Create a new group and add members

Learn how to use the portal service to create a new group in your portal, and add members to the group.

Prerequisites

You need the following for this tutorial:

Account: An ArcGIS Location Platform, ArcGIS Online, or ArcGIS Enterprise account.
Authentication: A basic understanding of API key authentication or User authentication.

https://developers.arcgis.com/arcgis-rest-js/install/

Steps

Get the portal URL

To access a portal, you need an ArcGIS account which is associated with an organization that allows you to store and manage your content.

In a web browser, sign in to your portal with your ArcGIS account.
Identify the portal URL from the navigation bar. The base URL should be one of the following:
- ArcGIS Location Platform: https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest
- ArcGIS Online: https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest
- ArcGIS Enterprise: https://{machine.domain.com}/{webadaptor}/rest

Implement authentication

You need an access token with the correct privileges for in this tutorial.

Go to the Create an API key tutorial and create an API key with the following privilege(s):
- Privileges
  - Admin privileges > Content > View all
  - Admin privileges > Groups

Create a new group and add members

Add the following import statement to your code.

main.py
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from arcgis.gis import GIS

Establish a connection to the portal using the GIS() module.

main.py
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from arcgis.gis import GIS

# Authenticate with your ArcGIS Online account
gis = GIS("https://www.arcgis.com", "your_username", "your_password")

Create a dictionary of the new group and add it using the create_from_dict method.

main.py
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from arcgis.gis import GIS

# Authenticate with your ArcGIS Online account
gis = GIS("https://www.arcgis.com", "your_username", "your_password")

# Create a group
group_properties = {
    "title": "Example Group",
    "description": "This is an example group",
    "tags": "example, group, arcgis python",
    "snippet": "Example group",
    "access": "public"  # Can be 'private', 'org', or 'public'
}

group = gis.groups.create_from_dict(group_properties)
print(f"Group created: {group.title}")

Add existing members to the new group using the add_users method.

main.py
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from arcgis.gis import GIS

# Authenticate with your ArcGIS Online account
gis = GIS("https://www.arcgis.com", "your_username", "your_password")

# Create a group
group_properties = {
    "title": "Example Group",
    "description": "This is an example group",
    "tags": "example, group, arcgis python",
    "snippet": "Example group",
    "access": "public"  # Can be 'private', 'org', or 'public'
}

group = gis.groups.create_from_dict(group_properties)
print(f"Group created: {group.title}")

# Add an existing member to the group
usernames_to_add = ["member_username1", "member_username2"]
result = group.add_users(usernames_to_add)

Verify members were added to the group.

main.py
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from arcgis.gis import GIS

# Authenticate with your ArcGIS Online account
gis = GIS("https://www.arcgis.com", "your_username", "your_password")

# Create a group
group_properties = {
    "title": "Example Group",
    "description": "This is an example group",
    "tags": "example, group, arcgis python",
    "snippet": "Example group",
    "access": "public"  # Can be 'private', 'org', or 'public'
}

group = gis.groups.create_from_dict(group_properties)
print(f"Group created: {group.title}")

# Add an existing member to the group
usernames_to_add = ["member_username1", "member_username2"]
result = group.add_users(usernames_to_add)

if 'notAdded' in result and result['notAdded']:
    print(f"Failed to add user(s): {result['notAdded']}")
else:
    print(f"Users added successfully to the group {group.title}")

Add the following import statement to your code.

rest-js.js
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import { ApiKeyManager } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-request';
import { createGroup, addGroupUsers } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-portal';

Create a user session using your credentials

rest-js.js
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import { ApiKeyManager } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-request';
import { createGroup, addGroupUsers } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-portal';

const apiKey = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";
const authentication = ApiKeyManager.fromKey(apiKey);

Create a new group

rest-js.js
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import { ApiKeyManager } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-request';
import { createGroup, addGroupUsers } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-portal';

const apiKey = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";
const authentication = ApiKeyManager.fromKey(apiKey);

// Create a new group
const createGroupResponse = await createGroup({
  title: 'New Group Title',
  description: 'Description of the new group',
  access: 'public', // other options are 'org' and 'private'
  authentication,
});

Add exiting members to the new group

rest-js.js
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import { ApiKeyManager } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-request';
import { createGroup, addGroupUsers } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-portal';

const apiKey = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";
const authentication = ApiKeyManager.fromKey(apiKey);

// Create a new group
const createGroupResponse = await createGroup({
  title: 'New Group Title',
  description: 'Description of the new group',
  access: 'public', // other options are 'org' and 'private'
  authentication,
});

if (createGroupResponse.success) {
  const groupId = createGroupResponse.group.id;
  console.log(`Group created successfully with ID: ${groupId}`);

  // Add existing members to the newly created group
  const usernameToAdd = ['existing_member_username1', 'existing_member_username2'];
  const addGroupUsersResponse = await addGroupUsers({
    id: groupId,
    users: usernameToAdd,
    authentication,
  });

Verify members was added to the group

rest-js.js
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import { ApiKeyManager } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-request';
import { createGroup, addGroupUsers } from '@esri/arcgis-rest-portal';

const apiKey = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";
const authentication = ApiKeyManager.fromKey(apiKey);

// Create a new group
const createGroupResponse = await createGroup({
  title: 'New Group Title',
  description: 'Description of the new group',
  access: 'public', // other options are 'org' and 'private'
  authentication,
});

if (createGroupResponse.success) {
  const groupId = createGroupResponse.group.id;
  console.log(`Group created successfully with ID: ${groupId}`);

  // Add existing members to the newly created group
  const usernameToAdd = ['existing_member_username1', 'existing_member_username2'];
  const addGroupUsersResponse = await addGroupUsers({
    id: groupId,
    users: usernameToAdd,
    authentication,
  });

  if (addGroupUsersResponse.notAdded.length === 0) {
    console.log(`Users added to the group successfully.`);
  } else {
    console.log(`Failed to add users to the group.`);
    console.log('Details:', addGroupUsersResponse.notAdded);
  }

View the results

If successful, your code will print an output like this to verify that the operation was successful:

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Group created: Example Group
Users added successfully to the group Example Group

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Group created successfully with ID: <group_id>
Users added to the group successfully.

What's next

Sign in and access your portal

Use the portal service to sign in and access your portal.

ArcGIS Location Platform ArcGIS Online ArcGIS Enterprise JavaScript Maps SDK Python API REST API

List items in your portal

Use the portal service to list items in your portal.

ArcGIS Location Platform ArcGIS Online ArcGIS Enterprise JavaScript Maps SDK Python API REST JS REST API

Set sharing level for an item

Use the portal service to set the sharing level for an item in your portal.

ArcGIS Location Platform ArcGIS Online ArcGIS Enterprise JavaScript Maps SDK REST JS REST API