# Questions on PAT for user account/System Account

**URL:** <https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700>\
**Category:** API & Developers\
**Created:** [18 January 2023 22:25 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700 "2023-01-18T22:25:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![anon84752925](https://luna1.co/8d76cd.png) [@anon84752925](https://forum.asana.com/u/anon84752925)\
**Post date:** [18 January 2023 22:25 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/1 "2023-01-18T22:25:05Z")

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Hey Team,

I have a use case and some questions on the same, can someone please look into this?

Use Case:

I have a script that will run automatically once in a day and fetches some data from Asana using APIs and stores the data in one of our database.

Questions:

1. Whose PAT should I use for the API calls? of course I can use anybody’s PAT that has access to the resources I am querying but the PAT will expire once the user leaves our company. Is there a way to create a system Account/Service Account in Asana and use its PAT to make API calls? I know that Super Admins can create a Service Account, but can we create a PAT for this Service Account?

2. Another concern with using Service Account is that the Service account will have permission to everything in the organization, Is there a way to restrict access to Service Accounts?

3. If a super admin leaves the company, what happens to the Service Account created by them?

Thanks,  
Murali B.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/larry_berger_lpb/32/276017_2.png) [@Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://forum.asana.com/u/Larry_Berger_lpb)\
**Post date:** [19 January 2023 04:17 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/2 "2023-01-19T04:17:16Z")

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@anon84752925,

Service Accounts are an Enterprise plan-only feature:

> **[How to Create and Manage Service Accounts | Asana Product Guide • Asana...](https://asana.com/guide/help/premium/service-accounts)**
>
> This section of the Asana Guide goes over Service Accounts for Asana Enterprise users and how to use them.

1. You may want to create a regular member account solely for this purpose (and pay one extra seat) and give it only the access you desire and create your PAT there. That “user” will never leave your company. Just share the credentials as needed.

2. You can’t alter a Service Account’s permissions which is why I suggest the above approach.

3. Service Accounts (you can have multiple ones) are created and managed by any/all super admins in your org (you can have multiple super admins). Their coming and going won’t affect the Service Accounts in existence.

Hope that helps,

Larry

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**Author:** ![anon84752925](https://luna1.co/8d76cd.png) [@anon84752925](https://forum.asana.com/u/anon84752925)\
**Post date:** [19 January 2023 04:21 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/3 "2023-01-19T04:21:07Z")

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Thanks for the response @Larry_Berger_lpb. I have a follow up questions

```auto
You may want to create a regular member account solely for this purpose (and pay one extra seat) and give it only the access you desire and create your PAT there. That “user” will never leave your company. Just share the credentials as needed.

```

1. How do I create this member account? any link to documentation?
2. Who manages this account?
3. Also, what will be the credentials for this account?

Thank you,  
Murali B.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/larry_berger_lpb/32/276017_2.png) [@Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://forum.asana.com/u/Larry_Berger_lpb)\
**Post date:** [19 January 2023 04:29 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/4 "2023-01-19T04:29:31Z")

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@anon84752925,

This is no different than any other new user to Asana at your organization. Create this user just as you did all others. Make sure they are [somename@yourorganization.com](mailto:somename@yourorganization.com) so they will be a member. You decide who manages this login and among who you share the password.

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**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\
**Post date:** [19 January 2023 05:42 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/5 "2023-01-19T05:42:45Z")

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> [@Larry\_Berger\_lpb](#):
>
> ou may want to create a regular member account solely for this purpose (and pay one extra seat) and give it only the access you desire and create your PAT there. That “user” will never leave your company.

Note that in some cases a guest might be enough if added to the appropriate objects.

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**Author:** ![anon84752925](https://luna1.co/8d76cd.png) [@anon84752925](https://forum.asana.com/u/anon84752925)\
**Post date:** [19 January 2023 20:06 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/6 "2023-01-19T20:06:09Z")

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Thank you @Bastien_Siebman , @Larry_Berger_lpb.

Also, if I want to submit a feature request for asana how would I do it?

It would be really nice if Asana would integrate with some secret store eg: SecretsManager to store PATs where rotation or resetting of PAT is automated.

I want to submit the above as a feature request.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/larry_berger_lpb/32/276017_2.png) [@Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://forum.asana.com/u/Larry_Berger_lpb)\
**Post date:** [19 January 2023 23:54 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/7 "2023-01-19T23:54:57Z")

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@anon84752925,

To submit a feature request, usually you would post in #Product Feedback so I’d recommend that. One request per topic.

Larry

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anon84752925](https://luna1.co/8d76cd.png) [@anon84752925](https://forum.asana.com/u/anon84752925)\
**Post date:** [20 January 2023 00:56 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/8 "2023-01-20T00:56:36Z")

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Thank you!

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**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/system/32/276370_2.png) [@system](https://forum.asana.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [30 May 2025 18:55 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/questions-on-pat-for-user-account-system-account/310700/9 "2025-05-30T18:55:55Z")

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Closed on 30 May 2025 18:55 UTC


