Create channels

Channel naming

Before creating channels, take the time to carefully plan your naming strategy. Stick to consistent naming conventions and structure your channels thoughtfully. This preparation helps you avoid increased complexity, performance bottlenecks, and scalability issues, ensuring your app remains manageable and efficient as it grows.

Create channels (Channel objects) of one of these types:

• Direct (1:1)
• Group
• Public

Requires App Context

To store data about channels, you must enable App Context for your app's keyset in the Admin Portal.

No support for channel groups

Chat SDKs don't support channel groups. We recommend using a Core SDK to manage channel groups.

Create direct channel

Direct channels enable private 1:1 conversations. Use cases include personal conversations and professional collaboration.

createDirectConversation() performs these actions:

1. Creates a direct channel type
2. Sets channel membership for the channel owner
3. Invites the other user (generates an invite event)

If a conversation between the two users already exists, the method returns that existing channel.

Receive messages

Call connect() to start receiving messages on the channel.

Method signature

createDirectConversation() calls App Context API and the JavaScript SDK setChannelMetadata() and setMemberships() methods.

Under the hood

This method takes the following parameters:

1chat.createDirectConversation({ user, channelData, membershipData, }: {
2    user: User,
3    channelId?: string
4    channelData?: {
5        name?: string,
6        description?: string,
7        custom?: ObjectCustom
8    },
9    membershipData?: {
10        custom: ObjectCustom
11    }
12}): Promise<{
13    channel: Channel,
14    hostMembership: Membership,
15    inviteeMembership: Membership,
16}>

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Input

* required

Parameter	Description
user * Type: User Default: n/a	User that you invite to join a channel.
channelId Type: string Default: Automatically generated ID	ID of the direct channel. The channel ID is created automatically by a hashing function that takes the string of two user names joined by &, computes a numeric value based on the characters in that string, and adds the direct prefix in front. For example, direct.1234567890. You can override this default value by providing your own ID.
channelData Type: object Default: n/a	Information about the channel.
→ name Type: string Default: n/a	Display name for the channel. If you don't provide the name, the channel will get the same name as id (value of channelId).
→ description Type: string Default: n/a	Additional details about the channel.
→ custom Type: any Default: n/a	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel.
membershipData Type: object Default: n/a	Information about the user-channel membership.
→ custom * Type: ObjectCustom Default: n/a	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel membership in the form of a JSON. Values must be scalar only; arrays or objects are not supported. App Context filtering language doesn’t support filtering by custom properties.

API limits

To learn about the maximum length of parameters used to set channel metadata, refer to REST API docs.

Output

Parameter	Description
Promise<> Type: object	Returned object containing these fields: channel, hostMembership, and inviteeMembership.
→ channel Type: Channel	Returned object containing the updated channel metadata.
→ hostMembership Type: Membership	Returned object containing the updated host (channel owner) metadata.
→ inviteeMembership Type: Membership	Returned object containing the updated data of the invited user.

Sample code

Invite agent-007 to a 1:1 conversation to talk about customer XYZ.

1// reference the person you want to talk to
2const userToChatWith = await chat.getUser("agent-007")
3

4// add the channel name and topic
5const { channel, hostMembership, inviteeMembership } = await chat.createDirectConversation(
6    {
7        user: userToChatWith,
8        channelData: {
9            name: "Quick sync on customer XYZ"
10        },
11        membershipData: {
12            custom: {
13                purpose: "premium-support"
14            }
15        }
16    }
17)

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Create group channel

Group channels enable multi-user conversations for team collaboration and community building. Access requires an invitation.

createGroupConversation() performs these actions:

1. Creates a group channel type
2. Sets channel membership for the channel owner
3. Invites other users to join

Receive messages

Call connect() to start receiving messages on the channel.

Method signature

createGroupConversation() calls App Context API and the JavaScript SDK setChannelMetadata() and setMemberships() methods.

