How can one update a user based on external_id?

[jezra]

All accounts are created via SSO, so every user has an external_id. There is a mention that it is possible in another thread: How can I update users via API using the user id (not username)? - #2 by blake

[david (David Taylor)]

You will first need to lookup the user’s Discourse user_id, then make an update request using that. This should help with the first bit:

Find a user by their identity provider 'external ID'

When using an external authentication system, Discourse keeps track of two user ids: the Discourse user_id, and an external_id from the identity provider. If you need to lookup a Discourse user based on the external_id, this howto article is for you! First, take a look at the Discourse REST API Documentation, and configure an admin API key. DiscourseConnect (formerly ‘Discourse SSO’) If you are using “DiscourseConnect”, fetch a user like this: curl https://myforum.example.com/u/by-external/{…

[jezra]

Thank you. I was hoping to avoid making 2 api requests to update the user as I have been having problems with hitting the rate limit. Fortunately, I think I have a solution. If I configure the user_event webhook, I should be able to locally store a user’s discourse id and Discourse username when the user signs into Discourse through SSO. Then I can use the stored Discourse username when making updates to Discourse.