This is a how-to guide intended to help existing site admins understand how to grant admin or moderator privileges to a user through Discourse.
Required user level: Administrator
Admin privileges in Discourse are powerful and allow the user to manage almost all aspects of the site. For full details on what staff users can do on a site, see Understanding user statuses, roles, and permissions.
Here is a step-by-step process on how to grant admin or moderator privileges to a user on your site directly through the Discourse User Interface:
Step 1: Locate the User
On your Admin Sidebar (.../admin), click on the “Users” tab. This will take you to a list of all users registered on your Discourse forum.
You can use the search bar under the Active Users label at the top of the page to find the user you wish to grant privileges to.
Clicking on a username in the search results will take you to their user’s admin page.
You can also directly search for the user using the header’s search 
button on your site. Click on the search result to access their profile. From there, click on the “Admin” button to access the user’s admin page.
Step 2: Grant Privileges
On the user’s admin page, scroll down until you see the “Permissions” section.
Here you’ll see two sections labeled “Moderator” and “Admin”. Click the box corresponding to the privilege level you wish to grant to the user.
Step 3: Confirm Changes
When granting admin privileges in Discourse, an additional confirmation method is required from the user who is granting the privileges. This is an additional security measure to ensure that admin rights are not granted accidentally or without proper authorization.
When you grant admin rights to a user, Discourse will send an email to your registered email address. You’ll need to confirm the action by clicking on the link provided in the email. Once you’ve done this, the user will be granted admin rights.
If Two-Factor-Authentication is enabled on your account, instead of verifying admin privileges via email, you will need to confirm your 2FA authentication code.
This additional verification step does not apply when granting moderator privileges. Moderator privileges can be granted directly from the user’s admin page without the need for secondary confirmation.
To see all of the current staff users on your site, you can visit your site’s /admin/users/list/staff page.
Additional Details
Revoking Privileges: If you need to revoke admin or moderator privileges from a user, you can do so by unchecking the corresponding box on the user’s admin page and clicking “Save Changes”. Email confirmation is not required when revoking privileges.
Staff Limits: If you are on a Discourse hosted plan, the total number of staff users (admins and moderators) allowed on your site will vary. See Below for details:
| Plan | Basic | Standard | Business | Enterprise | Self-Hosted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff Limit | 5 | 5 | 15 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Last edited by @SaraDev 2024-09-06T21:18:33Z
Last checked by @SaraDev 2024-06-12T20:17:02Z
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