Auto linking is only supported with manual intervention?

I noticed that the auto-linking feature in an IDP is set with (manual), which requires the user to input their email again on Zitadel. Why is it not automatically linked form the beginning if it is enabled so that no manual intervention is needed?

Ask Inkeep•11/21/25, 6:17 PM

Hi @nullsense, I'm an AI assistant for ZITADEL. While a team member reviews this question, I'll see if I can find relevant sources for your question.

Ask Inkeep•11/21/25, 6:17 PM

Answer

ZITADEL actually supports both manual and automatic account linking through the

autoLinking

autoLinking

option. (1)

The Account linking allowed (manually) setting enables existing ZITADEL accounts to be linked with identities from external IdPs, but it requires that a linkable ZITADEL account already exists for the user attempting to log in with an external IdP. (2)

However, there's also an Automatic linking options feature that enables existing ZITADEL accounts to be linked with identities from external IdPs automatically. If not disabled, ZITADEL will check for an existing account with the configured criteria (username or email) and prompt the user to link the account.

The

autoLinking

autoLinking

field can be set to

AUTO_LINKING_OPTION_USERNAME

AUTO_LINKING_OPTION_USERNAME

AUTO_LINKING_OPTION_EMAIL

AUTO_LINKING_OPTION_EMAIL

to enable users to get prompted to link an existing ZITADEL user to an external account if the selected attribute matches. (1)

If you want fully automatic linking without any manual intervention, you need to:

Enable the automatic linking option with either username or email matching (2) (1)
Optionally disable the manual account linking setting if you want to prevent users from manually linking accounts (2)