Cloud

DROP USER

The DROP USER statement removes an existing user from Redpanda SQL. DROP ROLE is a synonym for DROP USER, provided for PostgreSQL compatibility. Only a superuser can run this statement.

A user cannot be dropped while they own objects (for example, a catalog or table created by that user) or hold privilege grants. Reassign or drop the owned objects and revoke the grants first, then drop the user.

On Redpanda Cloud BYOC, the Cloud operator synchronizes users from Redpanda Cloud’s organization IAM. If you DROP USER for an identity that still exists in Redpanda Cloud IAM, the operator can re-provision the user on the next sync. Remove the user from Redpanda Cloud IAM first, or use the data-plane RBAC role to revoke their SQL access. See Manage access to Redpanda SQL.

Syntax

DROP { USER | ROLE } [IF EXISTS] user_name;

  • user_name: Name of the user to drop. Cannot be CURRENT_USER or CURRENT_ROLE. The user running the statement cannot drop themselves, and the protected system superuser cannot be dropped.

  • IF EXISTS: Optional. Prevents an error if the user does not exist.

Examples

Drop an existing user:

DROP USER "alice@example.com";

Drop a user only if it exists:

DROP USER IF EXISTS "legacy-account@example.com";

If the user has dependent grants or owned objects, the statement fails with an error listing the objects. Revoke the grants and reassign or drop owned objects first:

REVOKE SELECT ON EXTERNAL SOURCE default_redpanda_catalog FROM "alice@example.com";
DROP USER "alice@example.com";

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