Retool API Create Users: What's Possible on Each Plan

If you've been searching for how to use the Retool API to create users — maybe to automate onboarding from a checkout page or provision external portal users — you've likely run into a frustrating wall. The short answer is that automated user provisioning via the Retool API is an Enterprise-only feature. But before you give up, it's worth understanding exactly what is and isn't possible on each plan, and what your best workarounds are right now.

What the Retool API Actually Supports by Plan

Retool offers an API that lets you interact with your organization programmatically, but the scope of that API varies significantly depending on your pricing tier. Here's a breakdown of what you can do with API tokens on each plan:

• Free / Starter: Very limited API access. Token scopes are restricted to Apps, Retool DB, Retool RPC, and Space.
• Business / Professional: You can use the API to embed Retool apps using embed tokens, but user provisioning endpoints are not available. Calls to user management endpoints will return an unexpected HTML response rather than a proper API error — a sign the route isn't exposed at your tier.
• Enterprise: Full API access, including automated user creation, user management, and SCIM provisioning for large-scale onboarding workflows.

If you're on a Business plan and calling https://retool.com/api/v2/apps/users/{id} and getting back an HTML page instead of JSON, that's not a bug — it's the API silently blocking access because the endpoint isn't available at your plan level.

Why Does Retool Restrict the Create Users API to Enterprise?

Retool's roots are in enterprise internal tooling, and features like SCIM, automated provisioning, and user lifecycle management have historically been positioned as enterprise capabilities. As Retool has expanded into portals and external-facing apps — with external users priced at $10/user on Business plans — the gap between what the product can do and what the API exposes has become more noticeable for smaller teams and SaaS builders. This is a known pain point in the Retool community, and the team has acknowledged the feedback, though no timeline for expanding API access has been announced.

What You Can Do on the Business Plan Today

Just because the Retool API create users endpoint isn't available doesn't mean you're completely stuck. Here are the practical options available right now on Business and below:

• Manual user management via the Admin panel: Not ideal for automation, but it works. You can invite users directly from the Retool admin UI under the Users section.
• Embed tokens for app access: If your use case is giving external users access to a specific Retool app, you can generate embed tokens via the API and handle authentication in your own backend. This is documented and fully supported on Business plans.
• Build an internal Retool app for user management: Using Retool Portals, you can create an internal-facing admin app that lets your team manually trigger user invitations or manage portal users through a UI — even if it's not fully automated. This bridges the gap between the admin panel and a custom workflow.
• Webhook + Zapier / Make workarounds: Some teams trigger manual invite flows by combining Retool workflows with email-based onboarding sequences, though this doesn't create Retool users programmatically.

How to Set Up an Embed Token via the Retool API (Business Plan)

If your goal is to give external users access to a Retool app — rather than provisioning full Retool accounts — the embed flow is your best supported option. Here's how it works:

• Generate an API token in Retool with the Apps scope enabled.
• From your backend, make a POST request to https://retool.com/api/v2/embed-token/generate with a JSON body specifying the appId, the externalIdentifier (a unique ID for the user in your system), and any optional user metadata.
• Pass the returned embed token to your frontend and use it to render the Retool app inside an <iframe> or via the Retool Embed SDK.
• Retool will automatically create a portal user record associated with the externalIdentifier the first time the token is used.

This approach effectively automates external user creation as a side effect of the embed flow — without needing Enterprise-level API access. It's the closest thing to a programmatic user creation workflow available on lower-tier plans.

What to Do If You Need Full User Provisioning

If your SaaS genuinely requires creating full Retool user accounts via API — not just portal/external users — your options are limited outside of Enterprise. You can:

• Upvote and comment on the Retool community thread to signal demand for this feature on lower-tier plans.
• Contact Retool sales to discuss whether an Enterprise trial or startup discount applies to your situation.
• Evaluate whether the embed token approach combined with Retool Portals covers enough of your use case to unblock you in the short term.

The Bottom Line

The Retool API create users functionality is locked to Enterprise, and that's unlikely to change in the near term based on official responses in the community. If you're on a Business plan, the embed token flow for external portal users is your most powerful workaround. For internal user provisioning, manual management or an admin-facing Retool app is the practical path forward. It's a real limitation for SaaS teams building on Retool — but knowing exactly where the wall is saves you hours of debugging token scopes and chasing HTML error responses at midnight.