gplay-user-management

User & Grant Management

Manage team members and their permissions in Google Play Console. Two layers:

• Users (gplay users) — account-wide members. Permissions here (*_GLOBAL, CAN_SEE_ALL_APPS) apply across the whole developer account.
• Grants (gplay grants) — per-app access for a user. Permissions here apply to a single package only.

Use users to add someone to the account (optionally with account-wide powers). Use grants to give an existing user access to specific apps without granting account-wide reach. Least privilege: prefer per-app grants over global permissions.

Preconditions

• Credentials set (gplay auth login or GPLAY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT).
• Service account needs permission to manage users (CAN_MANAGE_PERMISSIONS_GLOBAL).
• Developer ID is required for every command. Pass it with --developer. Find it in the Play Console URL (play.google.com/console/u/0/developers/<DEVELOPER_ID>/...).

Key concepts

• The flag is --developer (Developer ID), not --developer-id.
• There is no --role or --permissions flag. Permissions are supplied as a JSON body via --json.
• --json accepts an inline JSON string or @path/to/file.json.
• Users JSON key: developerAccountPermissions (account-wide). Grants JSON key: appLevelPermissions (per-app).
• delete requires --confirm — it is a no-op safety guard, and the deletion is irreversible.

Users (account-wide)

# List users
gplay users list --developer DEVELOPER_ID
gplay users list --developer DEVELOPER_ID --paginate --page-size 50
gplay users list --developer DEVELOPER_ID --output table

# Create a user (inline JSON)
gplay users create \
  --developer DEVELOPER_ID \
  --email user@example.com \
  --json '{"developerAccountPermissions":["CAN_SEE_ALL_APPS"]}'

# Create with an expiration and JSON from a file
gplay users create \
  --developer DEVELOPER_ID \
  --email contractor@example.com \
  --json @perms.json

# Update a user's account-wide permissions
gplay users update \
  --developer DEVELOPER_ID \
  --email user@example.com \
  --json '{"developerAccountPermissions":["CAN_SEE_ALL_APPS","CAN_VIEW_FINANCIAL_DATA_GLOBAL"]}'

# Delete a user (requires --confirm)
gplay users delete \
  --developer DEVELOPER_ID \
  --email user@example.com \
  --confirm

Users JSON body (expirationTime is optional, RFC 3339):

{
  "developerAccountPermissions": [
    "CAN_SEE_ALL_APPS",
    "CAN_VIEW_FINANCIAL_DATA_GLOBAL"
  ],
  "expirationTime": "2025-12-31T23:59:59Z"
}

update also accepts --update-mask (comma-separated fields) to update only specific fields; if omitted, all fields in the body are applied.

Account-level permissions (users)

CAN_SEE_ALL_APPS, CAN_VIEW_FINANCIAL_DATA_GLOBAL, CAN_MANAGE_PERMISSIONS_GLOBAL, CAN_EDIT_GAMES_GLOBAL, CAN_PUBLISH_GAMES_GLOBAL, CAN_REPLY_TO_REVIEWS_GLOBAL, CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_APKS_GLOBAL, CAN_MANAGE_TRACK_APKS_GLOBAL, CAN_MANAGE_TRACK_USERS_GLOBAL, CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_LISTING_GLOBAL, CAN_MANAGE_DRAFT_APPS_GLOBAL, CAN_CREATE_MANAGED_PLAY_APPS_GLOBAL, CAN_CHANGE_MANAGED_PLAY_SETTING_GLOBAL, CAN_MANAGE_ORDERS_GLOBAL

Grants (per-app)

# Grant a user access to one app
gplay grants create \
  --developer DEVELOPER_ID \
  --email user@example.com \
  --package com.example.app \
  --json '{"appLevelPermissions":["CAN_ACCESS_APP","CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_APKS"]}'

# Update an app grant
gplay grants update \
  --developer DEVELOPER_ID \
  --email user@example.com \
  --package com.example.app \
  --json '{"appLevelPermissions":["CAN_ACCESS_APP","CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_LISTING"]}'

# Revoke an app grant (requires --confirm)
gplay grants delete \
  --developer DEVELOPER_ID \
  --email user@example.com \
  --package com.example.app \
  --confirm

Grants JSON body:

{
  "appLevelPermissions": [
    "CAN_ACCESS_APP",
    "CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_APKS"
  ]
}

update also accepts --update-mask.

App-level permissions (grants)

CAN_ACCESS_APP (basic access), CAN_VIEW_FINANCIAL_DATA, CAN_MANAGE_PERMISSIONS, CAN_REPLY_TO_REVIEWS, CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_APKS (production releases), CAN_MANAGE_TRACK_APKS (test tracks), CAN_MANAGE_TRACK_USERS (testers), CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_LISTING, CAN_MANAGE_DRAFT_APPS, CAN_MANAGE_ORDERS

Permission recipes

Build the JSON body from the constants above. CAN_ACCESS_APP is the base for any app grant.

Read-only viewer (per app):

{"appLevelPermissions":["CAN_ACCESS_APP"]}

Release manager (per app):

{"appLevelPermissions":["CAN_ACCESS_APP","CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_APKS","CAN_MANAGE_TRACK_APKS","CAN_MANAGE_TRACK_USERS","CAN_MANAGE_DRAFT_APPS"]}

Finance (per app):

{"appLevelPermissions":["CAN_ACCESS_APP","CAN_VIEW_FINANCIAL_DATA","CAN_MANAGE_ORDERS"]}

Account-wide finance (user):

{"developerAccountPermissions":["CAN_SEE_ALL_APPS","CAN_VIEW_FINANCIAL_DATA_GLOBAL"]}

Workflows

Onboard a member scoped to specific apps — create the user with minimal (or no) account-wide permissions, then add per-app grants:

gplay users create --developer DEVELOPER_ID --email dev@example.com \
  --json '{"developerAccountPermissions":[]}'
gplay grants create --developer DEVELOPER_ID --email dev@example.com \
  --package com.example.app --json '{"appLevelPermissions":["CAN_ACCESS_APP","CAN_MANAGE_PUBLIC_APKS"]}'

Offboard — delete the user to revoke all access at once:

gplay users delete --developer DEVELOPER_ID --email departed@example.com --confirm

Audit — list everyone as a table:

gplay users list --developer DEVELOPER_ID --paginate --output table