type	Regular or Superuser. Superusers manage users, settings, and access.
   Tags	Optional labels for grouping users — see Access & Tags.
   Password	Required. Must be at least 8 characters.

4. Click Create User. The account works immediately.

There's no email invite flow — you set each user's password when you create the account and share it with them. They can use it to sign in right away.

Give the Superuser type only to people who administer the household. Regular users can only open the apps they have access to.

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Editing and Removing Users

From the same Users screen:

• Edit a user to change their email, display name, type, or tags. Leave the password field blank to keep the existing password; type a new one to reset it.
• Delete a user to remove the account. You can't delete your own account.

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Recovering a Lost Password

If a superuser is locked out, reset the password from the command line on the server. Run this in the project directory:

homestead admin reset-password

This generates a new password and prints it, along with the account email:

superuser password reset:
  Email:    admin@example.com
  Password: a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8

Sign in with that email and password. To target a specific superuser when there's more than one, pass its email:

homestead admin reset-password --email someone@example.com