User Management

Koel supports multiple users with different roles and permissions.

• Admins can do basically anything: manage settings, users, and the shared music library
• Users can access the shared library and manage their own profile and preferences.
• Managers can manage users and the shared library, but not settings.
• Guests can only play music shared by others — they have no library of their own and cannot upload, edit, or delete songs. Useful when you want to share a Koel Plus instance with friends or family without giving them a personal library.

Multi-library support

In the Community edition, all users share a common library (though playlists, favorites, and other stats are private). In Koel Plus, each user manages their own library with the ability to share and collaborate with others. A private library can only be managed by its owner.

First Admin User

Upon installation, Koel prompts to create a first (default) admin user. If you're using the Docker image, the admin user will be created automatically with these credentials:

Email: admin@koel.dev
Password: KoelIsCool

Make sure to change these credentials immediately after logging in for the first time!

Changing First Admin Password

If you forgot the default admin’s password and are unable to log in, you can change it via the command line:

php artisan koel:admin:change-password

Adding More Users

With the manage users permission (admin and manager roles), you can add more users and manage their profiles under Manage → Users. If Koel has been configured with a mailer, you can also invite a user via email. You cannot add, invite, edit, or delete users whose roles are higher than yours.

Changing User Roles

User roles can be changed via the web interface from the Users page if the current user has the manage users permission, or via the command line.