draft: add endpoints to create and modify users by viadanna · Pull Request #38894 · openedx/openedx-platform

viadanna · 2026-07-15T19:47:31Z

Description

This PR adds endpoints to create and modify users.

Supporting information

Private Refs:

Testing instructions

Make a POST request to /api/user/v1/modify to create a user, e.g.

$ http POST http://local.openedx.io:8000/api/user/v1/modify --auth-type bearer --auth TOKEN username=test email=test@example.com password=12345678 name=Test
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Allow: POST, PATCH, OPTIONS
Content-Language: en
Content-Length: 31
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:49:26 GMT
Server: WSGIServer/0.2 CPython/3.11.8
Set-Cookie: openedx-language-preference=en; Domain=local.openedx.io; expires=Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:49:26 GMT; Max-Age=1209600; Path=/; SameSite=Lax
Set-Cookie: csrftoken=uVKV5sKqW6wkR7bzxV6Avju4QLpYIMuw; expires=Wed, 14 Jul 2027 14:49:26 GMT; Max-Age=31449600; Path=/; SameSite=Lax
Set-Cookie: lms_sessionid=1|2dh9womlw77dgrx1pivuj0sg9i9u5ybq|WWtn1GLVCf45|IjRjOTNkMjg0ZjVlOGY2NGUzMDQ4NjY1YzYxNzY2YjBmNTI2MmI5NWI4ZjY5ZWMzZTk4YWVjNTYwZjZlOWVkZWYi:1wk0vO:YUj--lO47gIYgyE3ECpwA9H3ats72cPfhsaAMISRph4; Domain=local.openedx.io; HttpOnly; Path=/; SameSite=Lax
Vary: Accept, Accept-Language, Cookie, origin
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN

{
    "user_id": 6,
    "username": "test"
}

Make a PATCH request to modify an existing user, e.g.

$ http PATCH http://local.openedx.io:8000/api/user/v1/modify --auth-type bearer --auth TOKEN username=test first_name=Test last_name=User
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Allow: POST, PATCH, OPTIONS
Content-Language: en
Content-Length: 31
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:14:34 GMT
Server: WSGIServer/0.2 CPython/3.11.8
Set-Cookie: openedx-language-preference=en; Domain=local.openedx.io; expires=Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:14:34 GMT; Max-Age=1209600; Path=/; SameSite=Lax
Set-Cookie: lms_sessionid=1|w489j3st009e06ej1fuqk52mbtjviq2r|ZXnG9qPRsD9K|ImI5ZTJlMjBkMDE3NmJkM2Q0YzM1YmU3Nzg3OGMyMjUwODQ1NWM4Zjc2NWRjNDZhMTc5Y2Q1YjAzMjhiMGRiNzIi:1wk1Ji:E-vJBuc200cn9TzEhbD3k3fTpUkuESZ6M7A8TzVq0HM; Domain=local.openedx.io; expires=Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:14:34 GMT; HttpOnly; Max-Age=1209600; Path=/; SameSite=Lax
Vary: Accept, Accept-Language, origin, Cookie
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN

{
    "user_id": 6,
    "username": "test"
}

Deadline

None, still a draft

openedx-webhooks · 2026-07-15T19:47:36Z

Thanks for the pull request, @viadanna!

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Pull request overview

This PR introduces a new admin-only “modify user” API endpoint in user_api to support creating users (POST) and updating user attributes (PATCH) via /api/user/v1/modify.

Changes:

Added UserModifyView with JWT/Bearer/Session authentication and IsAdminUser permission, implementing POST (create) and PATCH (update).
Wired the new endpoint into user_api URL routing.
Added initial HTTP-level tests covering user creation success and common validation failures.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

File	Description
openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/views.py	Adds `UserModifyView` implementing POST/PATCH behavior for user creation and updates.
openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/urls.py	Registers the new `v1/modify` route.
openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/tests/test_views.py	Adds tests for the new create-user endpoint behavior.

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+from rest_framework.exceptions import ParseError, ValidationError
+from rest_framework.permissions import IsAdminUser, IsAuthenticated
+from rest_framework.views import APIView, Response


samuelallan72 · 2026-07-16T00:21:35Z

+            user = self._get_user_by_email_or_username(request)
+            if not user:
+                return Response(
+                    data={"error_message": "User not found."},
+                    status=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND,
+                )
+            user = UserSerializer().update(user, request.data)


@viadanna I don't like the suggested code here. However, it may be a valid point that we should limit which fields may be updated here - at least blocking password changes. Not sure if the UserSerializer already does that.

samuelallan72 · 2026-07-16T00:19:59Z

+        email = request.data.get("email")
+        username = request.data.get("username")
+        query = {}
+        if email:
+            query["email"] = email
+        if username:
+            query["username"] = username
+        return User.objects.filter(**query).first()


@viadanna Agreed that this logic needs updating. I don't like the suggestion here though, as this still allows the weird case where both an email and username are provided. Maybe something like:

if email: return User.objects.filter(email=email).first() elif username: return User.objects.filter(username=username).first()

And document which field takes precedence if both are provided.

+    **Example Requests**
+
+        POST /api/user/v1/modify/
+
+        PATCH /api/user/v1/modify/
+
+    **Example GET Response**
+
+        If the request is successful, an HTTP 200 "OK" response is returned
+        along with the user id and username, e.g.:


 import pytest
+import json
+
 import ddt
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.test.utils import override_settings


 USER_LIST_URI = "/api/user/v1/users/"
 USER_PREFERENCE_LIST_URI = "/api/user/v1/user_prefs/"
 ROLE_LIST_URI = "/api/user/v1/forum_roles/Moderator/users/"
+User = get_user_model()


+    def patch(self, request):
+        """
+        Update user information by email or username.
+        """


samuelallan72 · 2026-07-16T00:10:08Z

@viadanna could you rebase this on latest master please, and resolve the conflicts? :)

viadanna added 2 commits July 15, 2026 16:40

feat: API to create users

6ea04c5

feat: API to modify users

80fd1d7

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 15, 2026 19:47

viadanna requested a review from a team as a code owner July 15, 2026 19:47

openedx-webhooks added the open-source-contribution PR author is not from Axim or 2U label Jul 15, 2026

openedx-webhooks added this to Contributions Jul 15, 2026

github-project-automation Bot moved this to Needs Triage in Contributions Jul 15, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of viadanna July 15, 2026 19:47 View session

viadanna requested a review from xitij2000 July 15, 2026 19:50

viadanna self-assigned this Jul 15, 2026

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 15, 2026

View reviewed changes

viadanna changed the title ~~Viadanna/create user endpoint~~ draft: add endpoints to create and modify users Jul 15, 2026

viadanna added 2 commits July 15, 2026 17:21

fix: improve unit tests

e305ddb

fix: improve unit tests

2b862ab

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draft: add endpoints to create and modify users#38894

draft: add endpoints to create and modify users#38894
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viadanna commented Jul 15, 2026

Description

Supporting information

Testing instructions

Deadline

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