MediaWiki

Manual:User rights

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User rights are permissions (like the ability to edit pages or to block users) that can be assigned to different user groups. MediaWiki ships with a default set of user rights and user groups, but these can be customized. This page explains the default rights and groups and how to customize them.

For information about how to add and remove individual wiki users from groups, see Help:User rights and groups and Manual:Setting user groups in MediaWiki .

Changing group permissions

A default MediaWiki installation assigns certain rights to default groups (see below). You can change the default rights by editing the $wgGroupPermissions array in LocalSettings.php with the syntax. 

$wgGroupPermissions['group']['right'] = true /* or false */;
In a default installation $wgGroupPermissions will be set in includes/DefaultSettings.php, but it is not present in LocalSettings.php. You will then need to add it in that file.

If a member has multiple groups, they get all the permissions from each of the groups they are in. All users, including anonymous users, are in the '*' group; all registered users are in the 'user' group. In addition to the default groups, you can arbitrarily create new groups using the same array.

Examples

This example will disable viewing of all pages not listed in $wgWhitelistRead , then re-enable for registered users only: 

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['read'] = false;
# The following line is not actually necessary, since it's in the defaults. Setting '*' to false doesn't disable rights for groups that have the right separately set to true!
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['read'] = true;

This example will disable editing of all pages, then re-enable for users with confirmed email addresses only: 

# Disable for everyone.
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;
# Disable for users, too: by default 'user' is allowed to edit, even if '*' is not.
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['edit'] = false;
# Make it so users with confirmed email addresses are in the group.
$wgAutopromote['emailconfirmed'] = APCOND_EMAILCONFIRMED;
# Hide group from user list.
$wgImplicitGroups[] = 'emailconfirmed';
# Finally, set it to true for the desired group.
$wgGroupPermissions['emailconfirmed']['edit'] = true;

Creating a new group and assigning permissions to it

You can create new user groups by defining permissions for the according group name in $wgGroupPermissions[ 'group-name' ] where group-name is the actual name of the group.

Additionally to assigning permissions, you should create these three wiki pages with fitting content:

  • MediaWiki:Group-<group-name> (content: Name of the group)
  • MediaWiki:Group-<group-name>-member (content: Name of a member of the group)
  • MediaWiki:Grouppage-<group-name> (content: Name of the group page)

By default, bureaucrats can add users to, or remove them from, any group. However, if you are using Manual:$wgAddGroups and Manual:$wgRemoveGroups , you may need to customize those instead.

Examples

This example will create an arbitrary "projectmember" group that can block users and delete pages, and whose edits are hidden by default in the recent changes log: 

$wgGroupPermissions['projectmember']['bot'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['projectmember']['block'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['projectmember']['delete'] = true;
The group name cannot contain spaces, so use 'random-group' or 'random_group' instead of 'random group'. Moreover it is recommended to only use lowercase letters to create a group.

In this example, you would probably also want to create these pages:

  • MediaWiki:Group-projectmember (content: Project members)
  • MediaWiki:Group-projectmember-member (content: Project member)
  • MediaWiki:Grouppage-projectmember (content: Project:Project Members)

This will ensure that the group will be referred to as "Project members" throughout the interface, and a member will be referred to as a "Project member", and overviews will link the group name to Project:Project members.

This example disables write access (page editing and creation) by default, creates a group named "writer", and grants it write access. Users can be manually added to this group via Special:UserRights: 

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createpage'] = false;
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['edit'] = false;
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['createpage'] = false;
$wgGroupPermissions['writer']['edit'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['writer']['createpage'] = true;

In this example, you would probably also want to create these pages:

  • MediaWiki:Group-writer (content: Writers)
  • MediaWiki:Group-writer-member (content: Writer)
  • MediaWiki:Grouppage-writer (content: Project:Write)

Removing predefined groups

MediaWiki out of the box comes with a number of predefined groups. Most of these groups can be removed by unsetting the according array keys, among them $wgGroupPermissions[ '<group-name>' ]. For details, see below.

