Invite or add a user or a Google Chat app to a space

This guide explains how to use the create method on the membership resource of the Google Chat API to invite or add a user or a Chat app to a space also known as creating a membership. When creating a membership, if the specified member has their auto-accept policy turned off, then they're invited, and must accept the space invitation before joining. Otherwise, creating a membership adds the member directly to the specified space.

The Membership resource represents whether a human user or Google Chat app is invited to, part of, or absent from a space.

Prerequisites

Python

• Python 3.6 or greater
• The pip package management tool

• The latest Google client libraries for Python. To install or update them, run the following command in your command-line interface:

  pip3 install --upgrade google-api-python-client google-auth-oauthlib
  

• A Google Cloud project with the Google Chat API enabled and configured. For steps, see Build a Google Chat app.

• Authorization configured for the Chat app. Creating a membership requires User authentication with the chat.memberships or chat.memberships.app authorization scope.

Node.js

• Node.js & npm

• The latest Google client libraries for Node.js. To install them, run the following command in your command-line interface:

  npm install @google-cloud/local-auth @googleapis/chat
  

• A Google Cloud project with the Google Chat API enabled and configured. For steps, see Build a Google Chat app.

• Authorization configured for the Chat app. Creating a membership requires User authentication with the chat.memberships or chat.memberships.app authorization scope.

Invite or add a user to a space

To invite or add a user to a space, pass the following in your request:

• Specify the chat.memberships authorization scope.
• Call the create method on the membership resource.
• Set parent to the resource name of the space in which to create membership.
• Set member to users/{user} where {user} is the person that you want to create membership for, and is either:
  • The ID for the person in the People API. For example, if the People API person resourceName is people/123456789, then set membership.member.name to users/123456789.
  • The ID for the user in the Directory API.
  • The user's email address. For example, users/[e-mail] or users/[e-mail]. If the user uses a Google Account or belongs to a different Google Workspace organization, you must use their email address.

The following example adds a user to a space:

Python

1. In your working directory, create a file named chat_membership_user_create.py.

2. Include the following code in chat_membership_user_create.py:

   from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
   from googleapiclient.discovery import build
   
   # Define your app's authorization scopes.
   # When modifying these scopes, delete the file token.json, if it exists.
   SCOPES = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.memberships"]
   
   def main():
       '''
       Authenticates with Chat API via user credentials,
       then adds a user to a Chat space by creating a membership.
       '''
   
       # Authenticate with Google Workspace
       # and get user authorization.
       flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file(
                   'client_secrets.json', SCOPES)
       creds = flow.run_local_server()
   
       # Build a service endpoint for Chat API.
       chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=creds)
   
       # Use the service endpoint to call Chat API.
       result = chat.spaces().members().create(
   
           # The space in which to create a membership.
           parent = 'spaces/SPACE',
   
           # Specify which user the membership is for.
           body = {
             'member': {
               'name':'users/USER',
               'type': 'HUMAN'
             }
           }
   
       ).execute()
   
       # Prints details about the created membership.
       print(result)
   
   if __name__ == '__main__':
       main()
   

3. In the code, replace the following:

   • SPACE: a space name, which you can obtain from the spaces.list method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.

   • USER: a user ID.

4. In your working directory, build and run the sample:

   python3 chat_membership_user_create.py
   

Node.js

1. In your working directory, create a file named add-user-to-space.js.

2. Include the following code in add-user-to-space.js:

   const chat = require('@googleapis/chat');
   const {authenticate} = require('@google-cloud/local-auth');
   
   /**
   * Adds the user to the Chat space.
   * @return {!Promise<!Object>}
   */
   async function addUserToSpace() {
     const scopes = [
       'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.memberships.app',
     ];
   
     const authClient =
         await authenticate({scopes, keyfilePath: 'client_secrets.json'});
   
     const chatClient = await chat.chat({version: 'v1', auth: authClient});
   
     return await chatClient.spaces.members.create({
       parent: 'spaces/SPACE',
       requestBody: {member: {name: 'users/USER', type: 'HUMAN'}}
     });
   }
   
   addUserToSpace().then(console.log);
   

3. In the code, replace the following:

   • SPACE: a space name, which you can obtain from the spaces.list method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.

   • USER: a user ID.

4. In your working directory, run the sample:

   node add-user-to-space.js
   

The Chat API returns an instance of membership that details the membership that was created.

Add a Chat app to a space

A Chat app can't add another app as a member to a space. To add a Chat app to a space or a direct message between two human users, pass the following in your request:

• Specify the chat.memberships.app authorization scope.
• Call the create method on the membership resource.
• Set parent to the resource name of the space in which to create membership.
• Set member to users/app; an alias that represents the app calling the Chat API.

The following example adds a Chat app to a space:

Python

1. In your working directory, create a file named chat_membership_app_create.py.

2. Include the following code in chat_membership_app_create.py:

   from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
   from googleapiclient.discovery import build
   
   # Define your app's authorization scopes.
   # When modifying these scopes, delete the file token.json, if it exists.
   SCOPES = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.memberships.app"]
   
   def main():
       '''
       Authenticates with Chat API via user credentials,
       then adds the Chat app to a Chat space.
       '''
   
       # Authenticate with Google Workspace
       # and get user authorization.
       flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file(
                   'client_secrets.json', SCOPES)
       creds = flow.run_local_server()
   
       # Build a service endpoint for Chat API.
       chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=creds)
   
       # Use the service endpoint to call Chat API.
       result = chat.spaces().members().create(
   
           # The space in which to create a membership.
           parent = 'spaces/SPACE',
   
           # Set the Chat app as the entity that gets added to the space.
           # 'app' is an alias for the Chat app calling the API.
           body = {
               'member': {
                 'name':'users/app',
                 'type': 'BOT'
               }
           }
   
       ).execute()
   
       # Prints details about the created membership.
       print(result)
   
   if __name__ == '__main__':
       main()
   

3. In the code, replace SPACE with a space name, which you can obtain from the spaces.list method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.

4. In your working directory, build and run the sample:

   python3 chat_membership_app_create.py
   

Node.js

1. In your working directory, create a file named add-app-to-space.js.

2. Include the following code in add-app-to-space.js:

   const chat = require('@googleapis/chat');
   const {authenticate} = require('@google-cloud/local-auth');
   
   /**
   * Adds the app to the Chat space.
   * @return {!Promise<!Object>}
   */
   async function addAppToSpace() {
     const scopes = [
       'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.memberships.app',
     ];
   
     const authClient =
         await authenticate({scopes, keyfilePath: 'client_secrets.json'});
   
     const chatClient = await chat.chat({version: 'v1', auth: authClient});
   
     return await chatClient.spaces.members.create({
       parent: 'spaces/SPACE',
       requestBody: {member: {name: 'users/app', type: 'BOT'}}
     });
   }
   
   addAppToSpace().then(console.log);
   

3. In the code, replace SPACE with a space name, which you can obtain from the spaces.list method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.

4. In your working directory, run the sample:

   node add-app-to-space.js
   

The Chat API returns an instance of membership that details the membership that was created.

Related topics

• Get details about a user's or Chat app's membership.
• List members in a space.
• Update a user's membership in a Google Chat space.
• Remove a user or Chat app from a space.