The commit history is clean, but your user list is chaos.

Mercurial user management is the cornerstone of a secure, efficient codebase. Without clear control over who can push, pull, or modify repositories, you invite silent errors and security risks. In distributed version control, small mistakes scale quickly. Mercurial offers native tools to define roles, track changes, and lock workflows before they drift. Well-structured user permissions create a predictable development environment and reduce friction in collaborative projects.

Start by defining access policies. Use the .hg/hgrc configuration to specify read and write privileges per repository. Combine this with authentication hooks to verify user identity before commands run. Mercurial supports integration with external authentication systems like LDAP and Kerberos, allowing centralized account management across your organization. This keeps credentials consistent and limits duplication.

Audit activity logs regularly. Mercurial’s built-in hg log and server-side logging give visibility into every changeset along with who authored it. Apply user-based filtering to detect anomalous commits or unauthorized merges. Pair this with commit signing to ensure author authenticity.

Automate onboarding and offboarding. New engineers should receive access tied to their role from day one, while departing users must be fully deactivated. Script these updates to minimize human error and sync them with your source hosting or CI/CD pipeline. When roles change, permissions should change with them—instant updates prevent privilege creep.

Measure the health of your user management. Repositories should have no stale accounts, no overlapping rights, and no orphaned changesets. A clean user map is not just security—it’s performance. Precise access control accelerates reviews, improves code trust, and protects production.

Strong Mercurial user management is the difference between a repository you control and one that controls you. See it live in minutes with hoop.dev—configure your workflows, lock permissions, and keep your codebase secure.