---
title: Username recovery
description: Username recovery lets the user recover their username, using other information they remember, such as their email address. The Ping Identity Platform includes a sample Forgotten Username journey that is used for this purpose. It collects a user's email address, then uses that to search for a user with that address. It then emails the user the username associated with that email address. An alternative journey is to send a verification link, then use the Display Username node once the user returns from the email.
component: platform
version: 7.5
page_id: platform:platform-self-service:username-recovery
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/platform/7.5/platform-self-service/username-recovery.html
llms_txt: https://docs.pingidentity.com/platform/llms.txt
docs_for_agents: https://developer.pingidentity.com/build-with-ai/docs-for-agents.md
keywords: ["Accounts", "Journeys", "Nodes & Trees", "Forgotten Username"]
section_ids:
  forgotten-username-rest-sample: Example forgotten username REST output
---

# Username recovery

Username recovery lets the user recover their username, using other information they remember, such as their email address. The Ping Identity Platform includes a sample Forgotten Username journey that is used for this purpose. It collects a user's email address, then uses that to search for a user with that address. It then emails the user the username associated with that email address. An alternative journey is to send a verification link, then use the [Display Username node](../auth-node-ref/display-username.html) once the user returns from the email.

|   |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| - | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|   | When reviewing the sample journey, notice that both [Identify Existing User node](../auth-node-ref/identify-existing-user.html) outputs connect to the [Email Suspend node](../auth-node-ref/email-suspend.html).This is recommended behavior for security reasons. If you return different outcomes, you can potentially expose which users have accounts in your system. |

![Sample forgotten username journey](_images/PlatformForgottenUsername.png)

## Example forgotten username REST output

When calling a username recovery self-service endpoint, you will receive a JSON object back, containing callbacks for each of the nodes included in the username recovery journey.

> **Collapse: Sample JSON callbacks**
>
> ```json
> {
>   "authId": "<omitted for length>",
>   "callbacks": [
>     {
>       "type": "StringAttributeInputCallback",
>       "output": [
>         {
>           "name": "name",
>           "value": "mail"
>         },
>         {
>           "name": "prompt",
>           "value": "Email Address"
>         },
>         {
>           "name": "required",
>           "value": true
>         },
>         {
>           "name": "policies",
>           "value": {}
>         },
>         {
>           "name": "failedPolicies",
>           "value": []
>         },
>         {
>           "name": "validateOnly",
>           "value": false
>         },
>         {
>           "name": "value",
>           "value": ""
>         }
>       ],
>       "input": [
>         {
>           "name": "IDToken1",
>           "value": ""
>         },
>         {
>           "name": "IDToken1validateOnly",
>           "value": false
>         }
>       ],
>       "_id": 0
>     }
>   ],
>   "header": "Forgotten Username",
>   "description": "Enter your email address or <a href=\"#/service/Login\">Sign in</a>"
> }
> ```