CircleCI gives you several ways to control which users can trigger builds. While there isn't a single allowlist setting for specific users, the features below let you configure access with precision.

Restricted contexts are the most direct way to limit who can trigger builds. If a workflow uses a context the user doesn't have access to, the build will not run — they'll see an "Unauthorized" error.

Restrict a context

To restrict builds to specific users, create a GitHub team containing those users and set the context to that team. Anyone outside the team who pushes a commit will not have their build run.

This can also be controlled through LDAP groups for customers who cannot use GitHub security groups.

You can filter workflows to only run on a specific branch or tag, more information here:

Configuration reference

This can help limit runs as you can lock down which users can build on specific branches or tags.

This feature can be set per project and will limit builds to just the default branch and when a pull request is open. Details on enabling here:

Only build pull requests

This is especially effective when combined with branch protection rules — if only specific users can commit to your default branch, build access is naturally scoped to those users.