---
layout: default
navsection: api
navmenu: API Methods
title: "groups"
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{% comment %}
Copyright (C) The Arvados Authors. All rights reserved.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-3.0
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API endpoint base: @https://{{ site.arvados_api_host }}/arvados/v1/groups@

Object type: @j7d0g@

Example UUID: @zzzzz-j7d0g-0123456789abcde@

h2. Resource

Groups provides a way to apply the same permissions to a set of Arvados objects.  See "permission model":{{site.baseurl}}/api/permission-model.html for details.

Each Group has, in addition to the "Common resource fields":{{site.baseurl}}/api/resources.html:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Attribute|_. Type|_. Description|_. Example|
|name|string|||
|group_class|string|Type of group. @project@ and @filter@ indicate that the group should be displayed by Workbench and arv-mount as a project for organizing and naming objects. @role@ is used as part of the "permission system":{{site.baseurl}}/api/permission-model.html. |@"filter"@
@"project"@
@"role"@|
|description|text|Free text description of the group.  May be HTML formatted, must be appropriately sanitized before display.||
|properties|hash|User-defined metadata, may be used in queries using "subproperty filters":{{site.baseurl}}/api/methods.html#subpropertyfilters ||
|writable_by|array|(Deprecated) List of UUID strings identifying Users and other Groups that have write permission for this Group.  Users who are allowed to administer the Group will receive a list of user/group UUIDs that have permission via explicit permission links; permissions via parent/ancestor groups are not taken into account.  Other users will receive a partial list including only the Group's owner_uuid and (if applicable) their own user UUID.||
|can_write|boolean|True if the current user has write permission on this group.||
|can_manage|boolean|True if the current user has manage permission on this group.||
|trash_at|datetime|If @trash_at@ is non-null and in the past, this group and all objects directly or indirectly owned by the group will be hidden from API calls.  May be untrashed as long as @delete_at@ is in the future.||
|delete_at|datetime|If @delete_at@ is non-null and in the past, the group and all objects directly or indirectly owned by the group may be permanently deleted.||
|is_trashed|datetime|True if @trash_at@ is in the past, false if not.||
|frozen_by_uuid|string|For a frozen project, indicates the user who froze the project; null in all other cases. When a project is frozen, no further changes can be made to the project or its contents, even by admins. Attempting to add new items or modify, rename, move, trash, or delete the project or its contents, including any subprojects, will return an error.||

h2. Group types and states

h3(#project). Project groups

Groups with @group_class: project@ are used to organize objects and subprojects through ownership.  When "trashed or deleted":#trashing, all items owned by the project (including subprojects, collections, or container requests) as well as permissions (permission links) granted to the project are also trashed or deleted.

h3(#role). Role groups

Groups with @group_class: role@ are used to grant permissions to users (or other groups) through permission links.  Role groups can confer "can_manage" permission but cannot directly own objects.  When "trashed and deleted":#trashing group membership and permission grants (expressed as permission links) are deleted as well.

h3(#filter). Filter groups

Groups with @group_class: filter@ groups are virtual groups; they can not own other objects, but instead their contents (as returned by the "contents":#contents API method) are defined by a query. Filter groups have a special @properties@ field named @filters@, which must be an array of filter conditions. See "list method filters":{{site.baseurl}}/api/methods.html#filters for details on the syntax of valid filters, but keep in mind that the attributes must include the object type (@collections@, @container_requests@, @groups@, @workflows@), separated with a dot from the field to be filtered on.

Filters are applied with an implied *and* between them, but each filter only applies to the object type specified. The results are subject to the usual access controls - they are a subset of all objects the user can see. Here is an example:

<pre>
 "properties":{
  "filters":[
   [
    "groups.name",
    "like",
    "Public%"
   ]
  ]
 },
</pre>

This @filter@ group will return all groups (projects) that have a name starting with the word @Public@ and are visible to the user issuing the query. Because groups can contain many types of object, it will also return all objects of other types that the user can see.

The 'is_a' filter operator is of particular interest to limit the @filter@ group 'content' to the desired object(s). When the 'is_a' operator is used, the attribute must be 'uuid'. The operand may be a string or an array which means objects of either type will match the filter. This example will return all groups (projects) that have a name starting with the word @Public@, as well as all collections that are in the project with uuid @zzzzz-j7d0g-0123456789abcde@.

