• API documentation
• Query documentation
• Cloud Identity Group Documentation
• Security Group Documentation
• Python Regular Expressions Match function
• Definitions
• Notes
• Collections of Users
• Add members to a group
• Delete members from a group
• Synchronize members in a group
• Delete members from a group by role
• Update member roles and expiration time
• Bulk membership changes
• Display user group member options
• Display group membership in CSV format
• Display group membership in hierarchical format

• https://cloud.google.com/identity/docs/groups
• https://cloud.google.com/identity/docs/reference/rest/v1/groups
• https://cloud.google.com/identity/docs/reference/rest/v1/groups.memberships

• https://cloud.google.com/identity/docs/reference/rest/v1/groups#dynamicgroupquery

• https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2020/08/new-api-cloud-identity-groups-google.html

• https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2020/09/security-groups-beta.html

In the Admin Directory API a group has the following characteristics:

• id - The unique ID of a group
• email - The group's email address
• name - The group's display name

In the Cloud Indentity Groups API a group has the following characteristics:

• name - The unique ID of a group
• groupKey.id - The group's email address
• displayName - The group's display name

The Admin Directory API group characteristic names will be used.

Dynamic Groups require Cloud Identity Premium accounts.

• https://cloud.google.com/identity/docs/how-to/create-dynamic-groups

The cimember <UserItem> option of gam print|show cigroup-members requires a Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Enterprise for Education; and Cloud Identity Premium accounts. Unfortunately, even if you have the required account, the API call that supports the query doesn't work.

• https://cloud.google.com/identity/docs/reference/rest/v1/groups.memberships/searchTransitiveGroups

<DomainName> ::= <String>(.<String>)+
<EmailAddress> ::= <String>@<DomainName>
<UniqueID> ::= id:<String>
<GroupItem> ::= <EmailAddress>|<UniqueID>|groups/<String>
<GroupList> ::= "<GroupItem>(,<GroupItem>)*"
<GroupEntity> ::=
        <GroupList> | <FileSelector> | <CSVkmdSelector> | <CSVDataSelector>
        See: https://github.com/taers232c/GAMADV-XTD3/wiki/Collections-of-Items
<GroupRole> ::= owner|manager|member
<GroupRoleList> ::= "<GroupRole>(,<GroupRole>)*"
<CIGroupType> ::= customer|group|other|serviceaccount|user
<CIGroupTypeList> ::= "<CIGroupType>(,<CIGroupType>)*"

<CIGroupMembersFieldName> ::=
        createtime
        expiretime|
        memberkey|
        name|
        preferredmemberkey|
        role|
        type|
        updatetime|
        useremail
<CIGroupMembersFieldNameList> ::= "<CIGroupMembersFieldName>(,<CIGroupMembersFieldName>)*"

Group membership commands involve specifying collections of users; for <UserTypeEntity>, see: Collections of Users

gam update cigroups <GroupEntity> create|add [<GroupRole>]
        [usersonly|groupsonly]
        [notsuspended|suspended] [notarchived|archived]
        [expire|expires <Time>] [preview] [actioncsv]
        <UserTypeEntity>

When <UserTypeEntity> specifies a group or groups:

• usersonly - Only the user members from the specified groups are added
• groupsonly - Only the group members from the specified groups are added

By default, when adding members from organization units, all users, whether suspended or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users, this is common
• suspended - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users

By default, when adding members from groups, all users, whether suspended/archived or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users, this is common
• suspended - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users
• notarchived - Do not include archived users
• archived - Only include archived users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of archived users
• notsuspended notarchived - Do not include suspended and archived users
• suspended archived - Include only suspended or archived users
• notsuspended archived - Only include archived users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of archived users
• suspended notarchived - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users

If preview is specified, the changes will be previewed but not executed.

If actioncsv is specified, a CSV file with columns group,email,role,action,message is generated that shows the actions performed when updating the group.

Using actioncsv produces a CSV file showing the actions taken.

