Invite people and manage accounts

Silo is in active development before 1.0. These guides are updated frequently.

Use an invitation when someone should choose their own password. Create an account yourself when you need to set it up before handing it over. Both actions are in Admin > Users in the web app.

An account is a sign-in for your server. Its profiles keep household members’ history and preferences separate. Make most people User, even if they manage profiles for their family. Admin gives control of the server.

If people sign in with an identity provider such as authentik or Active Directory, see Set up single sign-on. Their accounts can be created the first time they sign in.

Invitation and password reset links point to your server’s Silo public URL. Set it in Admin > Server > General first, using an address the recipient can open. Without it, Silo can’t create these links.

Invite someone

1. Open the Invitations tab on Admin > Users and choose Invite someone.
2. Enter their email address. This will also be their sign-in username.
3. Choose an Access group and check the library access. Leave Role set to User.
4. Keep Create their first profile on if they need a ready-to-use profile.
5. Choose Send invite. If email isn’t set up, copy the invitation link and send it privately.

The link works once and expires after seven days. The recipient chooses a password, then signs in to your server. Send them Join a server with the invitation.

If the link expires, resend the invitation to create a new link. Revoking a pending invitation stops its link from working; it doesn’t remove an account that has already accepted.

Invitations create accounts with a Silo password, so they can’t be sent or accepted while Allow password sign-in is off in Admin > Sign-in & Security > Sign-in. People join by signing in with the sign-in provider instead.

Create an account yourself

1. In Admin > Users, choose Add User.
2. Enter a username, email address, and password. Keep Create a default profile selected unless you plan to add profiles separately.
3. Select Require change at first sign-in so the person chooses their own password before using the account.
4. Review Access and Limits, then create the user.
5. Share the server address and credentials privately. Ask the person to sign in through the web app first to choose their password.

For a group of people with the same access, configure an access group first.

Change access or reset a password

Open the person’s name in Admin > Users and choose Access & limits. The pencil on their row in the list opens this tab directly. Each card on the tab saves on its own: choose Edit on the card, make the change, then choose Save. Sign-in & role has the username, email, role, and how many profiles the account can have. Library access, Downloads, Playback & streaming, and Requests have the access and limits described in Set access and limits.

To suspend an account without deleting it, open the ⋯ menu at the top of the account page and choose Disable account. The person can’t sign in until you choose Enable account, and their profiles, history, and downloads are kept.

The Profiles card on Overview lists the account’s household profiles. Missing media or unexpected restrictions can come from the profile as well as the account.

To fix the rows one profile sees on Home, see Fix a profile’s home screen.

To see the web app as that person does, use View as user. Actions in that session affect their account.

Help someone reset their password

For an enabled account that uses a local password:

1. Open the person’s name in Admin > Users and choose Reset password.
2. Choose Email a reset link, then Email link. To send the link yourself, choose Create a link to share, then Create link, and use Copy link to send it privately.
3. Have the person open the link and choose a new password.

Emailing the link needs email set up and an email address on the account. A link works once and expires after 24 hours. Creating a new reset link replaces the previous one.

To hand over a temporary password instead, choose Reset password, then Set a temporary password. Enter the password, keep They must choose a new one at next sign-in selected, and choose Set password. The person then signs in through the web app to replace it before using their other apps.

Completing a reset link or setting a temporary password signs the account out on its devices. API keys remain active; revoke those separately if the account was compromised. For accounts connected to a sign-in provider, reset the password with that provider.

Let people reset their own passwords

Set the Silo public URL and set up email, then turn on Self-service password reset under Silo passwords in Admin > Sign-in & Security > Sign-in and save. It is off by default. The web sign-in page then shows Forgot password?.

People can request a link using their username or email address. These links expire after one hour. See Forgot your password? for the steps to share with them.

Sign-in and break-glass accounts

When the server uses single sign-on, open the person’s name in Admin > Users and choose the Sign-in tab to see how the account signs in.

Password sign-in says whether the account can sign in with a Silo password. Connecting a sign-in provider turns it off, unless the account is break-glass. To turn it back on, for example when the account’s provider is gone, choose Set a password. While it’s off, the page header shows Set password where other accounts show Reset password.

Break-glass account, on admin accounts, keeps password sign-in when it’s turned off for the server, so the admin can still get in if the provider is down. The server owner is break-glass by default, and only the owner can change this switch. Make sure at least one break-glass admin knows their Silo password. To sign in with it, see If you’re locked out.

Sign-in provider identities lists the provider accounts this account signs in with. Choose Unlink to remove one. Connect identity connects one by hand, but it needs the provider’s exact ID for the person, which the dialog explains. It’s usually easier to have the person connect it themselves while they still have a Silo password.

A lost device or unwanted playback

To sign out a lost device, open the person’s name in Admin > Users and choose the Sign-in tab. Signed-in sessions lists the browsers and apps signed in to the account, with each one’s device, last activity, and sign-in time. Choose Sign out on a row to end that session, or Sign out everywhere to end all of them. The password stays the same and the account stays enabled, so the person signs back in on the devices they still have.

A signed-out session loses access on its next request, though a video already playing may not stop right away. Jellyfin-compatible apps appear in the list like any other session. Sign out everywhere also signs the account out of Audiobookshelf-compatible apps, which the list doesn’t show, and cancels TV sign-ins the account approved that the TV hasn’t finished yet. API keys are separate; revoke them if the account was compromised.

Only the server owner can sign out another admin or the owner. Any admin can sign out their own sessions.

People can sign out their own sessions in Settings > Signed-in sessions; see See where you’re signed in.

Use active playback controls to stop a stream. Stopping playback doesn’t sign the account out. If an account is compromised, disable it while you arrange recovery with the person it belongs to.

Admin > Users > Devices holds saved preferences and device overrides, not sign-ins.