Example

This example will eliminate the bureaucrat group entirely. It is necessary to ensure that all six of these variables are unset for any group that one wishes to remove from being listed at Special:ListGroupRights; however, merely unsetting $wgGroupPermissions will suffice to remove it from Special:UserRights. This code should be placed after any require_once lines that add extensions, such as Extension:AntiSpoof containing code that gives bureaucrats group permissions by default. 

unset( $wgGroupPermissions['bureaucrat'] );
unset( $wgRevokePermissions['bureaucrat'] );
unset( $wgAddGroups['bureaucrat'] );
unset( $wgRemoveGroups['bureaucrat'] );
unset( $wgGroupsAddToSelf['bureaucrat'] );
unset( $wgGroupsRemoveFromSelf['bureaucrat'] );

In some extensions (Flow, Semantic MediaWiki, etc.), rights are added during extension registration or in a registration function. In this case, it could be necessary to use a registration function in LocalSettings.php to remove some predefined user groups: 

$wgExtensionFunctions[] = function() use ( &$wgGroupPermissions ) {
    unset( $wgGroupPermissions['oversight'] );
    unset( $wgGroupPermissions['flow-bot'] );
};

Note on the group called "user"

With the above mechanism, you can remove the groups sysop, bureaucrat and bot, which - if used - can be assigned through the usual user permission system. However, it is currently impossible to remove the user group. This group is not assigned through the usual permission system. Instead, every registered user automatically is a member of that group. This is hardcoded in MediaWiki and currently cannot be changed easily.

List of permissions

The following user rights are available in the latest version of MediaWiki. If you are using an older version, look at Special:Version on your wiki and see if your version is covered in the "Versions" column.

Right Description User groups that have this right by default Versions
Reading
read Read pages - when set to false, override for specific pages with $wgWhitelistRead
  Warning: Setting the user right read (allow viewing pages) to false will only protect wiki (article, talk, ...) pages, but uploaded files (images, files, docs... in the $wgUploadPath subdirectories) will always remain readable via direct access by default.
Use the information from Manual:Image authorization and img_auth.php pages when you have the need to restrict image views and file download access to only logged-in users.
 *, user 1.5+
Editing
applychangetags Apply tags along with one's changes - requires the edit right user 1.25+
autocreateaccount Automatically log in with an external user account - a more limited version of createaccount — 1.27+
createaccount Create new user accounts - register / registration *, sysop 1.5+
createpage Create pages (which are not discussion pages) - requires the edit right *, user 1.6+
createtalk Create discussion pages - requires the edit right *, user 1.6+
delete-redirect Delete single revision redirects (note that this is not needed if the group already has the delete right) — 1.36+
edit Edit pages *, user 1.5+
editsemiprotected Edit pages protected as "Allow only autoconfirmed users" - without cascading protection - requires the edit right autoconfirmed, bot, sysop 1.22+
editprotected Edit pages protected as "Allow only administrators" - without cascading protection - requires the edit right sysop 1.13+
minoredit Mark edits as minor - requires the edit right user 1.6+
move Move pages - requires the edit right user, sysop 1.5+
move-categorypages Move category pages - requires the move right user, sysop 1.25+
move-rootuserpages Move root user pages - requires the move right user, sysop 1.14+
move-subpages Move pages with their subpages - requires the move right user, sysop 1.13+
movefile Move files - requires the move right as well user, sysop 1.14+
reupload Overwrite existing files - requires the upload right user, sysop 1.6+
reupload-own Overwrite existing files uploaded by oneself - requires the upload right (note that this is not needed if the group already has the reupload right) — 1.11+
reupload-shared Override files on the shared media repository locally - (if one is set up) with local files (requires the upload right) user, sysop 1.6+
sendemail Send email to other users user 1.16+
upload Upload files - requires the edit right and $wgEnableUploads to be true user, sysop 1.5+
upload_by_url Upload files from a URL - requires the upload right (Prior to 1.20 it was given to sysops) — 1.8+
Management
bigdelete Delete pages with large histories (as determined by $wgDeleteRevisionsLimit ) - requires the delete right sysop 1.12+
block Block or unblock other users from editing - Block options include preventing editing and registering new accounts, and autoblocking other users on the same IP address sysop 1.5+
blockemail Block or unblock a user from sending email - allows preventing use of the Special:Emailuser interface when blocking - requires the block right sysop 1.11+
browsearchive Search deleted pages - through Special:Undelete - requires the deletedhistory right sysop 1.13+
changetags Add and remove arbitrary tags on individual revisions and log entries - currently unused by extensions user 1.25+
delete Delete pages 1.5–1.11: allows the deletion or undeletion of pages.
1.12+: allows the deletion of pages. For undeletions, there is now the 'undelete' right, see below 		sysop 1.5+
deletedhistory View deleted history entries, without their associated text sysop 1.6+
deletedtext View deleted text and changes between deleted revisions sysop 1.16+
deletelogentry Delete and undelete specific log entries - allows deleting/undeleting information (action text, summary, user who made the action) of specific log entries - requires the deleterevision right suppress 1.20+
deleterevision Delete and undelete specific revisions of pages - allows deleting/undeleting information (revision text, edit summary, user who made the edit) of specific revisions Split into deleterevision and deletelogentry in 1.20 suppress 1.6+
editcontentmodel Edit the content model of a page - requires the edit right user 1.23.7+
editinterface Edit the user interface - contains interface messages. For editing sitewide CSS/JSON/JS, there are now segregate rights, see below. - requires the edit right sysop, interface-admin 1.5+
editmyoptions Edit your own preferences * 1.22+
editmyprivateinfo Edit your own private data (e.g. email address, real name) and request password reset emails - also hides the "Change Password", but not other ways to change the password - requires the viewmyprivateinfo right * 1.22+
editmyusercss Edit your own user CSS files - prior to 1.31 it was assigned to everyone (i.e. "*") (note that this is not needed if the group already has the editusercss right) - requires the edit right user 1.22+
editmyuserjs Edit your own user JavaScript files - prior to 1.31 it was assigned to everyone (i.e. "*") (note that this is not needed if the group already has the edituserjs right) - requires the edit right user 1.22+
editmyuserjsredirect Edit your own user JavaScript files that are redirects (note that this is not needed if the group already has the edituserjs right) - requires the edit right — 1.34+
editmyuserjson Edit your own user JSON files (note that this is not needed if the group already has the edituserjson right) - requires the edit right user 1.31+
editmywatchlist Edit your own watchlist (note that some actions will still add pages even without this right) - requires the viewmywatchlist right * 1.22+
editsitecss Edit sitewide CSS - requires the editinterface right interface-admin 1.32+
editsitejs Edit sitewide JavaScript - requires the editinterface right interface-admin 1.32+
editsitejson Edit sitewide JSON - requires the editinterface right sysop, interface-admin 1.32+
editusercss Edit other users' CSS files - requires the edit right interface-admin 1.16+
edituserjs Edit other users' JavaScript files - requires the edit right interface-admin 1.16+
edituserjson Edit other users' JSON files - requires the edit right sysop, interface-admin 1.31+
hideuser Block or unblock a username, hiding or unhiding it from the public - Only users with 1000 edits or less can be suppressed by default - requires the block right

