Group object

For information about private channels, refer to conversation objects.

The Conversations API will tell you whether a conversation is private or not with the is_private boolean field.

For posterity, a group object contains information about a private channel that was created before March 2021. The private channel's ID will begin with G, as private channels were previously known as "private groups."

An example response is below:

{
    "id": "G123456",
    "name": "secretplans",
    "is_group": "true",
    "created": 1360782804,
    "creator": "U123456",
    "is_archived": false,
    "is_mpim": false,
    "members": [
        "U012AB3CD"
    ],
    "topic": {
        "value": "Secret plans on hold",
        "creator": "U123456",
        "last_set": 1369677212
    },
    "purpose": {
        "value": "Discuss secret plans that nobody else should know",
        "creator": "U123456",
        "last_set": 1360782804
    },
    "last_read": "1401383885.000061",
    "latest": {},
    "unread_count": 0,
    "unread_count_display": 0
}

Group object fields

Field	Type	Description
created	Unix timestamp	When the conversation was created.
creator	String	The user ID of the member that created this private channel.
id	String	The ID of the private channel.
is_archived	Boolean	true if the private channel is archived.
is_group	Boolean	Whether this object is a conversation.
is_mpim	Boolean	Whether a multiparty instant message (mpim) is being emulated as a private channel. For compatibility with older clients, mpims can appear as private channels unless rtm.start is called with mpim_aware=1.
members	Array	A list of user IDs for all users in this private channel. This includes any disabled accounts that were in this private channel when they were disabled.
name	String	The name of the private channel.
purpose	Object	The purpose of the conversation.
topic	Object	The topic of the conversation.

Some API methods (such as conversations.create) will include extra state information for channels when the calling user is a member:

• last_read: the Unix timestamp for the last message the calling user has read in this channel.
• unread_count: a full count of visible messages that the calling user has yet to read.
• unread_count_display: a count of messages that the calling user has yet to read that matter to them (this means it excludes things like join/leave messages).
• latest: the latest message in the channel.

Display

Field	Type	Description
priority	Number	Sort priority for the channel in the sidebar.

Hierarchy / Relationships

Field	Type	Description
parent_group	group_id	ID of the parent group (for nested private channels).

Identity / State

Field	Type	Description
is_deleted	Boolean	Whether the private channel has been deleted.
is_moved	Integer	Whether the private channel has been moved (e.g., across workspaces).
is_open	Boolean	Whether the channel is currently open in the client.
is_pending_ext_shared	Boolean	Whether the channel has a pending external share invitation.
is_read_only	Boolean	Whether the channel is read-only.
is_thread_only	Boolean	Whether the channel only allows threaded messages.
name_normalized	String	Normalized (lowercased, cleaned) version of the channel name.

Membership

Field	Type	Description
num_members	Integer	Total number of members in the private channel.