conversations.open

Opens or resumes a direct message or multi-person direct message.

Notices

Information about required scopes
This Conversations API method's required scopes depend on the type of channel-like object you're working with. You only need the scopes corresponding to that conversation type, found below in Required scopes.

Facts

Method access

HTTP

JavaScript

Python

Java

HTTP

POSThttps://slack.com/api/conversations.open

Bolt for Java

app.client().conversationsOpen

Bolt for Python

app.client.conversations_open

Bolt for JavaScript

app.client.conversations.open

Required scopes

Bot tokenschannels:managegroups:writeim:writempim:write

User tokenschannels:writegroups:writeim:writempim:write

Legacy bot tokensbot

Content types

application/x-www-form-urlencodedapplication/json

Rate limits

Tier 3

Arguments

Required arguments

token

token

·Required

Authentication token bearing required scopes. Tokens should be passed as an HTTP Authorization header or alternatively, as a POST parameter.

Example

xxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxx

Optional arguments

channel

string

·Optional

Resume a conversation by supplying an im or mpim's ID. Or provide the users field instead.

Example

G1234567890

prevent_creation

boolean

·Optional

Do not create a direct message or multi-person direct message. This is used to see if there is an existing dm or mpdm.

Default

Example

true

return_im

boolean

·Optional

Boolean, indicates you want the full IM channel definition in the response.

Example

true

users

string

·Optional

Comma separated lists of users. If only one user is included, this creates a 1:1 DM. The ordering of the users is preserved whenever a multi-person direct message is returned. Supply a channel when not supplying users.

Example

W1234567890,U2345678901,U3456789012

Usage info

The Conversations API method opens a direct message (DM) or a multi-person direct message (MPIM).

You can then send a message to the conversation using the chat.postMessage method.

Creating channels
Use the conversations.create method instead for public or private channels.

Using the `users` parameter

Provide 1 to 8 user IDs in the users parameter to open or resume a conversation. Providing only 1 ID will create a direct message. Providing more than 1 will create a multi-person direct message (mpim).

Don’t include the ID of the user you’re calling conversations.open on behalf of – we do that for you.

If there are no conversations already in progress including that exact set of members, a new multi-person direct message conversation begins.

Subsequent calls to conversations.open with the same set of users will return the already existing conversation.

The response structure is altered by providing return_im parameter. When set to false, the default, just a conversation's ID is returned. When set to true, the entire conversation object is returned.

Example responses

Common successful response

Typical success response

{
    "ok": true,
    "channel": {
        "id": "D069C7QFK"
    }
}

Alternate response

Passing return_im will expand the response to include more info about a conversation

{
    "ok": true,
    "no_op": true,
    "already_open": true,
    "channel": {
        "id": "D069C7QFK",
        "created": 1460147748,
        "is_im": true,
        "is_org_shared": false,
        "user": "U069C7QF3",
        "last_read": "0000000000.000000",
        "latest": null,
        "unread_count": 0,
        "unread_count_display": 0,
        "is_open": true,
        "priority": 0
    }
}

Common error response

Typical error response

{
    "ok": false,
    "error": "channel_not_found"
}

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.
`invalid_user_combination`	All external people must already be in at least one channel together to send a message.
`method_not_supported_for_channel_type`	This type of conversation cannot be used with this method.
`missing_scope`	The token used is not granted the specific scope permissions required to complete this request.
`not_enough_users`	Needs at least 2 users to open
`team_access_not_granted`	The token used is not granted the specific workspace access required to complete this request.
`too_many_users`	Needs at most 8 users to open
`user_disabled`	A specified `user` has been disabled.
`user_not_found`	Value(s) passed for `users` was invalid.
`user_not_visible`	The calling user is restricted from seeing the requested user.
`users_list_not_supplied`	Missing `users` in request
`access_denied`	Access to a resource specified in the request is denied.
`account_inactive`	Authentication token is for a deleted user or workspace when using a `bot` token.
`deprecated_endpoint`	The endpoint has been deprecated.
`ekm_access_denied`	Administrators have suspended the ability to post a message.
`enterprise_is_restricted`	The method cannot be called from an Enterprise.
`invalid_auth`	Some aspect of authentication cannot be validated. Either the provided token is invalid or the request originates from an IP address disallowed from making the request.
`method_deprecated`	The method has been deprecated.
`not_allowed_token_type`	The token type used in this request is not allowed.
`not_authed`	No authentication token provided.
`no_permission`	The workspace token used in this request does not have the permissions necessary to complete the request. Make sure your app is a member of the conversation it's attempting to post a message to.
`org_login_required`	The workspace is undergoing an enterprise migration and will not be available until migration is complete.
`token_expired`	Authentication token has expired
`token_revoked`	Authentication token is for a deleted user or workspace or the app has been removed when using a `user` token.
`two_factor_setup_required`	Two factor setup is required.
`accesslimited`	Access to this method is limited on the current network
`fatal_error`	The server could not complete your operation(s) without encountering a catastrophic error. It's possible some aspect of the operation succeeded before the error was raised.
`internal_error`	The server could not complete your operation(s) without encountering an error, likely due to a transient issue on our end. It's possible some aspect of the operation succeeded before the error was raised.
`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_arguments`	The method was either called with invalid arguments or some detail about the arguments passed is invalid, which is more likely when using complex arguments like blocks or attachments.
`invalid_array_arg`	The method was passed an array as an argument. Please only input valid strings.
`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/json` `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.
`ratelimited`	The request has been ratelimited. Refer to the `Retry-After` header for when to retry the request.
`request_timeout`	The method was called via a `POST` request, but the `POST` data was either missing or truncated.
`service_unavailable`	The service is temporarily unavailable
`team_added_to_org`	The workspace 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.

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
`no_op`	Slack did nothing when serving this request but it did not fail.
`already_open`	The conversation was already open so Slack did nothing.
`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.

API response

URL

POST body

Submit your arguments to see the API response

conversations.open

Notices

Facts

Method access

Required scopes

Content types

Rate limits

Arguments

Usage info

Using the users parameter

Example responses

Common successful response

Alternate response

Common error response

Errors

Warnings

Arguments

API response

Using the `users` parameter