$ gam redirect csv AddUpdates.csv update cigroup testgroup add members actioncsv users testuser2,testuser3
Group: [email protected], Add 2 Members
  Group: [email protected], Member: [email protected], Added: Role: MEMBER (1/2)
  Group: [email protected], Member: [email protected], Add Failed: Member already exists. (2/2)
$ more AddUpdates.csv 
group,email,role,action,message
[email protected],[email protected],MEMBER,Added,Success
[email protected],[email protected],MEMBER,Add Failed,Member already exists.

gam update cigroups <GroupEntity> delete|remove [<GroupRole>]
        [usersonly|groupsonly]
        [notsuspended|suspended] [notarchived|archived]
        [preview] [actioncsv]
        <UserTypeEntity>

<GroupRole> is ignored, deletions take place regardless of role.

When <UserTypeEntity> specifies a group or groups:

• usersonly - Only the user members from the specified groups are deleted
• groupsonly - Only the group members from the specified groups are deleted

By default, when deleting members from organization units, all users, whether suspended or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users, this is common
• suspended - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users

By default, when deleting members from groups, all users, whether suspended/archived or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users, this is common
• suspended - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users
• notarchived - Do not include archived users
• archived - Only include archived users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of archived users
• notsuspended notarchived - Do not include suspended and archived users
• suspended archived - Include only suspended or archived users
• notsuspended archived - Only include archived users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of archived users
• suspended notarchived - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users

If preview is specified, the changes will be previewed but not executed.

If actioncsv is specified, a CSV file with columns group,email,role,action,message is generated that shows the actions performed when updating the group.

Using actioncsv produces a CSV file showing the actions taken.

$ gam redirect csv DeleteUpdates.csv update cigroup testgroup delete members actioncsv users testuser2,testuser4
Group: [email protected], Remove 2 Members
  Group: [email protected], Member: [email protected], Removed: Role: MEMBER (1/2)
  Group: [email protected], Member: [email protected], Remove Failed: Does not exist (2/2)
$ more DeleteUpdates.csv 
group,email,role,action,message
[email protected],[email protected],MEMBER,Removed,Success
[email protected],[email protected],MEMBER,Remove Failed,Does not exist

A synchronize operation gets the current membership for a group and does adds and deletes as necessary to make it match <UserTypeEntity>. This is done by specific role except for a special case where role is ignored.

gam update cigroups <GroupEntity> sync [<GroupRole>|ignorerole]
        [usersonly|groupsonly] [addonly|removeonly]
        [notsuspended|suspended] [notarchived|archived]
        [expire|expires <Time>] [preview] [actioncsv]
        <UserTypeEntity>

If ignorerole is specified, GAM removes members regardless of role and adds new members with role MEMBER. This is a special purpose option, use with caution and ensure that <UserTypeEntity> specifies the full desired membership list of all roles.

If neither <GroupRole> nor ignorerole is specified, member is assumed.

When <UserTypeEntity> specifies a group or groups:

• usersonly - Only the user members from the specified groups are added/deleted
• groupsonly - Only the group members from the specified groups are added/deleted

By default, when synchronizing members from organization units, all users, whether suspended or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users, this is common
• suspended - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users

By default, when synchronizing members from groups, all users, whether suspended/archived or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users, this is common
• suspended - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users
• notarchived - Do not include archived users
• archived - Only include archived users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of archived users
• notsuspended notarchived - Do not include suspended and archived users
• suspended archived - Include only suspended or archived users
• notsuspended archived - Only include archived users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of archived users
• suspended notarchived - Only include suspended users, this is not common but allows creating groups that allow easy identification of suspended users

Default:

• members in <UserTypeEntity> that are not in the current membership will be added
• members in the current membership that are not in <UserTypeEntity> will deleted

When the addonly option is specified:

• members in <UserTypeEntity> that are not in the current membership will be added
• members in the current membership that are not in <UserTypeEntity> will not be deleted

When the removeonly option is specified:

• members in <UserTypeEntity> that are not in the current membership will not be added
• members in the current membership that are not in <UserTypeEntity> will be deleted

If preview is specified, the changes will be previewed but not executed.

If actioncsv is specified, a CSV file with columns group,email,role,action,message is generated that shows the actions performed when updating the group.

