Open registration

Settings → Administration → Open registration. While it is on, any visitor reaching the instance can open an account of their own. Turn it off once the people who should be on it are on it, which on a household instance is after the second or third sign-up.

The switch applies at once. A closed instance answers 403 Registration is closed to a sign-up and the login screen stops offering the link; sessions already open are untouched.

Default in .env, override in the database

The setting is read from two places, and which one wins surprises people.

REGISTRATION_ENABLED in .env is the default, read only while the switch has never been moved. The moment it is moved, the choice is stored in the database under the key registration_enabled, and from then on it wins. So on an instance whose administration screen has been touched, closing sign-ups in .env and restarting changes nothing.

Caution

REGISTRATION_ENABLED=false only sets the value used until an administrator overrides it, and the override survives restarts, rebuilds and updates.

Close them from the screen, or check the screen after editing the file.

Why the tab may not be there

The Administration tab is shown only to an account whose role is admin. A reader without that role sees seven tabs instead of eight and no switch anywhere, which is intended.

The address exists for everyone: /reglages/administration on an account that is not an administrator redirects to the landing tab rather than showing an empty page with no way out. Those two together are why “I cannot find the setting” and “I am not an administrator on this instance” look identical from the browser.

The role goes to whoever created the instance’s first account, as First start explains.