General Settings in Harness 3.0

Learn how to configure your Harness account using the Settings page, including general settings, account-level resources, access control, and security.

The Settings page provides centralized configuration for your Harness account. It is organized using a tabbed navigation structure that groups related settings into logical categories.

SETTINGS TABS

The Settings page uses a horizontal tab bar with the following categories: All, General, Account-level Resources, GitOps, Access Control, Security and Governance, Subscriptions, and External Tickets. Selecting a tab filters the visible settings cards to that category.

To access the Settings page, click More... on the Harness navigation menu and select General Settings.

General Settings

General settings control account-wide configuration that applies across all organizations and projects. These settings are typically configured once during initial setup and updated infrequently.

Setting	Description
Account Details	View and edit account name, account ID, default locale, and timezone settings. Includes the account-level avatar and display configuration.
Default Settings	Configure default values that apply to new organizations and projects, including default connectors, secret managers, and pipeline settings.
Cloud Cost Integration	Set up cloud provider billing integrations for cost management. Connect AWS, GCP, and Azure billing accounts to enable Cloud Cost Management features.
SMTP	Configure SMTP server settings for outbound email notifications, pipeline alerts, and approval request emails.
Notifications	Manage notification channels and routing rules. Configure Slack, PagerDuty, email, and webhook notification endpoints.
Chaos Image Registry	Specify a custom container image registry for Chaos Engineering experiment images. Required when running in air-gapped environments.
Banners	Create and manage announcement banners that are displayed to all users in the account. Useful for maintenance windows and important notices.

Account-level Resources

Account-level resources are shared across all organizations and projects within the account. Creating resources at the account level reduces duplication and simplifies management for platform administrators.

Resource	Purpose	Use Case
Services	Define application services that can be deployed across projects.	Shared microservices referenced by multiple teams.
Environments	Define deployment target environments at the account level.	Shared dev, staging, and production environments.
Connectors	Integration endpoints for cloud providers, SCMs, and registries.	Shared AWS, GCP, GitHub, and Docker Hub connectors.
Delegates	Worker agents that execute pipeline tasks in your infrastructure.	Shared delegate pools for multiple projects.
Secrets	Secure storage for credentials, tokens, and certificates.	Shared API keys and service account credentials.
File Store	Managed file storage for configuration files and scripts.	Shared deployment scripts and configuration templates.
Templates	Reusable pipeline, stage, and step definitions.	Organization-wide pipeline standards and best practices.
Variables	Named values accessible via expressions in pipelines.	Shared configuration values like region names or cluster URLs.
Chaos Hubs	Repositories of chaos experiment definitions.	Shared chaos experiment libraries for reliability testing.
Overrides	Service and environment override definitions.	Account-wide variable overrides for different environments.
Certificates	TLS certificate management for delegate and connector communication.	Custom CA certificates for internal PKI infrastructure.
Webhooks	Webhook endpoint configuration for external integrations.	Event-driven integrations with external ticketing and notification systems.
IaCM Module Registry	Private module registry for Infrastructure as Code modules.	Shared Terraform/OpenTofu modules for standardized infrastructure provisioning.
Providers	Infrastructure provider configuration for IaCM workspaces.	Shared cloud provider definitions for Terraform runs.

RESOURCE SCOPE BEST PRACTICE

Create resources at the highest scope where they are shared. If a connector is used by all projects, create it at the account level. If it is specific to a single team, create it at the organization level. This reduces duplication and simplifies credential rotation.

Access Control

Access Control settings manage who can access resources and what actions they can perform. Harness uses a role-based access control (RBAC) model with users, roles, resource groups, and service accounts.

Component	Description
User Management	Invite, manage, and remove users. Assign users to groups and roles. View active sessions and login history.
Role Definitions	Create and manage roles that define a set of permissions. Built-in roles include Account Admin, Organization Admin, Project Admin, Pipeline Executor, and Viewer.
Resource Groups	Define groups of resources that a role applies to. Resource groups can include specific resources or all resources of a given type within a scope.
Permission Assignments	Bind users or user groups to roles within resource groups. This is the mechanism that grants access: User + Role + Resource Group = Permission.
Service Accounts	Non-human identities for automated access. Service accounts are assigned roles and used for API integrations, CI/CD automation, and external tooling.
API Keys	Generate and manage API keys for service accounts and user accounts. API keys are used for authenticating API requests and webhook callbacks.

Security and Governance

Security and Governance settings provide controls for authentication, network security, audit compliance, and policy enforcement across the platform.

Setting	Description
Authentication Settings	Configure authentication methods including username/password, two-factor authentication (2FA), and session timeout policies.
SSO Configuration	Set up single sign-on with SAML 2.0 or OAuth 2.0 identity providers. Supports Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace, and other SAML/OAuth providers.
IP Allowlisting	Restrict platform access to specific IP addresses or CIDR ranges. Separate allowlists can be configured for UI access and API access.
Audit Logs	View and export a comprehensive audit trail of all actions performed in the account. Audit logs capture user actions, API calls, and system events with timestamps and metadata.
Compliance Policies	Define and enforce compliance policies using OPA (Open Policy Agent). Policies can be applied to pipelines, deployments, and resource creation.
Governance Rules	Configure governance rules for cost management, resource usage, and deployment practices. Rules can generate warnings or block non-compliant actions.

SECURITY BEST PRACTICE

Enable SSO and two-factor authentication for all production accounts. Configure IP allowlisting to restrict access to known corporate networks. Review audit logs regularly to detect unauthorized access or configuration changes.