Service Accounts

A service account is a non-human identity for API access, governed by RBAC and supporting multiple API keys.

Summary

Service accounts in groundcover are non-human identities used for programmatic access to the API. They’re ideal for CI pipelines, automation, and backend services, and are governed by groundcover’s RBAC system.

Identity and Permissions

A service account has a name and email, but it cannot be used to log into the UI or via SSO. Instead, it functions purely for API access. Each account must have at least one RBAC policy assigned, which defines its permission level (Admin, Editor, Viewer) and data scope. Multiple policies can be attached to broaden access; effective permissions are the union of all policies.

Creation and Management

Only Admins can create, update, or delete service accounts. This can be done via the UI (Settings → Access → Service Accounts) or API. During creation, Admins define the name, email, and initial policies. You can edit service account, changing email address and assigned policies, but can't rename.

API Key Association

A service account can have multiple API keys. This makes it easy to rotate credentials or issue distinct keys for different use cases. All keys are tied to the same account and carry its permissions. Any action taken using a key is logged as performed by the associated service account.