<pre>
 "properties":{
  "filters":[
   [
    "groups.name",
    "like",
    "Public%"
   ],
   [
    "collections.owner_uuid",
    "=",
    "zzzzz-j7d0g-0123456789abcde"
   ],
   [
    "uuid",
    "is_a",
    [
     "arvados#group",
     "arvados#collection"
    ]
   ]
  ]
 },
 </pre>

"Trashed or deleting":#trashing a filter group causes the group itself to be hidden or deleted, but has no effect on the items returned in "contents", i.e. the database objects in "contents" are not hidden or deleted and may be accessed by other means.

h3(#trashing). Trashing groups

Groups can be trashed by updating the record and setting the @trash_at@ field, or with the "delete":#delete method.  The delete method sets @trash_at@ to "now".

The value of @trash_at@ can be set to a time in the future as a feature to automatically expire groups.

When @trash_at@ is set, @delete_at@ will also be set.  Normally @delete_at = trash_at + Collections.DefaultTrashLifetime@ for projects and filter groups, and @delete_at = trash_at@ for role groups.  When the @trash_at@ time is past but @delete_at@ is in the future, the trashed group is invisible to most API calls unless the @include_trash@ parameter is true.  All objects directly or indirectly owned by the group (including subprojects, collections, or container requests) are considered trashed as well.  Groups in the trashed state can be "untrashed":#untrash so long as @delete_at@ has not past.

Once @delete_at@ is past, the group will be deleted permanently and can no longer be untrashed.  Different group types have different behavior when deleted, described above.

Note: like other groups, "role" groups may have @trash_at@ set to date in the future, however roles groups are required to have @delete_at = trash_at@, so the trash time and delete time expire at the same time.  This means once @trash_at@ expires the role group is deleted immediately.  Role groups with @trash_at@ set can only be "untrashed":#untrash before they expire.

h3(#frozen). Frozen projects

A user with @manage@ permission can set the @frozen_by_uuid@ attribute of a @project@ group to their own user UUID. Once this is done, no further changes can be made to the project or its contents, including subprojects.

The @frozen_by_uuid@ attribute can be cleared by an admin user. It can also be cleared by a user with @manage@ permission, unless the @API.UnfreezeProjectRequiresAdmin@ configuration setting is active.

The optional @API.FreezeProjectRequiresDescription@ and @API.FreezeProjectRequiresProperties@ configuration settings can be used to prevent users from freezing projects that have empty @description@ and/or empty @properties@ entries.

h2. Methods

See "Common resource methods":{{site.baseurl}}/api/methods.html for more information about @create@, @delete@, @get@, @list@, and @update@.

Required arguments are displayed in %{background:#ccffcc}green%.

h3(#contents). contents

Retrieve a list of items owned by the group or user.  Use "recursive" to list objects within subprojects as well.

Arguments:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
{background:#ccffcc}.|uuid|string|The UUID of the group or user to enumerate. If this is a user UUID, this method returns the contents of that user's home project.|path||
|limit|integer (default 100)|Maximum number of items to return.|query||
|order|array|Attributes to use as sort keys to determine the order resources are returned, each optionally followed by @asc@ or @desc@ to indicate ascending or descending order. Sort within a resource type by prefixing the attribute with the resource name and a period.|query|@["collections.modified_at desc"]@|
|filters|array|Conditions for filtering items.|query|@[["uuid", "is_a", "arvados#job"]]@|
|recursive|boolean (default false)|Include items owned by subprojects.|query|@true@|
|exclude_home_project|boolean (default false)|Only return items which are visible to the user but not accessible within the user's home project.  Use this to get a list of items that are shared with the user.  Uses the logic described under the "shared" endpoint.|query|@true@|
|include|array|Look up objects referenced by the indicated fields and include them in the response. Only "owner_uuid" and "container_uuid" are supported. If "owner_uuid" is given, the parent project or user will be returned. If "container_uuid" is given and container requests are returned in the response, the corresponding container records will also be returned. These referenced objects will be returned in the "included" field of the response. For compatibility, a string @"owner_uuid"@ is accepted as equivalent to @["owner_uuid"]@.|query|@"owner_uuid"@
@["owner_uuid","container_uuid"]@|
|include_trash|boolean (default false)|Include trashed objects.|query|@true@|
|include_old_versions|boolean (default false)|Include past versions of the collections being listed.|query|@true@|
|select|array|Attributes of each object to return in the response. Specify an unqualified name like @uuid@ to select that attribute on all object types, or a qualified name like @collections.name@ to select that attribute on objects of the specified type. By default, all available attributes are returned, except on collections, where @manifest_text@ is not returned and cannot be selected due to an implementation limitation. This limitation may be removed in the future.|query|@["uuid", "collections.name"]@|

