On January 12, 2026, we introduced service accounts in Looker (original) to help manage workflows for API credentials. As of that date, admins can perform the following tasks:
- Create new service accounts
- Migrate existing users to service account
- Fully manage API credentials for service accounts
We've provided additional information to help you understand this change.
Key changes
As of January 12, 2026, admins can perform the following tasks:
- Create new service accounts and migrate existing users as service accounts
- Manage the API credentials of these service accounts
Starting with the Looker 26.8 release, which will release in May 2026, the following changes will occur:
- Admins will no longer be able to access or manage the API credentials of their standard users
- Admins will be able to manage which users have access to individually owned API credentials
Potential impact
Admins will no longer be able to access or manage API credentials for standard users. Your custom workflow implementations are likely going to be impacted if they're using the following Looker APIs:
Action required
Before your Looker instance is upgraded to the Looker 26.8 release, your admin must follow the steps in the Migrating users to service accounts section of the Admin settings - Users documentation page. This is to ensure that admins can either create or migrate service accounts from existing standard users if they require access to users' API credentials.
To learn more about this change and the introduction of service accounts, review the Creating an API-only service account documentation on service accounts in Looker (original).
If you have any additional questions or require assistance, please contact Google Cloud Support.