User provisioning

User provisioning is the most common API integration approach for managing the complete lifecycle of users and their access rights through the Kisi API. This method is ideal when you need to sync users from your system into Kisi, assign them to specific access groups, and manage their permissions programmatically.

Your application creates user accounts in Kisi and grants them access to specific doors or groups. Users then download the native Kisi mobile app to unlock doors using their smartphone, with access to all Kisi features including tap to unlock, MotionSense, schedules, and offline access. All unlock events are attributed to individual users, providing detailed audit trails.

You can create either regular users (who receive emails from Kisi and must register for an account) or managed users (who don't receive Kisi emails and require logins created on their behalf). When you create a regular user, Kisi automatically sends them an email with instructions to download the app and sign in. Once set up, users can unlock doors independently through the Kisi app without any further interaction with your application.

What you can do

• Add and remove users - Create new user accounts and remove users when they leave your organization
• Fetch groups - Retrieve available access groups to understand your organization's access structure
• Assign access rights - Grant users access to specific doors by adding them to groups
• Remove access rights - Revoke access temporarily or permanently by removing users from groups

How it works

User provisioning follows this pattern:

1. Your application calls the Kisi API to create users and assign them to groups
2. For regular users, Kisi sends an automated email with app download instructions
3. Users sign in to the Kisi mobile app and can immediately unlock assigned doors
4. Your application manages the user lifecycle (updates, access changes, removal) through ongoing API calls

All access control happens through group memberships. When you assign a user to a group, they automatically inherit access to all doors associated with that group.

Getting started

Before implementing user provisioning, make sure you've completed the quick start guide to understand API authentication, headers, and basic request patterns. Then follow the guides above to implement your specific use case.