Notes:

Because adding access tokens to manifests can be computationally expensive, the @manifest_text@ field is not included in listed collections.  If you need it, request a "list of collections":{{site.baseurl}}/api/methods/collections.html with the filter @["owner_uuid", "=", GROUP_UUID]@, and @"manifest_text"@ listed in the select parameter.

Use filters with the attribute format @<item type>.<field name>@ to filter items of a specific type. For example: @["container_requests.state", "=", "Final"]@ to filter @container_requests@ where @state@ is @Final@. All other types of items owned by this group will be unimpacted by this filter and will still be included.

When called with “include=owner_uuid”, the @included@ field of the response is populated with users, projects, or other groups that own the objects returned in @items@.  This can be used to fetch an object and its parent with a single API call.

When called with “include=container_uuid”, the @included@ field of the response is populated with the container associated with each container request in the response.


h3. create

Create a new Group.

Arguments:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
|group|object||query||
|async|boolean (default false)|Defer the permissions graph update by a configured number of seconds. (By default, @async_permissions_update_interval@ is 20 seconds). On success, the response is 202 (Accepted).|query|@true@|

h3(#delete). delete

Put a Group in the trash.  See "Trashing groups":#trashing for details.

Arguments:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
{background:#ccffcc}.|uuid|string|The UUID of the Group in question.|path||

h3. get

Gets a Group's metadata by UUID.

Arguments:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
{background:#ccffcc}.|uuid|string|The UUID of the Group in question.|path||

h3. list

List groups.

See "common resource list method.":{{site.baseurl}}/api/methods.html#index

h3. show

show groups

Arguments:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
{background:#ccffcc}.|uuid|string||path||

h3. update

Update attributes of an existing Group.

Arguments:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
{background:#ccffcc}.|uuid|string|The UUID of the Group in question.|path||
|group|object||query||
|async|boolean (default false)|Defer the permissions graph update by a configured number of seconds. (By default, @async_permissions_update_interval@ is 20 seconds). On success, the response is 202 (Accepted).|query|@true@|

h3(#untrash). untrash

Remove a Group from the trash.  Only valid when @delete_at@ is in the future.  This sets the @trash_at@ and @delete_at@ fields to @null@.

Arguments:

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
{background:#ccffcc}.|uuid|string|The UUID of the Group to untrash.|path||
|ensure_unique_name|boolean (default false)|Rename project uniquely if untrashing it would fail with a unique name conflict.|query||

h3(#shared). shared

This endpoint returns the toplevel set of groups to which access is granted through a chain of one or more permission links rather than through direct ownership by the current user account.  This is useful for clients which wish to browse the list of projects the user has permission to read which are not part of the "home" project tree.  Similar behavior is also available with the @exclude_home_project@ option of the "contents" endpoint.

Specifically, the logic is:

<pre>
select groups that are readable by current user AND
    (the owner_uuid is a user (but not the current user) OR
     the owner_uuid is not readable by the current user OR
     the owner_uuid is a group but group_class is not a project)
</pre>

table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|_. Argument |_. Type |_. Description |_. Location |_. Example |
|include|string|If provided with the value "owner_uuid", this will return owner objects in the @included@ field of the response.|query||

Notes:

When called with “include=owner_uuid”, the @included@ field of the response is populated with users and non-project groups that own the objects returned in @items@.

In addition to the "include" parameter this endpoint also supports the same parameters as the "list method.":{{site.baseurl}}/api/methods.html#index