Create A Group

Create public, private, or password-protected groups in CometChat React Native SDK, with optional member and ban lists at creation time.

Quick Reference - Create a group:

// Create a public group
const group = new CometChat.Group("GUID", "Hello Group!", CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PUBLIC, "");
await CometChat.createGroup(group);

// Create with members
const members = [new CometChat.GroupMember("UID", CometChat.GROUP_MEMBER_SCOPE.PARTICIPANT)];
await CometChat.createGroupWithMembers(group, members, []);

Available via: SDK | REST API | UI Kits

Create a Group

In other words, as a logged-in user, how do I create a public, private or password-protected group?

You can create a group using createGroup() method. This method takes a Group object as input.

To create an object of Group class, you can use either of the below two constructors:

1. new Group(String GUID, String name, String groupType, String password)
2. new Group(String GUID, String name, String groupType, String password, String icon, String description)

The groupType needs to be either of the below 3 values:

1.CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PUBLIC

2.CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PASSWORD

3.CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PRIVATE

JavaScript

var GUID = "GUID";
var groupName = "Hello Group!";
var groupType = CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PUBLIC;
var password = "";

var group = new CometChat.Group(GUID, groupName, groupType, password);

CometChat.createGroup(group).then(
  group => {
  	console.log("Group created successfully:", group);
  }, error => {
  	console.log("Group creation failed with exception:", error);
  }
);

TypeScript

var GUID: string = "GUID";
var groupName: string = "Hello Group!";
var groupType: string = CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PUBLIC;
var password: string = "";

var group: CometChat.Group = new CometChat.Group(GUID, groupName, groupType, password);

CometChat.createGroup(group).then(
  (group: CometChat.Group) => {
      console.log("Group created successfully:", group);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("Group creation failed with exception:", error);
  }
);

The createGroup() method takes the following parameters:

Parameter	Description
group	An instance of Group class

After successful creation of the group, you will receive an instance of Group class which contains all the information about the particular group.

GUID can be alphanumeric with underscore and hyphen. Spaces, punctuation and other special characters are not allowed. CometChat automatically converts any uppercase characters in the GUID to lowercase.

Add members while creating a group

You can create a group and add members at the same time using the createGroupWithMembers() method. This method takes the Group Object, Array of Group Member Object to be added & Array of UIDs to be banned.

To create an object of Group class, you can use either of the below two constructors:

1. new Group(String GUID, String name, String groupType, String password)
2. new Group(String GUID, String name, String groupType, String password, String icon, String description)

The groupType needs to be either of the below 3 values:

1. CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PUBLIC
2. CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PASSWORD
3. CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PRIVATE

To create an object of Group Member class, you can use the below constructor:

• new CometChat.GroupMember(String UID, String scope)

JavaScript

let GUID = "cometchat-guid-11";
let UID = "cometchat-uid-1";
let groupName = "Hello Group!";
let groupType = CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PUBLIC;

let group = new CometChat.Group(GUID, groupName, groupType);
let members = [
new CometChat.GroupMember(UID, CometChat.GROUP_MEMBER_SCOPE.PARTICIPANT)
];
let banMembers = ["cometchat-uid-2"];

CometChat.createGroupWithMembers(group, members, banMembers).then(
  response => {
  	console.log("Group created successfully", response);
  }, error => {
  	console.log("Some error occured while creating group", error)
  }
);

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "cometchat-guid-11";
let UID: string = "cometchat-uid-1";
let groupName: string = "Hello Group!";
let groupType: string = CometChat.GROUP_TYPE.PUBLIC;

let group: CometChat.Group = new CometChat.Group(GUID, groupName, groupType);
let members: Array<CometChat.GroupMember> = [
new CometChat.GroupMember(UID, CometChat.GROUP_MEMBER_SCOPE.PARTICIPANT)
];
let banMembers: Array<String> = ["cometchat-uid-2"];

CometChat.createGroupWithMembers(group, members, banMembers).then(
  (response: Object) => {
  	console.log("Group created successfully", response);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
  	console.log("Some error occured while creating group", error)
  }
);

This method returns an Object which has two keys: group & members . The group key has the Group Object which contains all the information of the group which is created. The members key has the UID of the users and the value will either be success or an error message describing why the operation to add/ban the user failed.

Group Class

Field	Editable	Information
guid	Needs to be specified at group creation. Cannot be edited later	A unique identifier for a group
name	Yes	Name of the group
type	No	Type of the group: Can be 1. Public 2. Password 3. Private
password	No	Password for the group in case the group is of type password.
icon	Yes	An URL to group icon
description	Yes	Description about the group
owner	Yes	UID of the owner of the group.
metadata	Yes	Additional data for the group as JSON
createdAt	No	The unix timestamp of the time the group was created
updatedAt	No	The unix timestamp of the time the group was last updated
hasJoined	No	A boolean to determine if the logged in user is a member of the group.
joinedAt	No	The unix timestamp of the time the logged in user joined the group.
scope	Yes	Scope of the logged in user. Can be: 1. Admin 2. Moderator 3. Participant
membersCount	No	The number of members in the groups
tags	Yes	A list of tags to identify specific groups.

Best Practices

Use createGroupWithMembers for initial setup

If you know the initial members at creation time, use createGroupWithMembers() instead of creating the group first and then adding members separately. This reduces API calls and ensures atomic group setup.

Keep GUIDs consistent with your system

Use the same group identifier from your backend as the CometChat GUID. This simplifies mapping between your system and CometChat.

Check member add results individually

The createGroupWithMembers() response includes per-UID results (“success” or error). Check each result rather than assuming all members were added successfully.

Troubleshooting

createGroup fails with 'GUID already exists'

Each GUID must be unique across your CometChat app. If the group already exists, use a different GUID or retrieve the existing group with getGroup().

GUID validation error

GUIDs can only contain alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens. Spaces, punctuation, and other special characters are not allowed. Uppercase characters are automatically converted to lowercase.

Members not added during createGroupWithMembers

Check the members key in the response object for per-UID error messages. Common causes include invalid UIDs or users that don’t exist in your CometChat app.

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Next Steps

Retrieve Groups

Fetch group lists, search groups, and get group details

Join a Group

Join public or password-protected groups

Group Members

Manage members, roles, and permissions within groups

Send Messages

Send text, media, and custom messages to groups