Use $wgHideUserContribLimit to disable.

suppress 1.10+
markbotedits Mark rolled-back edits as bot edits - see Manual:Rollback - requires the rollback right sysop 1.12+
mergehistory Merge the history of pages - requires the edit right sysop 1.12+
pagelang Change page language - $wgPageLanguageUseDB must be true — 1.24+
patrol Mark others' edits as patrolled - $wgUseRCPatrol must be true sysop 1.5+
patrolmarks View recent changes patrol marks — 1.16+
protect Change protection settings and edit cascade-protected pages - requires the edit right sysop 1.5+
rollback Quickly rollback the edits of the last user who edited a particular page - requires the edit right sysop 1.5+
suppressionlog View private logs suppress 1.6+
suppressrevision View, hide and unhide specific revisions of pages from any user - Prior to 1.13 this right was named hiderevision - requires the deleterevision right suppress 1.6+
unblockself Unblock oneself - Without it, an administrator that has the capability to block cannot unblock themselves if blocked by another administrator sysop 1.17+
undelete Undelete a page - requires the deletedhistory right sysop 1.12+
userrights Edit all user rights - allows the assignment or removal of all(*) groups to any user.

(*)With $wgAddGroups and $wgRemoveGroups you can set the possibility to add/remove certain groups instead of all

bureaucrat 1.5+
userrights-interwiki Edit user rights of users on other wikis - requires the userrights right — 1.12+
viewmyprivateinfo View your own private data (e.g. email address, real name) * 1.22+
viewmywatchlist View your own watchlist * 1.22+
viewsuppressed View revisions hidden from any user - i.e. a more narrow alternative to "suppressrevision" (note that this is not needed if the group already has the suppressrevision right) suppress 1.24+
Administration
autopatrol Have one's own edits automatically marked as patrolled - $wgUseRCPatrol must be true bot, sysop 1.9+
deletechangetags Delete tags from the database - currently unused by extensions sysop 1.28+
import Import pages from other wikis - "transwiki" - requires the edit right sysop 1.5+
importupload Import pages from a file upload - This right was called 'importraw' in and before version 1.5 - requires the edit right sysop 1.5+
managechangetags Create and (de)activate tags - currently unused by extensions sysop 1.25+
siteadmin Lock and unlock the database - which blocks all interactions with the web site except viewing. (not available by default) — 1.5+
unwatchedpages View a list of unwatched pages - lists pages that no user has watchlisted sysop 1.6+
Technical
apihighlimits Use higher limits in API queries bot, sysop 1.12+
autoconfirmed Not be affected by IP-based rate limits - used for the 'autoconfirmed' group, see the other table below for more information (note that this is not needed if the group already has the noratelimit right) autoconfirmed, bot, sysop 1.6+
bot Be treated as an automated process - can optionally be viewed bot 1.5+
ipblock-exempt Bypass IP blocks, auto-blocks and range blocks sysop 1.9+
nominornewtalk Not have minor edits to discussion pages trigger the new messages prompt - requires the minoredit right bot 1.9+
noratelimit Not be affected by rate limits - not affected by rate limits (prior to the introduction of this right, the configuration variable $wgRateLimitsExcludedGroups was used for this purpose) sysop, bureaucrat 1.13+
override-export-depth Export pages including linked pages up to a depth of 5
With this right, you can define the depth of linked pages at Special:Export. Otherwise, the value of $wgExportMaxLinkDepth , which is 0 by default, will be used. 		— 1.15+
suppressredirect Not create redirects from source pages when moving pages - requires the move right bot, sysop 1.12+
Although these permissions all control separate things, sometimes to perform certain actions you need multiple permissions. For example allowing people to edit but not read pages doesn't make sense, since in order to edit a page you must first be able to read it (Assuming no pages are allowlisted). Allowing uploads but not editing does not make sense, since in order to upload an image you must implicitly create an image description page, etc.


