Set up the first user

  • Explorer v1.11+
  • InfluxDB 3 Enterprise v3.12+

How you install Explorer depends on your InfluxDB 3 server

Starting with InfluxDB 3 Enterprise v3.11, Explorer is included with the server and runs as WebAssembly (WASM)–there’s no separate container to install. Docker is required for InfluxDB 3 Core and Enterprise earlier than v3.11, and remains an option for later Enterprise releases. See Install Explorer to find the instructions for your server.

The first time you open InfluxDB 3 Explorer with a server that has user authentication turned on, and the server doesn’t have any users or an operator token, you create the first user. The first user has full administrative access, including the ability to manage other users.

You can create the first user using one of the following methods:

If someone already created the first user, Explorer opens the Sign in page instead of the setup page.

Explorer setup page

The setup page deletes Explorer data from another cluster

If Explorer was used with a different InfluxDB 3 cluster that required sign-in, creating the first user on the setup page deletes all of Explorer’s data, for every user, without asking: dashboards, saved queries and query history, connections, AI and Grafana settings, chat history, and the users and sessions that Explorer stored. The data on the InfluxDB 3 server isn’t affected.

Use Keep the data only when the current cluster was restored from the previous cluster and its user IDs identify the same people. Create the first user with the influxdb3 CLI, open Explorer, and select Keep the data before you sign in. Enter an administrator’s username and password to confirm the decision. For a different cluster, preserve the existing Explorer storage separately. Use separate Explorer storage or Reset the data for the new cluster. See Resolve “Explorer’s data belongs to another deployment”. For the Explorer Docker container, back up the mounted /db directory first.

  1. Open Explorer in your browser. Explorer opens the Set up InfluxDB 3 Explorer page.

  2. Enter the following:

    • Username: 3 to 64 characters: letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens.
    • Display name (optional): The name that Explorer displays for the user.
    • Password: 10 to 64 characters.
    • Confirm password

  3. Click Create user and continue. Explorer creates the user, signs you in, and displays the operator token for the server.

  4. On the Save your operator token page, copy the token and store it in a secure place, such as a secret store.

  5. Select I have saved this token somewhere safe, and then click Continue to Explorer.

Explorer displays the operator token only once

You can’t view the operator token again after you leave the page. If you lose the token, regenerate the operator token.

If the setup page displays This deployment cannot sign anyone in, see The server can’t sign users in. After you fix the server configuration, the setup page continues on its own.

influxdb3 CLI

Use the influxdb3 CLI to create the first user when Explorer doesn’t open the setup page or the setup page can’t create the user:

  • The server already has an operator token. For example, the server used token authentication before you turned on user authentication. Explorer opens the Sign in page instead of the setup page.
  • The server signs users in only through an identity provider. The setup page can’t create a user without a password. It displays The first user needs a provider identity and the influxdb3 manage init-admin --oauth-id command to run instead.
  • Explorer holds data from a restored cluster with matching user identities. The setup page would delete it. Use Keep the data only if the user IDs identify the same people. After you create the user with the CLI, open Explorer and select Keep the data. Enter an administrator’s username and password to confirm the decision before you sign in.

For the commands, see Bootstrap the initial admin in the InfluxDB 3 Enterprise documentation.

After you create the first user, sign in.

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