Read User Metadata

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Overview

Schema
Find Users
Filter Users
View User Data
View a User's Devices
View a User's Provider Data
View a User's Activity Log
Summary

Overview

Atlas App Services represents each application user internally with a User Object that includes a unique ID and additional metadata that describes the user. You can access user objects:

With the App Services UI, CLI, or Admin API to find and filter users.
In the App Services UI by viewing user data.
In a Function by accessing the context.user interface.
In a rule expression with the %%user expansion.
In Android, iOS, Node, React Native, and .NET client applications using a Realm SDK.

Schema

User objects have the following form:

{
  "id": "<Unique User ID>",
  "type": "<User Type>",
  "data": {
    "<Metadata Field>": <Value>,
    ...
  },
  "custom_data": {
    "<Custom Data Field>": <Value>,
    ...
  },
  "identities": [
    {
      "id": <Unique Identity ID>,
      "provider_type": "<Authentication Provider>",
      "data": {
        "<Metadata Field>": <Value>,
        ...
      }
    }
  ]
}

Field

Type

Description

id

string

A string representation of the ObjectId that uniquely identifies the user.

type

string

The type of the user. The following types are possible:

Type	Description
"normal"	The user is an application user logged in through an authentication provider other than the API Key provider.
"server"	The user is a server process logged in with any type of App Services API Key.
"system"	The user is the system user that bypasses all rules.

data

document

A document that contains metadata that describes the user. This field combines the data for all identities associated with the user, so the exact field names and values depend on which authentication providers the user has authenticated with.

Note

System Functions Have No User Data

In system functions, the user.data object is empty. Use context.runningAsSystem() to test if the function is running as a system user.

custom_data

document

A document from your application's custom user data collection that specifies the user's ID. You can use the custom user data collection to store arbitrary data about your application's users. If you set the name field, App Services populates the username metadata field with the return value of name. App Services automatically fetches a new copy of the data whenever a user refreshes their access token, such as when they log in. The underlying data is a regular MongoDB document, so you can use standard CRUD operations through the MongoDB Atlas service to define and modify the user's custom data.

Note

Avoid Storing Large Custom User Data

Custom user data is limited to 16MB, the maximum size of a MongoDB document. To avoid hitting this limit, consider storing small and relatively static user data in each custom user data document, such as the user's preferred language or the URL of their avatar image. For data that is large, unbounded, or frequently updated, consider only storing a reference to the data in the custom user document or storing the data with a reference to the user's ID rather than in the custom user document.

identities

array

A list of authentication provider identities associated with the user. When a user first logs in with a specific provider, App Services associates the user with an identity object that contains a unique identifier and additional metadata about the user from the provider. For subsequent logins, App Services refreshes the existing identity data but does not create a new identity. Identity objects have the following form:

{
  "id": "<Unique ID>",
  "provider_type": "<Provider Name>",
  "data": {
    "<Metadata Field>": <Value>,
    ...
  }
}

Field Name	Description
`id`	A provider-generated string that uniquely identifies this identity
`provider_type`	The type of authentication provider associated with this identity.
`data`	Additional metadata from the authentication provider that describes the user. The exact field names and values will vary depending on which authentication providers the user has logged in with. For a provider-specific breakdown of user identity data, see User Metadata.

Note

In general, App Services creates a user object for a given user the first time that they authenticate. If you create a test Email/Password user through the App Services UI, App Services creates that user's user object immediately.

Find Users

Filter Users

You can specify filters that limit a list of users to a subset of users that satisfy the filter conditions.

View User Data

View a User's Devices

When a user connects to your application, Atlas App Services logs information similar to the following:

A detail view for a specific user that lists devices they've used with your app

Logged information includes:

The device platform, which will be either an http client ("chrome", "firefox", "phantomjs", etc.) or a mobile OS ("ios", "android", etc.)
The platform version.
Your app version on the device.
A unique device ID.

To view this information, from the list of users, expand any user and then expand Devices.

View a User's Provider Data

Whenever a user connects to your application and authenticates using one of the authentication providers you have enabled, App Services logs the provider data.

A detail view for a specific user that lists metadata about them from an authentication provider

You can view this collection of Provider Data from within the list of users by doing the following:

Find a user in the list of users.
Expand the user, and then expand the Provider Data.

View a User's Activity Log

App Services logs every request made by each of your App users, including executed function calls. Also, if a function writes to the log using console.log, console.warn, or console.error, these entries will be included within the function's log output.

A detail view for a specific user that shows a log of their interactions with your app

To view a user's request logs, follow these steps:

Select App Users from the left navigation menu.
Under the Users tab, find a user in the list and click on the ellipsis (...).
Click View activity. This will redirect you to a log of requests made by that specific user. You can expand an entry to view details for that request.

Summary

The user object contains relevant information about the user that you can use in your app logic.
The exact information contained in the user object depends on the authentication providers used.
You can search for users in the Users page of the App Services UI.
App Services logs information such as user's connected devices, provider data, and activity log.

← Define Custom User Metadata Manage User Accounts →

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Overview

Schema

Note

System Functions Have No User Data

Note

Avoid Storing Large Custom User Data

Note

Find Users

Filter Users

View User Data

View a User's Devices

View a User's Provider Data

View a User's Activity Log

Summary

Read User Metadata