List of groups

The following groups are available in the latest version of MediaWiki. If you are using an older version then some of these may not be implemented.

Group Description Default rights Versions
* All users (including anonymous). createaccount, createpage, createtalk, edit, editmyoptions, editmyprivateinfo, editmywatchlist, read, viewmyprivateinfo, viewmywatchlist 1.5+
temp Temporary user accounts (T330816) Similar to * group 1.41+
user Registered accounts. Does not include temporary accounts. applychangetags, changetags, createpage, createtalk, edit, editcontentmodel, editmyusercss, editmyuserjs, editmyuserjson, minoredit, move, move-categorypages, move-rootuserpages, move-subpages, movefile, purge, read, reupload, reupload-shared, sendemail, upload 1.13+
autoconfirmed Registered accounts at least as old as $wgAutoConfirmAge and having at least as many edits as $wgAutoConfirmCount . autoconfirmed, editsemiprotected 1.6+
bot Accounts with the bot right (intended for automated scripts). autoconfirmed, autopatrol, apihighlimits, bot, editsemiprotected, nominornewtalk, suppressredirect 1.5+
sysop Users who by default can delete and restore pages, block and unblock users, etc. apihighlimits, autoconfirmed, autopatrol, bigdelete, block, blockemail, browsearchive, createaccount, delete, deletedhistory, deletedtext, editinterface, editprotected, editsemiprotected, editsitejson, edituserjson, import, importupload, ipblock-exempt, managechangetags, markbotedits, mergehistory, move, move-categorypages, move-rootuserpages, move-subpages, movefile, noratelimit, patrol, protect, reupload, reupload-shared, rollback, suppressredirect, unblockself, undelete, unwatchedpages, upload 1.5+
interface-admin Users who can edit sitewide CSS/JS. editinterface, editsitecss, editsitejs, editsitejson, editusercss, edituserjs, edituserjson 1.32+
bureaucrat Users who can change the rights of other users by default and therefore have full access of the entire wiki. noratelimit, userrights 1.5+
suppress deletelogentry, deleterevision, hideuser, suppressionlog, suppressrevision, viewsuppressed 1.13+

From MW 1.12, you can create your own groups into which users are automatically promoted (as with autoconfirmed and emailconfirmed) using $wgAutopromote . You can even create any custom group by just assigning rights to them.

Default rights

The default rights are defined in MainConfigSchema.php .

Adding new rights

Information for coders only follows.

If you're adding a new right in core, for instance to control a new special page, you are required to add it to the list of available rights in PermissionManager.php , $coreRights (example). If you're doing so in an extension , you instead need to use $wgAvailableRights .

You probably also want to assign it to some user group by editing $wgGroupPermissions described above.

If you want this right to be accessible to external applications by OAuth or by bot passwords, then you will need to add it to a grant by editing $wgGrantPermissions . 

// create projectmember-powers right
$wgAvailableRights[] = 'projectmember-powers';

// add projectmember-powers to the projectmember-group
$wgGroupPermissions['projectmember']['projectmember-powers'] = true;

// add projectmember-powers to the 'basic' grant so we can use our projectmember powers over an API request
$wgGrantPermissions['basic']['projectmember-powers'] = true;

You also need to add right-[name] and action-[name] interface messages to /languages/i18n/en.json (with documentation in qqq.json). The right-* messages can be seen on Special:ListGroupRights and the action-* messages are used in a sentence like "You do not have permission to ...".

See also

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