How signing in and invitations work

Signing in uses your QGIS account, and accounts are created by invitation. This page explains both. If your question is not answered here, ask a feed maintainer.

How do I get a QGIS account?

Somebody invites you. There is no sign up form. An account on another QGIS site is not enough on its own. Every account here is created by an existing contributor.

Ask someone who already writes for the feed, or ask a feed maintainer. They create your account and send you a link.

What is a passkey?

A passkey lets your device prove who you are, using the same face scan, fingerprint or screen lock you already use to unlock it. There is no password on your QGIS account at all.

This is safer and quicker. There is no password to forget, to reuse, or for somebody to steal. A passkey also cannot be given to a fake sign in page by mistake.

A passkey can live on your phone, your laptop, or a hardware key. Keep at least two, on two different devices. If you have only one and you lose it, you cannot sign in.

How do I add a passkey?

  1. Open Your account from the menu under your name.
  2. Choose Add a passkey.
  3. Sign in as usual, then follow what your device asks. The new passkey belongs to the device you are using, so use the one you want to add.

How do I remove a passkey?

Open Your account, find the passkey in the list, and choose the remove button beside it.

You cannot remove your last passkey. Your account has no password, so removing it would lock you out. Add a second one first, then remove the one you no longer want.

I have lost the device with my passkey

Sign in with one of your other passkeys, open Your account, and remove the one on the lost device. Do this even if the device was locked.

If that was your only passkey, you cannot sign in. Ask a feed maintainer for a new enrolment link and set the account up again.

What am I allowed to do here?

Your role decides it. Open Your account to see yours. Roles are refreshed each time you sign in. If yours has just changed, sign out and in again.

Every role, most trusted first, and what it allows
Open invitations
No limit
25 at a time
10 at a time
10 at a time
3 at a time

Who can I invite?

People at your own level or below, never above. You cannot give someone a role higher than your own.

  • Administrator can invite: Administrator, Web maintainer, Reviewer, User group author, Author
  • Web maintainer can invite: Web maintainer, Reviewer, User group author, Author
  • Reviewer can invite: Reviewer, User group author, Author
  • User group author can invite: User group author, Author
  • Author can invite: Author

There is also a limit on how many invitations you can have open at once. An invitation stays open until that person signs in. After that you can invite someone else.

How do I invite someone?

  1. Open People from the menu under your name.
  2. Choose Invite, then New user.
  3. Fill in their name, their email address and the role you are giving them. The account is created now. Nothing is sent yet.
  4. Send them the setup email, or take the enrolment link and hand it over yourself. The link is shown once and is never stored, so copy it before you leave the page.
The link signs its holder in as that person. Send it only to the person you invited. If you are in the same room, use the QR code beside it.

You are responsible for the people you invite. If your access is withdrawn, theirs is suspended too.

What happens if trust is withdrawn?

A maintainer withdraws trust when somebody should no longer have access, for example when they leave a role. The reason is recorded.

  • That person loses every role and cannot sign in again.
  • It applies to their QGIS account, so it holds across every QGIS site, not only this one.
  • Everyone they invited is suspended, and everyone those people invited.
  • Their published news items stay up and are still credited to them. Nothing is deleted.
  • Anything of theirs waiting to be published goes back to draft.

A maintainer can undo this for 7 days. After that, you need a new invitation.

My account says suspended

Suspended is not the same as withdrawn. The person who invited you lost their access, so yours is paused.

You can still sign in and read, but you cannot change anything. Your work is untouched. Ask a feed maintainer to restore your account.

I cannot sign in

You need an invitation
Your QGIS account works, but there is no account for you on this site yet. Ask a feed maintainer to invite you, and tell them the QGIS account name you signed in with.
You do not have access to that page
You are signed in, but your role does not cover that page. Sign out and in again first. If it still will not open, ask a feed maintainer to check your role.
Too many sign in attempts
Wait a few minutes and try again. We slow repeated attempts down to keep accounts safe.

For anything else, ask a feed maintainer. They handle roles, permissions and the account service itself.