conversation

A conversation object contains information about a channel-like thing in Slack. It might be a public channel, a private channel, a direct message, or a multi-person direct message.

You'll find these objects in the Conversations API.

{
    "ok": true,
    "channel": {
        "id": "C123456",
        "name": "general",
        "is_channel": true,
        "is_group": false,
        "is_im": false,
        "created": 1449252889,
        "creator": "W123456",
        "is_archived": false,
        "is_general": true,
        "unlinked": 0,
        "name_normalized": "general",
        "is_read_only": false,
        "is_shared": false,
        "is_ext_shared": false,
        "is_org_shared": false,
        "pending_shared": [],
        "is_pending_ext_shared": false,
        "updated": 1673495039568,
        "is_member": true,
        "is_private": false,
        "is_mpim": false,
        "last_read": "1502126650.228446",
        "topic": {
            "value": "For public discussion of generalities",
            "creator": "W123456",
            "last_set": 1449709364
        },
        "purpose": {
            "value": "This part of the workspace is for fun. Make fun here.",
            "creator": "W123456",
            "last_set": 1449709364
        },
        "previous_names": [ "specifics", "abstractions", "etc" ],
        "num_members": 23,
        "locale": "en-US"
    }
}

The conversational booleans

Property	Description
is_archived	Indicates a conversation is archived, frozen in time.
is_channel	Indicates whether a conversation is a channel. Private channels created before March 2021 (with IDs that begin with G) will return false, and is_group will be true instead. Use is_private to determine whether a channel is private or public.
is_ext_shared	Indicates whether a conversation is part of a Shared Channel with a remote organization. Your app should make sure the data it shares in such a channel is appropriate for both workspaces. is_shared will also be true.
is_general	Means the channel is the workspace's "general" discussion channel (even if it may not be named #general). That might be important to your app because almost every user is a member.
is_group	Means the channel is a private channel created before March 2021. is_private will also be true.
is_im	Means the conversation is a direct message between two distinguished individuals or a user and a bot. is_private will also be true.
is_member	Indicates whether the user, bot user or Slack app associated with the token making the API call is itself a member of the conversation.
is_mpim	Represents an unnamed private conversation between multiple users. is_private will also be true.
is_org_shared	Explains whether this shared channel is shared between Enterprise Grid workspaces within the same organization. It's a little different from (externally) Shared Channels yet is_shared will be true.
is_pending_ext_shared	Means the conversation is ready to become an is_ext_shared channel but needs some kind of approval or sign off. Best to treat it as if it were a shared channel, even if it traverses only one workspace.
is_private	Means the conversation is privileged between two or more members. Meet their privacy expectations.
is_read_only	Means the conversation can't be written to by the user performing the API call.
is_shared	Means the conversation is in some way shared between multiple workspaces. Look for is_ext_shared and is_org_shared to learn which kind it is, and if that matters, act accordingly.

Other attributes

Property	Type	Description
name	String	Indicates the name of the channel-like thing, without a leading hash sign. Don't get too attached to that name. It might change. Don't even bother storing it. When thinking about channel-like things, think about their IDs, their type and the team/workspace they belong to.
creator	String	The ID of the member that created this conversation.
created	Int	Timestamp of when the conversation was created.
conversation_host_id	String	Appears on shared channel objects and indicates the "host" of the shared channel. The value may contain a workspace's ID (beginning with T) or an enterprise grid organization's ID (beginning with E).
topic	String	Provides information about the channel topic.
purpose	String	Provides information about the channel purpose.
updated	Int	The timestamp in milliseconds when the channel settings were updated - for example, the "topic" or "description" of the channel changed.

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

Property	Type	Description
last_read	Int	The timestamp for the last message the calling user has read in this channel.
unread_count	Int	A full count of visible messages that the calling user has yet to read.
unread_count_display	Int	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	String	The latest message in the channel.

These channel objects are not the same object type as those for private channels created before March 2021, which are considered group objects.