users.md

layout	title	id	permalink
documentation	Users and groups	users	/docs/users/

When you use Horizon's Authentication system, user information is stored in a special Horizon collection, users. You can use the users collection the same way you use any other collection, or through a special shortcut accessor:

const horizon = Horizon();

// Access as a standard collection
const users = horizon('users');

// Access through the shortcut
const users = horizon.users;

When a new user is created, they're automatically assigned to two user groups, default and authenticated. User groups are used to assign permissions; for more information about the way the permission system works, read Permissions and schema enforcement. The document created for each new user contains their unique ID and a list of groups they belong to:

{
    "id": "D6B8E9D0-CD96-4C01-BFD6-2AF43141F2A7",
    "groups": [ "default", "authenticated" ]
}

If you wanted to add data to this user record, you would find the record, make the change, and then replace it in the collection.

horizon.users.find("D6B8E9D0-CD96-4C01-BFD6-2AF43141F2A7").fetch().subscribe(
    (user) => {
        // add a 'name' key
        user.data.name = "Bob";
        horizon.users.replace(user);
    }
);

To add a user to a group, or remove them from a group, modify the groups field.

horizon.users.find("D6B8E9D0-CD96-4C01-BFD6-2AF43141F2A7").fetch().subscribe(
    (user) => {
        // add to the 'admin' group
        user.groups.push('admin');
        horizon.users.replace(user);
    }
);

A Horizon application allows no access to collections by default, even for authenticated users! For more information, read the documentation on permissions.

Accessing session data

You can check whether a user is currently authenticated using the Horizon.hasAuthToken method, and access their information with Horizon.currentUser.

if (Horizon.hasAuthToken()) {
    console.log(Horizon.currentUser());
} else {
    console.log("No user info available");
}

The currentUser is a user object as described in Users and groups, or an empty object if the user is unauthenticated.

See also

• Permissions and schema enforcement
• Horizon authentication