Overview The Admin SDK Directory API allows Google Workspace administrators to manage users, groups, organizational units, devices, and other domain resources.
API Name: adminVersion: directory_v1Official Documentation: Admin SDK Reference Common Resources Users Manage user accounts in your domain.
The user’s primary email address, alias, or unique ID
The domain name (for listing users)
Maximum number of results per page (default: 100, max: 500)
Groups Manage groups and group memberships.
The group’s email address, alias, or unique ID
Organizational Units Manage organizational structure.
Unique customer ID or my_customer for your domain
Full path of the organizational unit
Common Methods List Users gws admin users list --params '{ "domain": "example.com", "maxResults": 50 }'
Array of user objects User’s primary email address
User’s name (givenName, familyName)
User’s organizational unit
Get User gws admin users get --params '{ "userKey": "alice@example.com" }'
Create User gws admin users insert --json '{ "primaryEmail": "newuser@example.com", "name": { "givenName": "New", "familyName": "User" }, "password": "TempPassword123!" }'
Update User gws admin users update \ --params '{"userKey": "alice@example.com"}' \ --json '{ "name": { "givenName": "Alice", "familyName": "Johnson" }, "orgUnitPath": "/Engineering" }'
Delete User gws admin users delete --params '{ "userKey": "olduser@example.com" }'
Group Management List groups
Create group
Add member to group
List group members
gws admin groups list --params '{ "domain": "example.com", "maxResults": 100 }'
Device Management List Chrome OS devices
Get device
Update device
gws admin chromeosdevices list --params '{ "customerId": "my_customer", "maxResults": 50 }'
Organizational Units # List OUs gws admin orgunits list --params '{ "customerId": "my_customer" }' # Create OU gws admin orgunits insert \ --params '{"customerId": "my_customer"}' \ --json '{ "name": "Sales", "parentOrgUnitPath": "/", "description": "Sales department" }'
List users response:
{ "users" : [ { "id" : "12345678901234567890" , "primaryEmail" : "alice@example.com" , "name" : { "givenName" : "Alice" , "familyName" : "Smith" , "fullName" : "Alice Smith" }, "isAdmin" : false , "isDelegatedAdmin" : false , "creationTime" : "2024-01-15T10:00:00.000Z" , "orgUnitPath" : "/Engineering" } ], "nextPageToken" : "abc123..." }
User details response:
{ "id" : "12345678901234567890" , "primaryEmail" : "alice@example.com" , "name" : { "givenName" : "Alice" , "familyName" : "Smith" }, "isAdmin" : false , "suspended" : false , "orgUnitPath" : "/Engineering" , "phones" : [{ "value" : "+1-555-123-4567" , "type" : "work" }], "organizations" : [{ "title" : "Software Engineer" , "department" : "Engineering" }] }
Key Resources
users - Manage user accountsgroups - Manage groupsmembers - Manage group membershipsorgunits - Manage organizational unitschromeosdevices - Manage Chrome OS devicesmobiledevices - Manage mobile devicesdomains - Manage domain settingsroles - Manage admin rolesschemas - Manage custom user schemas
Common Use Cases Provision New Employee # 1. Create user gws admin users insert --json '{ "primaryEmail": "newuser@example.com", "name": {"givenName": "New", "familyName": "User"}, "password": "TempPass123!", "orgUnitPath": "/Engineering" }' # 2. Add to groups gws admin members insert \ --params '{"groupKey": "engineering@example.com"}' \ --json '{"email": "newuser@example.com"}'
Suspend User Account gws admin users update \ --params '{"userKey": "alice@example.com"}' \ --json '{"suspended": true}'
Make User Admin gws admin users makeAdmin \ --params '{"userKey": "alice@example.com"}' \ --json '{"status": true}'
Learn More Schema Inspection Before calling any method, inspect its schema:
gws schema admin.users.list gws schema admin.users.insert
