Reset an Octop account password
When you forget an admin or user password, ask an administrator to reset it under Users. If you manage this host, run the command below on the machine where Octop is installed, using the same OS account that runs the service:
The username is a positional argument — passing --username fails with Error: No such option '--username'. You can omit --password to enter it interactively (it is not echoed). The command writes the local database without a running server and without the old password.
If you can still sign in, skip the CLI: click Change password in the avatar menu. An admin can also set another user's password with the Users & admin API.
A new password must be at least 8 characters, include a letter and a digit, and must not be a common value such as password123, admin123, or octop123.
Changing the password in the web UI or CLI does not rewrite ~/octop-login.txt or Docker's credential.txt. The password you just set is the one that counts.
Two installs, two ways to call it
The command is the same either way. The only difference is whether octop is on your PATH:
Both write the same database (~/.octop/octop.db, or %USERPROFILE%\.octop\octop.db on Windows), so use whichever works on your host. Replace <username> and <password> with real values before you run the command. --password stays in your shell history, so interactive entry is safer on a shared machine.
Reset by system
Confirm the username first. If you are unsure, run octop user list in the same environment (with the portable runtime if you only have the client).
Installed from the command line — open a terminal on the host that runs Octop. The installer puts a wrapper in ~/.octop/bin and updates your shell profile; an old session may not see it. Open a new terminal, or run source ~/.zshrc / source ~/.bashrc.
If octop is still not on your PATH, look here in this order:
Call it by full path, for example:
If the wrapper is missing, use ~/.octop/venv/bin/octop. Data lives under ~/.octop/ for the current user. If you started octop run / octop service as a different system account, switch to that account first.
Installed with the desktop client — the client ships no octop command and never touches your PATH. It extracts a portable runtime to ~/.octop/portable; use its bundled Python to run the same CLI:
The runtime is only extracted on first launch, so start the client at least once if portable does not exist.
Then sign in at http://127.0.0.1:8088 (or the address you actually bound).
Do not leave the generated or bootstrap password on a host that is reachable from the network. After a reset, sign in once with the new password to confirm it works.
Change your own password while signed in
Open the avatar menu
In the web UI, click your avatar in the top-right corner.
Change password
Click Change password, then enter the current password and a new one.
The same endpoint is available over curl — see Authentication: change password.
Related commands
The username is positional and --username is rejected; --password is optional and prompts when omitted. octop user passwd writes the local SQLite database, so it needs neither a running server nor a prior login. Full subcommands are in Channels & cron: octop user.