channels.join

Documentation Tester

Joins a channel, creating it if needed.

Supported token types:

user

Expected scopes:

channels:write post

This method is used to join a channel. If the channel does not exist, it is created.

Arguments

This method has the URL https://slack.com/api/channels.join and follows the Slack Web API calling conventions.

Present these parameters as part of an application/x-www-form-urlencoded querystring or POST body. application/json is not currently accepted.

Argument	Example	Required	Description
`token`	`xxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxx`	Required	Authentication token. Requires scope: `channels:write`
`name`	`#general`	Required	Name of channel to join
`validate`	`true`	Optional	Whether to return errors on invalid channel name instead of modifying it to meet the specified criteria.

Response

If successful, the command returns a channel object, including state information:

{
    "ok": true,
    "channel": {
        "id": "C024BE91L",
        "name": "fun",
        "created": 1360782804,
        "creator": "U024BE7LH",
        "is_archived": false,
        "is_member": true,
        "is_general": false,
        "last_read": "1401383885.000061",
        "latest": { … },
        "unread_count": 0,
        "unread_count_display": 0,
        "members": [ … ],
        "topic": {
            "value": "Fun times",
            "creator": "U024BE7LV",
            "last_set": 1369677212
        },
        "purpose": {
            "value": "This channel is for fun",
            "creator": "U024BE7LH",
            "last_set": 1360782804
        }
    }
}

If you are already in the channel, the response is slightly different. already_in_channel will be true, and a limited channel object will be returned. This allows a client to see that the request to join GeNERaL is the same as the channel #general that the user is already in:

{
    "ok": true,
    "already_in_channel": true,
    "channel": {
        "id": "C024BE91L",
        "name": "fun",
        "created": 1360782804,
        "creator": "U024BE7LH",
        "is_archived": false,
        "is_general": false
    }
}

Errors

This table lists the expected errors that this method could return. However, other errors can be returned in the case where the service is down or other unexpected factors affect processing. Callers should always check the value of the ok params in the response.

Error	Description
`channel_not_found`	Value passed for `channel` was invalid.
`name_taken`	A channel cannot be created with the given name.
`restricted_action`	A team preference prevents the authenticated user from creating channels.
`no_channel`	Value passed for `name` was empty.
`is_archived`	Channel has been archived.
`invalid_name_required`	Value passed for `name` was empty.
`invalid_name_punctuation`	Value passed for `name` contained only punctuation.
`invalid_name_maxlength`	Value passed for `name` exceeded max length.
`invalid_name_specials`	Value passed for `name` contained unallowed special characters or upper case characters.
`invalid_name`	Value passed for `name` was invalid.
`not_authed`	No authentication token provided.
`invalid_auth`	Invalid authentication token.
`account_inactive`	Authentication token is for a deleted user or team.
`user_is_bot`	This method cannot be called by a bot user.
`user_is_restricted`	This method cannot be called by a restricted user or single channel guest.
`invalid_arg_name`	The method was passed an argument whose name falls outside the bounds of accepted or expected values. This includes very long names and names with non-alphanumeric characters other than `_`. If you get this error, it is typically an indication that you have made a very malformed API call.
`invalid_array_arg`	The method was passed a PHP-style array argument (e.g. with a name like `foo[7]`). These are never valid with the Slack API.
`invalid_charset`	The method was called via a `POST` request, but the `charset` specified in the `Content-Type` header was invalid. Valid charset names are: `utf-8` `iso-8859-1`.
`invalid_form_data`	The method was called via a `POST` request with `Content-Type` `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` or `multipart/form-data`, but the form data was either missing or syntactically invalid.
`invalid_post_type`	The method was called via a `POST` request, but the specified `Content-Type` was invalid. Valid types are: `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` `multipart/form-data` `text/plain`.
`missing_post_type`	The method was called via a `POST` request and included a data payload, but the request did not include a `Content-Type` header.
`team_added_to_org`	The team associated with your request is currently undergoing migration to an Enterprise Organization. Web API and other platform operations will be intermittently unavailable until the transition is complete.
`request_timeout`	The method was called via a `POST` request, but the `POST` data was either missing or truncated.

Warnings

This table lists the expected warnings that this method will return. However, other warnings can be returned in the case where the service is experiencing unexpected trouble.

Warning	Description
`missing_charset`	The method was called via a `POST` request, and recommended practice for the specified `Content-Type` is to include a `charset` parameter. However, no `charset` was present. Specifically, non-form-data content types (e.g. `text/plain`) are the ones for which `charset` is recommended.
`superfluous_charset`	The method was called via a `POST` request, and the specified `Content-Type` is not defined to understand the `charset` parameter. However, `charset` was in fact present. Specifically, form-data content types (e.g. `multipart/form-data`) are the ones for which `charset` is superfluous.