Under the hood

This method takes the following parameters:

1chat.createGroupConversation({ users, channelId, channelData, membershipData, }: {
2    users: User[],
3    channelId?: string
4    channelData?: {
5        name?: string,
6        description?: string,
7        custom?: ObjectCustom
8    },
9    membershipData?: {
10        custom: ObjectCustom
11    }
12}): Promise<{
13    channel: Channel,
14    hostMembership: Membership,
15    inviteesMemberships: Membership[],
16}>

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Input

* required

Parameter	Description
users * Type: User[] Default: n/a	List of users that you invite to join a channel. You can invite a maximum number of 100 users at once as this is the limitation set by the App Context API that the inviteMultiple() method calls.
channelId Type: string Default: Automatically generated UUIDv4	ID of the group channel. The channel ID is created automatically using the UUIDv4 module. You can override it by providing your own ID.
channelData Type: object Default: n/a	Information about the channel.
→ name Type: string Default: n/a	Display name for the channel. If you don't provide the name, the channel will get the same name as id (value of channelId).
→ description Type: string Default: n/a	Additional details about the channel.
→ custom Type: any Default: n/a	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel.
membershipData Type: object Default: n/a	Information about the user-channel memberships.
→ custom * Type: ObjectCustom Default: n/a	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel membership in the form of a JSON. Values must be scalar only; arrays or objects are not supported. App Context filtering language doesn’t support filtering by custom properties.

API limits

To learn about the maximum length of parameters used to set channel metadata, refer to REST API docs.

Output

Parameter	Description
Promise<> Type: object	Returned object containing these fields: channel, hostMembership, and inviteeMembership.
→ channel Type: Channel	Returned object containing the updated channel metadata.
→ hostMembership Type: Membership	Returned object containing the updated host (channel owner) data.
→ inviteesMemberships Type: Membership[]	Returned object containing the updated metadata of the invited users.

Sample code

Create a group conversation and invite agent-007 and agent-008 to have weekly syncs on customer XYZ.

1// reference both agents you want to talk to
2const user1 = await chat.getUser("agent-007")
3const user2 = await chat.getUser("agent-008")
4

5// add the channel ID, name, and topic
6const { channel, hostMembership, inviteeMembership } = await chat.createGroupConversation(
7    {
8        users: 
9        [
10            user1,
11            user2
12        ],
13        channelId: "group-chat-1"
14        channelData: {
15            name: "Weekly syncs on customer XYZ"
16        },
17        membershipData: {
18            custom: {
19                purpose: "premium-support"
20            }
21        }
22    }
23)

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Create public channel

Public channels are open to anyone without invitation. Use cases include Q&A forums, knowledge sharing, and live event chat.

Supported features

Public channels do not support typing indicators or read receipts. These features are impractical for large audiences.

createPublicConversation() creates a public channel with the specified metadata.

Receive messages

Call connect() to start receiving messages on the channel.

Method signature

createPublicConversation() calls App Context API and the JavaScript SDK setChannelMetadata() method.

Under the hood

This method takes the following parameters:

1chat.createPublicConversation({ channelId, channelData, }: {
2    channelId?: string
3    channelData?: {
4        name?: string,
5        description?: string,
6        custom?: ObjectCustom
7    }
8}): Promise<Channel>

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
channelId Type: string Default: Automatically generated UUIDv4	ID of the public channel. The channel ID is created automatically using the UUIDv4 module. You can override it by providing your own ID.
channelData Type: object Default: n/a	Information about the channel.
→ name Type: string Default: n/a	Display name for the channel. If you don't provide the name, the channel will get the same name as id (value of channelId).
→ description Type: string Default: n/a	Additional details about the channel.
→ custom Type: any Default: n/a	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel.

API limits

To learn about the maximum length of parameters used to set channel metadata, refer to REST API docs.

Output

Type	Description
Promise<Channel>	Object returning the created channel metadata.

Sample code

Create a public ask-support channel.

1const = await chat.createPublicConversation(
2    {
3        channelId: "support-channel-4"
4        channelData: {
5            name: "ask-support"
6            description: "Space dedicated to answering all support-related questions"
7        }
8    }
9)