Update a user's membership in a Google Chat space

AI-generated Key Takeaways

• This guide focuses on updating Google Chat space memberships, such as changing a member's role, using the update() method.

• Before proceeding, ensure you have a Google Workspace account, a Google Cloud project with the Chat API enabled, Node.js with the Cloud Client Library installed, and appropriate authentication credentials.

• Updating a membership requires authorization with relevant scopes, calling the UpdateMembership() method with the membership object and updateMask, and potentially modifying roles using provided code samples.

• Google Workspace administrators can update memberships for any space by utilizing user authentication with specific scopes and the useAdminAccess query parameter.

This guide explains how to use the update() method on the Membership resource of the Google Chat API to change attributes about a membership, like changing a space member to a space manager or a space owner.

If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you can call the update() method to update any space's membership in your Google Workspace organization.

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

Prerequisites

Node.js

• A Business or Enterprise Google Workspace account with access to Google Chat.

• Set up your environment:
  • Create a Google Cloud project.
  • Configure the OAuth consent screen.
  • Enable and configure the Google Chat API with a name, icon, and description for your Chat app.
  • Install the Node.js Cloud Client Library.
  • Create access credentials based on how you want to authenticate in your Google Chat API request:
    • To authenticate as a Chat user, create OAuth client ID credentials and save the credentials as a JSON file named credentials.json to your local directory.
    • To authenticate as the Chat app, create service account credentials and save the credentials as a JSON file named credentials.json.
• Choose an authorization scope based on whether you want to authenticate as a user or the Chat app.

The code samples in this page use the gRPC API interface with the Google Cloud client libraries. Alternatively, you can use the REST API interface. For more information about the gRPC and REST interfaces, see Google Chat API overview.

Update a membership

To update a space membership, pass the following in your request:

• Specify an authorization scope:
  • With user authentication, specify the chat.memberships authorization scope.
  • With app authentication, specify the chat.app.memberships authorization scope. When updating a membership with app authentication, you can only update memberships in spaces created by Chat apps. App authentication requires one-time administrator approval.
• Call the UpdateMembership() method.
• Pass membership as an instance of Membership with the following:
  • The name field set to the membership to update, which includes a space ID and a member ID.
  • The membership fields to update set to the new values.
• Pass updateMask to specify the aspects of the membership to update, it includes the following:
  • role: User's role within a Chat space, which determines their permitted actions in the space. For detailed permission explanations, see MembershipRole in the Chat API reference documentation. Possible values are:
    • ROLE_MEMBER: A member of the space. In the Chat UI, this role is called Member.
    • ROLE_ASSISTANT_MANAGER: A space manager. In the Chat UI, this role is called Manager.
    • ROLE_MANAGER: A space owner. In the Chat UI, this role is called Owner.

Change a member to an owner (user authentication)

The following example calls the Chat API using user authentication to make a regular space member a space owner by specifying role as ROLE_MANAGER:

Node.js

chat/client-libraries/cloud/update-membership-user-cred.js

View on GitHub

import {createClientWithUserCredentials} from './authentication-utils.js';

const USER_AUTH_OAUTH_SCOPES = [
  'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.memberships',
];

// This sample shows how to update a membership with user credential
async function main() {
  // Create a client
  const chatClient = await createClientWithUserCredentials(
    USER_AUTH_OAUTH_SCOPES,
  );

  // Initialize request argument(s)
  const request = {
    membership: {
      // Replace SPACE_NAME and MEMBER_NAME here
      name: 'spaces/SPACE_NAME/members/MEMBER_NAME',
      // Replace ROLE_NAME here with ROLE_MEMBER or ROLE_MANAGER
      role: 'ROLE_NAME',
    },
    updateMask: {
      // The field paths to update.
      paths: ['role'],
    },
  };

  // Make the request
  const response = await chatClient.updateMembership(request);

  // Handle the response
  console.log(response);
}

await main();

To run the sample, replace the following:

• SPACE_NAME: the ID from the space's name. You can obtain the ID by calling the ListSpaces() method or from the space's URL.
• MEMBER_NAME: the ID from the membership's name. You can obtain the ID by calling the ListMemberships() method, or from the response body returned after creating a membership asynchronously with the Chat API.
• ROLE_NAME: the updated role, ROLE_MANAGER. You can set this value to any value of MembershipRole. For example, to make the regular member a space manager, change ROLE_NAME to ROLE_ASSISTANT_MANAGER instead.

The Google Chat API updates the specified membership to a space owner and returns an instance of Membership.