• https://github.com/taers232c/GAMADV-XTD3/wiki/Collections-of-Users#examples-using-csv-files-and-google-sheets-to-update-the-membership-of-a-group

Assume that at your school there is a group for each grade level and the members come from an OU; here is a sample CSV file GradeOU.csv

Grade,OU
[email protected],/Students/ClassOf2018
[email protected],/Students/ClassOf2019
...

This allows you to do: gam csv GradeOU.csv gam update cigroup "~Grade" sync members ou "~OU" But suppose that at each grade level there are additional group members that are groups of faculty/staff; e.g., [email protected]. In this scenario, you can't do the update cigroup sync command as the members that are groups will be deleted; the usersonly option allows the update cigroup sync command to work: gam csv GradeOU.csv gam update cigroup "~Grade" sync members usersonly ou "~OU" The users from the OU are matched against the user members of the group and adds/deletes are done as necessary to synchronize them; the group members of the group are unaffected.

Using actioncsv produces a CSV file showing the actions taken.

$ gam redirect csv SyncUpdates.csv update cigroup testgroup sync members actioncsv users testuser1,testuser3,testuser4
Getting all Members for [email protected], may take some time on a large Group...
Got 3 Members for [email protected]...
Group: [email protected], Remove 1 Member
  Group: [email protected], Member: [email protected], Removed: Role: MEMBER
Group: [email protected], Add 1 Member
  Group: [email protected], Member: [email protected], Added: Role: MEMBER
$ more SyncUpdates.csv 
group,email,role,action,message
[email protected],[email protected],MEMBER,Removed,Success
[email protected],[email protected],MEMBER,Added,Success

gam update cigroups <GroupEntity> clear [member] [manager] [owner]
        [usersonly|groupsonly]
        [emailclearpattern|emailretainpattern <RegularExpression>]
        [preview] [actioncsv]

If none of member, manager, or owner are specified, member is assumed.

By default, when clearing members from a group, all members, whether users or groups, are included.

• usersonly - Clear only the user members
• groupsonly - Clear only the group members

Members that have met the above qualifications to be cleared can be further qualifed by their email address.

• emailclearpattern <RegularExpression> - Members with email addresses that match <RegularExpression> will be cleared; others will be retained
• emailretainpattern <RegularExpression> - Members with email addresses that match <RegularExpression> will be retained; others will be cleared

If preview is specified, the deletes will be previewed but not executed.

If actioncsv is specified, a CSV file with columns group,email,role,action,message is generated that shows the actions performed when updating the group.

gam update cigroups <GroupEntity> update [<GroupRole>]
        [usersonly|groupsonly]
        [notsuspended|suspended] [notarchived|archived]
        [expire|expires <Time>] [preview] [actioncsv]
        <UserTypeEntity>

There are two items that can be updated: role and expiration time. If neither option is specified, the users are updated to members; this is the behavior from previous versions. Otherwise, only the specified items are updated.

When <UserTypeEntity> specifies a group or groups:

• usersonly - Only the user members from the specified groups are added
• groupsonly - Only the group members from the specified groups are added

By default, when updating members from organization units, all users, whether suspended or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users
• suspended - Only include suspended users

By default, when updating members from groups, all users, whether suspended/archived or not, are included.

• notsuspended - Do not include suspended users
• suspended - Only include suspended users
• notarchived - Do not include archived users
• archived - Only include archived users
• notsuspended notarchived - Do not include suspended and archived users
• suspended archived - Include only suspended or archived users
• notsuspended archived - Only include archived users
• suspended notarchived - Only include suspended users

If preview is specified, the changes will be previewed but not executed.

If actioncsv is specified, a CSV file with columns group,email,role,action,message is generated that shows the actions performed when updating the group.

Suppose you have a CSV file (GroupMembers.csv) with headers: group,role,email

Each row contains a group email address, member role (OWNER, MEMBER, MANAGER) and a member email address.

The following command will synchronize the membership for all groups and roles.

gam redirect stdout ./MemberUpdates.txt redirect stderr stdout update cigroup csvkmd GroupMembers.csv keyfield group subkeyfield role datafield email sync csvdata email

You can also do create|add, delete and update in this manner.

