# Headless Authentication

> [!NOTE]
> Creating service accounts requires a [Premium license](https://coder.com/pricing).

Service accounts are headless user accounts that cannot use the web UI to log in
to Coder. This is useful for creating accounts for automated systems, such as
CI/CD pipelines or for users who only consume Coder via another client/API. Service accounts do not have passwords or associated email addresses.

You must have the User Admin role or above to create service accounts.

## Create a service account

<div class="tabs">

## CLI

Use the `--service-account` flag to create a dedicated service account:

```sh
coder users create \
  --username="coder-bot" \
  --service-account
```

## UI

Navigate to **Deployment** > **Users** > **Create user**, then select
**Service account** as the login type.

![Create a user via the UI](../../images/admin/users/headless-user.png)

</div>

## Authenticate as a service account

To make API or CLI requests on behalf of the headless user, learn how to
[generate API tokens on behalf of a user](./sessions-tokens.md#generate-a-long-lived-api-token-on-behalf-of-another-user).