---
type: reference
subtype: api-integration
title: "Forgejo account visibility gates anonymous repo access — and the self-service API can't change it"
summary: Why a public Forgejo repo can still 404 anonymously (owner account visibility "limited" hides all its repos), why PATCH /api/v1/user/settings silently ignores the visibility field on Forgejo 1.21, and why raw-file fetch checks should use GET not HEAD.
tags:
  - type/reference
  - tool/forgejo
scope: global
last_updated: 2026-07-15
date: 2026-07-15
last_reviewed: 2026-07-15
related:
  - tea-cli-assignee-gotchas
  - tea-cli-comment-blocks-on-stdin
source: llf-schema
---

# Forgejo account visibility gates anonymous repo access

Observed on Forgejo 1.21.11 (forgejo.swansoncloud.com), 2026-07-15, while publishing a
public releases repo owned by an account whose visibility was `limited`.

## The gotcha

A repo with `private: false` is **not necessarily anonymously reachable**. If the owning
*account*'s user-level `visibility` is `limited`, ALL of that account's repos are hidden
from unauthenticated visitors — anonymous requests to the repo and its
`/raw/branch/...` URLs return **404**, even though the repo itself is marked public and
authenticated fetches work fine. The 404 (not 403) makes it look like a wrong URL rather
than an access problem.

## The API trap

The self-service endpoint `PATCH /api/v1/user/settings` **returns 200 but silently
ignores** a `visibility` field — the `UserSettingsOptions` schema (check the instance's
own swagger) has no such property, so the server drops it without error. Account
visibility can only be changed via:

- the web UI: **Settings → Account → Visibility**, or
- the admin endpoint `PATCH /api/v1/admin/users/<name>` with `{"visibility": "public"}`
  (requires a token with `write:admin` scope — being an admin user is not enough; the
  token itself must carry the scope).

Flipping an account `limited → public` only exposes repos already marked public;
`private: true` repos stay hidden either way.

## Raw-file fetch checks: use GET, not HEAD

The same instance rejects HEAD on some raw-file routes with **405**. For "is this zip
URL fetchable?" verification (e.g., before `wp plugin install <url>`), use
`curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}'` (GET) — it is also what the real consumer does.
