Group Overview
Group chat is a common multi-user communication method in instant messaging applications, typically involving two or more users. RC's group services support rich group member management, mute management, offline push notifications, and historical message roaming, making it suitable for interest groups, office groups, and customer service communication. Global IM UIKit provides out-of-the-box group chat UI components.
Service Configuration
The client SDK supports group services by default, with no need for additional activation. Some basic features and value-added services can be enabled and configured on the Basic features and Chat pricing plans pages in the Console.
- There is no limit to the number of groups that can be created under an App Key. There is also no limit to the number of groups a single user can join.
- Groups have a capacity limit, with the default maximum number of group members set to 3,000. This can be modified by [submitting a ticket].
- By default, the Cloud Storage for One-to-One and Group Messages service is not enabled for an App Key. You can enable it yourself. For details, see Enable Cloud Storage for One-to-One and Group Messages. For App Keys in the production environment, only Chat Premium Plan and Chat Ultimate Plan can enable this service.
- By default, users can only view group messages sent after they join the group. After enabling the service, new group members can access historical group messages sent before they joined. For details, see Enable New Users to Access Historical Group Messages Before Joining.
Client SDK Usage Notes
- The client SDK (global IM Kit/IMLib) does not provide APIs for group management. To create a group, the App server must request RC's server API. Other operations such as disbanding a group, joining a group, or leaving a group must also be handled by the App server via RC's server API. For details, see Group Management Functions below.
- Group owner, group administrator, group announcements, group invitations, and group number search are part of the group business logic and must be implemented on the App side.
- RC is only responsible for delivering messages to all users in the group and does not maintain group member profiles (avatars, names, group member cards, etc.). The App needs to maintain related data on its business server and implement relevant interfaces for Global IM UIKit to provide data. See the following documents:
Group Management Functions
For client developers, basic management operations such as creating or disbanding a group only require interaction with the App's own business server. The App server is responsible for calling the corresponding RC server API (Server API) interfaces to complete these operations.
| Server API | Description |
|---|---|
| Create Group, Disband Group | Provide the creator's user ID, group ID, and group name to request group creation from RC's server. If a group is disbanded, the group member relationships cease to exist. |
| Join Group, Leave Group | After joining a group, users can view new messages sent after joining by default. After leaving a group, users no longer receive new messages from the group. |
| Refresh Group Information | Modify the group information used in RC's push service. |
| Query Group Members | Query the user ID information of all members in a specified group. |
| Query Groups Joined by User | Query all groups joined by a user based on their user ID, returning the group ID and group name. RC does not store group profile information. Group profiles and member information must be maintained by the developer on the application server. If there are discrepancies in the user-group relationships maintained by the App server, this interface can be used for verification. |
| Synchronize Groups Joined by User | Synchronize all groups joined by a specified user with RC's server to ensure consistency between the App's user-group information and RC's server. If there are existing group and member data on the App Server before integrating RC services, this interface can be used to synchronize the existing user-group relationships with RC during the first connection. |
| Mute Specified Group Members | Mute one or more users in a specified single group or all groups. Muted users can receive and view messages from other group members but cannot send messages via the client SDK. |
| Set Group-Wide Mute | Mute all members of a group. All members of a muted group cannot send messages. To allow certain users to speak, add them to the group mute allowlist. |
| Add User to Group Mute Allowlist | After a group is muted, users in the mute allowlist can send group messages. |