Change an owner to a member (user authentication)

The following example calls the Chat API using user authentication to make a space owner a regular space member by specifying role as ROLE_MEMBER:

Node.js

chat/client-libraries/cloud/update-membership-user-cred.js

View on GitHub

import {createClientWithUserCredentials} from './authentication-utils.js';

const USER_AUTH_OAUTH_SCOPES = [
  'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.memberships',
];

// This sample shows how to update a membership with user credential
async function main() {
  // Create a client
  const chatClient = await createClientWithUserCredentials(
    USER_AUTH_OAUTH_SCOPES,
  );

  // Initialize request argument(s)
  const request = {
    membership: {
      // Replace SPACE_NAME and MEMBER_NAME here
      name: 'spaces/SPACE_NAME/members/MEMBER_NAME',
      // Replace ROLE_NAME here with ROLE_MEMBER or ROLE_MANAGER
      role: 'ROLE_NAME',
    },
    updateMask: {
      // The field paths to update.
      paths: ['role'],
    },
  };

  // Make the request
  const response = await chatClient.updateMembership(request);

  // Handle the response
  console.log(response);
}

await main();

To run the sample, replace the following:

• SPACE_NAME: the ID from the space's name. You can obtain the ID by calling the ListSpaces() method or from the space's URL.
• MEMBER_NAME: the ID from the membership's name. You can obtain the ID by calling the ListMemberships() method, or from the response body returned after creating a membership asynchronously with the Chat API.
• ROLE_NAME: the updated role, ROLE_MEMBER.

The Google Chat API updates the specified membership to a space owner and returns an instance of Membership.

Change a member to an owner (Chat app authentication)

App authentication requires one-time administrator approval.

Write a script that calls the Chat API

The following example calls the Chat API using app authentication to make a regular space member a space owner by specifying role as ROLE_MANAGER in the body that specifies updated membership attributes:

Note: The following sample uses the REST API interface with the Google API client libraries instead of the gRPC API interface. For more information about the gRPC and REST interfaces, see Google Chat API overview.

Python

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

2. Include the following code in chat_membership_update_to_owner_app.py:

   from google.oauth2 import service_account
   from apiclient.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.app.memberships"]
   
   def main():
       '''
       Authenticates with Chat API using app authentication,
       then updates a specified space member to change
       it from a regular member to a space owner.
       '''
   
       # Specify service account details.
       creds = (
           service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file('credentials.json')
           .with_scopes(SCOPES)
       )
   
       # 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().patch(
   
           # The membership to update, and the updated role.
           #
           # Replace SPACE with a space name.
           # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API,
           # or from a space's URL.
           #
           # Replace MEMBERSHIP with a membership name.
           # Obtain the membership name from the membership of Chat API.
           name='spaces/SPACE/members/MEMBERSHIP',
           updateMask='role',
   
           # Replace ROLE with a MembershipRole value.
           # Obtain the MembershipRole values from the membership of Chat API.
           body={'role': 'ROLE'}
   
         ).execute()
   
       # Prints details about the updated 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.

   • MEMBERSHIP: a membership name, which you can obtain from the spaces.members.list method in the Chat API.

   • ROLE: the updated role, ROLE_MANAGER. You can set this value to any value of MembershipRole. For example, to make the regular member a space manager, change ROLE to ROLE_ASSISTANT_MANAGER instead.

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

   python3 chat_membership_update_to_owner_app.py

Change an owner to a member (Chat app authentication)

App authentication requires one-time administrator approval.

Write a script that calls the Chat API

The following example calls the Chat API using app authentication to make a space owner a regular space member by specifying role as ROLE_MEMBER in the body that specifies updated membership attributes:

Note: The following sample uses the REST API interface with the Google API client libraries instead of the gRPC API interface. For more information about the gRPC and REST interfaces, see Google Chat API overview.

Python

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

2. Include the following code in chat_membership_update_to_member_app.py:

   from google.oauth2 import service_account
   from apiclient.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.app.memberships"]
   
   def main():
       '''
       Authenticates with Chat API via user credentials,
       then updates a specified space owner to change
       it to a regular member.
       '''
   
       # Specify service account details.
       creds = (
           service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file('credentials.json')
           .with_scopes(SCOPES)
       )
   
       # 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().patch(
   
           # The membership to update, and the updated role.
           #
           # Replace SPACE with a space name.
           # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API,
           # or from a space's URL.
           #
           # Replace MEMBERSHIP with a membership name.
           # Obtain the membership name from the membership of Chat API.
           name='spaces/SPACE/members/MEMBERSHIP',
           updateMask='role',
           body={'role': 'ROLE_MEMBER'}
   
         ).execute()
   
       # Prints details about the updated 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.

   • MEMBERSHIP: a membership name, which you can obtain from the spaces.members.list method in the Chat API.

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

   python3 chat_membership_update_to_member_app.py

Update memberships as a Google Workspace administrator

If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you can call the update() method to update memberships for any space in your Google Workspace organization.

To call this method as a Google Workspace administrator, do the following:

• Call the method using user authentication, and specify an authorization scope that supports calling the method using administrator privileges.
• In your request, specify the query parameter useAdminAccess to true.

For more information and examples, see Manage Google Chat spaces as a Google Workspace administrator.

Related topics

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