# Creating and Deleting Accounts > Create a hosting account from the panel or the CLI, understand every field of the form, and know exactly what deleting one removes. Source: https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/creating/ Last updated: 2026-08-11 Part of the CorePanel documentation — https://www.corepanel.net/docs --- Creating an account provisions a complete hosting environment in one step: a system user, a home directory, a website, a DNS zone, a mail identity and a certificate. This page walks through the form field by field, and through what deletion does. ## Before you create the account You need two things — plus a free website slot if you are on the Personal edition, which hosts up to 20 (see [the server-wide website limit](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/#the-server-wide-website-limit)): 1. **The server's basic configuration done** — main IP address and nameservers. Without them account creation fails, because CorePanel would not know which address to publish in the new DNS zone. See [Initial Server Setup](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/initial-setup). 2. **A domain to use as the primary domain.** It does not have to point at the server yet: the account is created either way, and the site starts answering as soon as DNS resolves. Certificate issuance also waits for that. See [Preparing Your Domain](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/domain-setup). ## Creating an account in the panel Go to **Accounts → Add account**. | Field | What it does | |---|---| | **Hosting package** | Optional. Selecting one applies its resource limits and hides the manual limit fields. See [Hosting Packages](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/hosting-packages). | | **Domain** | The primary domain, fully qualified (`example.com`). A leading `www.` is stripped — `www.example.com` becomes `example.com`. | | **Account password** | Minimum 12 characters with lowercase, uppercase, a digit and a special character. Use **Generate** for a compliant one. | | **PHP version** | The PHP version the account runs. Leave it on *Default* to get the highest version installed on the server. | | **Disk quota (MB)** | `0` = unlimited. Ignored when a package is selected. | | **Applications** | CLI only (`--max-apps`). How many [applications](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/applications) the account may run. **`0` = none**, and there is no unlimited value, so an account created without it cannot run applications until you grant them. | | **Pre-installed software** | Optional. Installs WordPress on the new document root instead of leaving it empty. | | **Web mode** | How the site is served: *Automatic* adapts to the content. Changeable later — see [Serving Modes](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/web/serving-modes). | | **Owner name / email / description** | Free-form metadata to help you identify the account later. | The username is derived from the domain by CorePanel; you do not choose it. > **The password is used twice, then diverges** > > The password you set becomes both the account password and the password of the account's > first FTP user. From that moment they are independent — changing one does not change the > other. ### What you get back When the account is created, CorePanel reports the account ID, the Linux username, the primary domain and the home directory. The site answers immediately on the server; from the internet it answers once the domain resolves here. ## Creating an account from the CLI ```bash # Interactive password prompt, highest installed PHP version corepanel account create example.com # Scripted: password from stdin, PHP 8.3, 5 GB quota printf '%s' "$ACCOUNT_PASSWORD" | \ corepanel account create example.com --password-stdin --php 8.3 --quota 5120 ``` Prefer `--password-stdin` in automation: `--password` leaves the secret in your shell history and in `ps`. The full flag list is in the [CLI reference](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/cli). ## After creation A new account is usually followed by: - **[Adding more domains](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/domains)** — aliases and addon domains. - **[Creating mailboxes](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/email/mailboxes)** for the primary domain. - **[Creating a database](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/databases)** for the application. - **[Installing WordPress](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/wordpress)** if you did not pick it as pre-installed software. - **Checking the certificate** on the account's SSL section once DNS resolves. ## Changing an account after creation From the account workspace: | Section | What you can change | |---|---| | **Overview** | Usage against limits, and — through **Edit account** — [the limits themselves](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/editing), the hosting package and the owner details. | | **Access** | Account password and FTP password. | | **Account domains** / **Subdomains** | Add and remove domains, aliases and subdomains. | | **SSL** | The certificates covering the account's domains. | | **Optimizations** | Per-domain WebP, Early Hints and (Pro) minification. | | **Reverse proxy** | Routes forwarding paths to local services. | | **Databases** | MySQL databases and users. | | **Applications** | Deployed applications, if you use them. | The primary domain is fixed for the life of the account. The PHP version is not — it can be changed later from [Editing an account](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/editing#changing-the-php-version). ## Deleting an account Deleting an account is **immediate and irreversible**. CorePanel removes, in order: 1. **Applications**, including their data outside the home directory (`/opt/userapps`, `/var/opt/userapps`). 2. **Subdomains** — their vhosts, certificates, document roots and DNS records. 3. **Secondary domains** (aliases and addon domains) — vhosts, DNS zones, certificates, DKIM keys and, for addons, their document roots. 4. **The primary domain and the system account** — the Linux user, the home directory with everything in it, the primary vhost, its DNS zone, its certificate and its DKIM key. 5. **FTP accounts, mailboxes, MySQL databases and MySQL users** — including the real databases and users on the MySQL server, not just CorePanel's records. 6. **Backup and import job history**, and the account's backup schedules. > **Backup archives survive deletion** > > The `.tar` archives produced by [account backups](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/backups) are deliberately **not** > deleted. A backup exists so an account can come back after it is gone, so it outlives the > account it describes — you can restore a deleted account from one. > **Caution** > > There is no suspend-and-review step: deletion runs straight through. If you only want to > take a site offline, remove its DNS record or point the domain elsewhere instead of > deleting the account.