API object type

group

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

    },

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	The ID of the private channel.
`name`	string	The name of the private channel.
`is_group`	boolean	Whether this object is a conversation.
`created`	Unix timestamp	When the conversation was created.
`creator`	string	The user ID of the member that created this private channel.
`is_archived`	boolean	`true` if the private channel is archived.
`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.
`topic`	object	The topic of the conversation.
`purpose`	object	The purpose 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.