---
title: Identify Existing User node
description: Verifies a user exists based on an identifying attribute, such as an email address, then makes the value of a specified attribute available in the shared node state.
component: auth-node-ref
version: 7.3
page_id: auth-node-ref::auth-node-identify-existing-user
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/auth-node-ref/latest/identify-existing-user.html
llms_txt: https://docs.pingidentity.com/auth-node-ref/llms.txt
docs_for_agents: https://developer.pingidentity.com/build-with-ai/docs-for-agents.md
section_ids:
  properties: Properties
  example: Example
---

# Identify Existing User node

Verifies a user exists based on an identifying attribute, such as an email address, then makes the value of a specified attribute available in the shared node state.

|   |                                                                                                                                                                    |
| - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|   | This functionality requires that you configure AM as part of a [Ping Identity Platform deployment](https://docs.pingidentity.com/platform/8/platform-setup-guide). |

Use this node in a forgotten password flow to fetch a username to email to the user. To display the username on the screen, use the [Display Username node](auth-node-display-username.html) instead.

## Properties

| Property           | Usage                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Identifier         | The attribute to collect from an IDM object.                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Identity Attribute | The attribute used to identify the object in IDM.When this node serves to recover a username, the identity attribute should be some other attribute that is unique to a user object, such as the email address. |

## Example

The following is an example of a forgotten password flow. The user enters information that the [Identify Existing User node](auth-node-identify-existing-user.html) uses to try to identify them. Next, AM uses the [Email Suspend node](auth-node-email-suspend.html) to send an email to the user and suspend authentication. Once authentication resumes, AM sends the user to a different flow to reset their password:

![The Identify Existing User node used when resetting a forgotten password](_images/trees-node-email-suspend-example-platform.png)