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 channel with the direct type
2. Sets channel membership for the channel owner
3. Invites the other user and creates a membership with a "pending" status (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

This method takes the following parameters:

1chat.CreateDirectConversation(
2    User user, 
3    string channelId = "", 
4    ChatChannelData? channelData = null,
5    ChatMembershipData? membershipData = null)
6

7public class ChatChannelData
8{
9    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
10    public string Description { get; set; } = string.Empty;
11    public Dictionary<string, object> CustomData { get; set; } = new ();
12    public string Updated { get; internal set; } = string.Empty;
13    public string Status { get; set; } = string.Empty;
14    public string Type { get; set; } = string.Empty;
15}

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
user * Type: User Default: n/a	User that you invite to join a channel.
channelId Type: string Default: Guid.NewGuid()	ID of the direct channel. If no value is provided a random Guid() will be generated and set as the Channel ID.
channelData Type: object Default: null	Information about the channel.
→ Name Type: string Default: string.Empty	Display name for the channel.
→ Description Type: string Default: string.Empty	Additional details about the channel.
→ CustomData Type: Dictionary<string, object> Default: new ()	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel.
→ Updated Type: string Default: string.Empty	Timestamp indicating when the channel was last updated or modified.
→ Status Type: string Default: string.Empty	Current status of the channel, such as online, offline, or archived.
→ Type Type: string Default: string.Empty	Type of the channel, like direct.

API limits

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

Output

This method returns a Task<ChatOperationResult<CreatedChannelWrapper>> with the following data:

Parameter	Description
CreatedChannel Type: Channel	Returned object containing the updated channel metadata.
HostMembership Type: Membership	Returned object containing the updated host (channel owner) metadata.
InviteesMemberships Type: List<Membership>	Single-item list containing the updated data of the invited user.

Sample code

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

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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 channel with the group type
2. Sets channel membership for the channel owner
3. Invites other users to join and creates memberships with a "pending" status

Receive messages

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

Method signature

This method takes the following parameters:

1chat.CreateGroupConversation(
2    List<User> users, 
3    string channelId = "", 
4    ChatChannelData? channelData = null,
5    ChatMembershipData? membershipData = null)
6

7public class ChatChannelData
8{
9    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
10    public string Description { get; set; } = string.Empty;
11    public Dictionary<string, object> CustomData { get; set; } = new ();
12    public string Updated { get; internal set; } = string.Empty;
13    public string Status { get; set; } = string.Empty;
14    public string Type { get; set; } = string.Empty;
15}

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
users * Type: List<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: Guid.NewGuid()	ID of the group channel. If no value is provided a random Guid() will be generated and set as the Channel ID.
channelData Type: ChatChannelData Default: null	Information about the channel.
→ Name Type: string Default: string.Empty	Display name for the channel.
→ Description Type: string Default: string.Empty	Additional details about the channel.
→ CustomData Type: Dictionary<string, object> Default: new ()	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel.
→ Updated Type: string Default: string.Empty	Timestamp indicating when the channel was last updated or modified.
→ Status Type: string Default: string.Empty	Current status of the channel, such as online, offline, or archived.
→ Type Type: string Default: string.Empty	Type of the channel, like group.

API limits

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

Output

This method returns a Task<ChatOperationResult<CreatedChannelWrapper>> with the following data:

Parameter	Description
CreatedChannel Type: Channel	Returned object containing the updated channel metadata.
HostMembership Type: Membership	Returned object containing the updated host (channel owner) data.
InviteesMemberships Type: List<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

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 channel with the public type and the specified metadata.

Receive messages

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

Method signature

This method takes the following parameters:

1chat.CreatePublicConversation(
2    string channelId = "", 
3    ChatChannelData? additionalData = null
4)
5

6public class ChatChannelData
7{
8    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
9    public string Description { get; set; } = string.Empty;
10    public Dictionary<string, object> CustomData { get; set; } = new ();
11    public string Updated { get; internal set; } = string.Empty;
12    public string Status { get; set; } = string.Empty;
13    public string Type { get; set; } = string.Empty;
14}

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
channelId Type: string Default: Guid.NewGuid()	ID of the group channel. If no value is provided a random Guid() will be generated and set as the Channel ID.
channelData Type: ChatChannelData Default: null	Information about the channel.
→ Name Type: string Default: string.Empty	Display name for the channel.
→ Description Type: string Default: string.Empty	Additional details about the channel.
→ CustomData Type: Dictionary<string, object> Default: new ()	Any custom properties or metadata associated with the channel.
→ Updated Type: string Default: string.Empty	Timestamp indicating when the channel was last updated or modified.
→ Status Type: string Default: n/a	Current status of the channel, such as online, offline, or archived.
→ Type Type: string Default: n/a	Type of the channel, like public.

API limits

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

Output

Type	Description
Task<ChatOperationResult<Channel>>	Async task with the created Channel object.

Sample code

Create a public ask-support channel.

1