If you want to update a specific role, you can do one of the following.

gam redirect stdout ./MemberUpdates.txt redirect stderr stdout update cigroup csvkmd ./GroupMembers.csv keyfield group matchfield role MEMBER datafield email sync member csvdata email
gam redirect stdout ./ManagerUpdates.txt redirect stderr stdout update cigroup csvkmd ./GroupMembers.csv keyfield group matchfield role MANAGER datafield email sync manager csvdata email
gam redirect stdout ./OwnerUpdates.txt redirect stderr stdout update cigroup csvkmd ./GroupMembers.csv keyfield group matchfield role OWNER datafield email sync owner csvdata email

Display user's group membership information.

gam <UserTypeEntity> info cimember <GroupEntity>
gam info cimember <UserTypeEntity> <GroupEntity>

gam print cigroup-members [todrive <ToDriveAttribute>*]
        [(cimember|showownedby <UserItem>)|(cigroup <GroupItem>)|(select <GroupEntity>)]
        [emailmatchpattern [not] <RegularExpression>] [namematchpattern [not] <RegularExpression>]
        [descriptionmatchpattern [not] <RegularExpression>]
        [roles <GroupRoleList>] [members] [managers] [owners]
        [types <CIGroupTypeList>]
        <CIGroupMembersFieldName>* [fields <CIGroupMembersFieldNameList>]
        [(recursive [noduplicates])||includederivedmembership] [nogroupeemail]
        [memberemaildisplaypattern|memberemailskippattern <RegularExpression>]

By default, the group membership of all groups in the account are displayed, these options allow selection of subsets of groups:

• cimember <UserItem> - Limit display to groups that contain <UserItem> as a member
• showownedby <UserItem> - Limit display to groups owned by <UserItem>
• cigroup <GroupItem> - Limit display to the single group <GroupItem>
• select <GroupEntity> - Limit display to the groups specified in <GroupEntity>

These options further limit the list of groups selected above:

• emailmatchpattern <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose email address matches <RegularExpression>
• emailmatchpattern not <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose email address does not match <RegularExpression>
• namematchpattern <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose name matches <RegularExpression>
• namematchpattern not <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose name does not match <RegularExpression>
• descriptionmatchpattern <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose description matches <RegularExpression>
• descriptionmatchpattern not <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose description does not match <RegularExpression>

By default, all members, managers and owners in the group are displayed; these options modify that behavior:

• roles <GroupRoleList> - Display specified roles
• members - Display members
• managers - Display managers
• owners - Display owners

By default, all types of members (customer, group, serviceaccoun, user) in the group are displayed; when recursive is specified, the default is to only display type user members. This option modifies those behaviors:

• types <CIGroupTypeList> - Display specified types

Members that have met the above qualifications to be displayed can be further qualifed by their email address.

• memberemaildisplaypattern <RegularExpression> - Members with email addresses that match <RegularExpression> will be displayed; others will not be displayed
• memberemailskippattern <RegularExpression> - Members with email addresses that match <RegularExpression> will not be displayed; others will be displayed

By default, the ID, role, email address, type, createTime, updateTime and expireTime of each member is displayed along with the group email address; these options specify which fields to display:

• <CIGroupMembersFieldName>* - Individual field names
• fields <CIGroupMembersFieldNameList> - A comma separated list of field names

By default, the group email address is always shown, you can suppress it with the nogroupemail option.

By default, members that are groups are displayed as a single entry of type GROUP; this option recursively expands group members to display their user members.

• recursive - Recursively expand group members

The recursive option does not expand or display members of type CUSTOMER.

The recursive option adds two columns, level and subgroup, to the output:

• level - At what level of the expansion does the user appear; level 0 is the top level
• subgroup - The group that contained the user

Displaying membership of multiple groups or recursive expansion may result in multiple instances of the same user being displayed; these multiple instances can be reduced to one entry.

• noduplicates - Reduce multiple instances of the same user to the first instance

The includederivedmembership option is an alternative to recursive; it causes the API to expand type GROUP members to display their constituent members. The role displayed for a user is the highest role it has in any constituent group, it is not necessarily its role in the top group.

The options recursive noduplicates and includederivedmembership types user return the same list of users. The includederivedmembership option makes less API calls but doesn't show level and subgroup information.

By default, Gam displays the information as columns of fields; the following option causes the output to be in JSON format,

• formatjson - Display the fields in JSON format.

By default, when writing CSV files, Gam uses a quote character of double quote ". The quote character is used to enclose columns that contain the quote character itself, the column delimiter (comma by default) and new-line characters. Any quote characters within the column are doubled. When using the formatjson option, double quotes are used extensively in the data resulting in hard to read/process output. The quotechar <Character> option allows you to choose an alternate quote character, single quote for instance, that makes for readable/processable output. quotechar defaults to gam.cfg/csv_output_quote_char. When uploading CSV files to Google, double quote " should be used.

gam show cigroup-members
        [(cimember|showownedby <UserItem>)|(cigroup <GroupItem>)|(select <GroupEntity>)]
        [emailmatchpattern [not] <RegularExpression>] [namematchpattern [not] <RegularExpression>]
        [descriptionmatchpattern [not] <RegularExpression>]
        [roles <GroupRoleList>] [members] [managers] [owners] [depth <Number>]
        [types <CIGroupTypeList>]
        [memberemaildisplaypattern|memberemailskippattern <RegularExpression>]
        [includederivedmembership]
        [formatjson [quotechar <Character>]]

By default, the group membership of all groups in the account are displayed, these options allow selection of subsets of groups:

• cimember <UserItem> - Limit display to groups that contain <UserItem> as a member
• showownedby <UserItem> - Limit display to groups owned by <UserItem>
• cigroup <GroupItem> - Limit display to the single group <GroupItem>
• select <GroupEntity> - Limit display to the groups specified in <GroupEntity>

These options further limit the list of groups selected above:

• emailmatchpattern <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose email address matches <RegularExpression>
• emailmatchpattern not <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose email address does not match <RegularExpression>
• namematchpattern <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose name matches <RegularExpression>
• namematchpattern not <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose name does not match <RegularExpression>
• descriptionmatchpattern <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose description matches <RegularExpression>
• descriptionmatchpattern not <RegularExpression> - Limit display to groups whose description does not match <RegularExpression>

By default, all members, managers and owners in the group are displayed; these options modify that behavior:

• roles <GroupRoleList> - Display specified roles
• members - Display members
• managers - Display managers
• owners - Display owners

By default, all types of members (customer, group, serviceaccount, user) in the group are displayed; this option modifies that behavior:

• types <CIGroupTypeList> - Display specified types

Members that have met the above qualifications to be displayed can be further qualifed by their email address.

• memberemaildisplaypattern <RegularExpression> - Members with email addresses that match <RegularExpression> will be displayed; others will not be displayed
• memberemailskippattern <RegularExpression> - Members with email addresses that match <RegularExpression> will not be displayed; others will be displayed

By default, members of type GROUP are recursively expanded to show their constituent members. (Members of type CUSTOMER are not expanded.) The depth <Number> argument controls the depth to which nested groups are displayed.

• depth -1 - all groups in the selected group and below are displayed; this is the default.
• depth 0 - the groups within a selected group are displayed, no descendants are displayed.
• depth N - the groups within the selected group and those groups N levels below the selected group are displayed.

The includederivedmembership option causes the API to expand type GROUP members to display their constituent members. The role displayed for a user is the highest role it has in any constituent group, it is not necessarily its role in the top group.

The options types user and includederivedmembership types user return the same list of users. The includederivedmembership option makes less API calls but doesn't show hierarchy.

To see a group's structure of nested groups use the type group option.

$ gam show cigroup-members group testgroup5 types group
Group: [email protected]
  MEMBER, GROUP, [email protected], ACTIVE
    MEMBER, GROUP, [email protected], ACTIVE
  MEMBER, GROUP, [email protected], ACTIVE
    MEMBER, GROUP, [email protected], ACTIVE
    MEMBER, GROUP, [email protected], ACTIVE

To show the structure of all groups you can do the following; it will be time consuming for a large number of groups.

gam redirect stdout ./groups.txt show group-members types group