This guide explains how to use the
delete()
method on the Membership
resource of the Google Chat API to remove members from a
space, also known as deleting a membership. Space managers can't be removed if
they're the only space manager in a space. Assign another user as a space
manager before removing these memberships.
If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you can remove users, Google Groups, or Chat apps from any space 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
client_secrets.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
.
- To authenticate as a Chat user,
create OAuth client ID
credentials and save the credentials as a JSON file named
- Choose an authorization scope based on whether you want to authenticate as a user or the Chat app.
- A Google Chat space. To create one using the Google Chat API, see Create a space. To create one in Chat, visit the Help Center documentation.
Remove a member from a space as a user
To remove a user, Google Group, or Chat app from a space with user authentication, pass the following in your request:
- Specify the
chat.memberships
authorization scope. The authorizing user must have permission to remove the user or Google Group from the space. To remove a Chat app, specify thechat.memberships.app
authorization scope (apps can only delete their own membership; not that of other apps). As a best practice, choose the most restrictive scope that still allows your app to function. - Call the
DeleteMembership()
method. - Pass the
name
of the membership to delete. If the membership belongs to the only space manager in a space, assign another user as a space manager before deleting this membership.
Here's how to delete a membership with user authentication:
Node.js
To run this sample, replace the following:
SPACE_NAME
: the ID from the space'sname
. You can obtain the ID by calling theListSpaces()
method or from the space's URL.MEMBER_NAME
: the ID from the member'sname
. You can obtain the ID by calling theListMemberships()
method.
If successful, the response body returns the membership with
'state': 'NOT_A_MEMBER'
, indicating that the member is no longer in the space.
{ "name": "spaces/SPACE_NAME/members/MEMBER_NAME", "state": "NOT_A_MEMBER" }
Remove a member from a space as a Chat app
App authentication requires one-time administrator approval.
To remove a user, Google Group, or Chat app from a space with app authentication, pass the following in your request:
- Specify the
chat.app.memberships
authorization scope. Deleting membership of a space manager is only supported in spaces created by Chat apps. - Call the
delete
method on themembership
resource. - Pass the
name
of the membership to delete. If the membership belongs to the only space manager in a space, assign another user as a space manager before deleting this membership.
Create an API key
To call a Developer Preview API method, you must use a non-public developer preview version of the API discovery document. To authenticate the request, you must pass an API key.
To create the API Key, open your app's Google Cloud project and do the following:
- In the Google Cloud console, go to Menu > APIs & Services > Credentials.
- Click Create credentials > API key.
- Your new API key is displayed.
- Click Copy to copy your API key for use in your app's code. The API key can also be found in the "API keys" section of your project's credentials.
- Click Restrict key to update advanced settings and limit use of your API key. For more details, see Applying API key restrictions.
Write a script that calls Chat API
Here's how to delete a membership with app authentication:
Python
- In your working directory, create a file named
chat_membership_delete_app.py
. Include the following code in
chat_membership_delete_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 deletes the specified membership. ''' # 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, discoveryServiceUrl='https://chat.googleapis.com/$discovery/rest?version=v1&labels=DEVELOPER_PREVIEW&key=API_KEY') # Use the service endpoint to call Chat API. result = chat.spaces().members().delete( # The membership to delete. # # Replace SPACE with a space name. # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API, # or from a space's URL. # # Replace MEMBER with a membership name. # Obtain the membership name from the memberships resource of # Chat API. To delete a Chat app's membership, replace MEMBER # with app; an alias for the app calling the API. name='spaces/SPACE/members/MEMBER' ).execute() # Print Chat API's response in your command line interface. # When deleting a membership, the response body is empty. print(result) if __name__ == '__main__': main()
In the code, replace the following:
API_KEY
: the API key you created to build the service endpoint for Chat API.SPACE
: a space name, which you can obtain from thespaces.list
method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.MEMBER
: a membership name, which you can obtain from thespaces.members.list
method in the Chat API. To delete an app's membership, replaceMEMBER
withapp
.
In your working directory, build and run the sample:
python3 chat_membership_delete_app.py
If successful, the response body returns the membership with
'state': 'NOT_A_MEMBER'
, indicating that the member is no longer in the space.
{ "name": "spaces/SPACE/members/MEMBER", "state": "NOT_A_MEMBER" }
Limitations and considerations
- With app authentication, a Chat app can remove users, but not Google Groups.
Remove users or Google Groups from a space as a Google Workspace administrator
If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you can call the
DeleteMembership()
method to remove users, Google Groups, or
Chat apps from 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
totrue
.
For more information and examples, see Manage Google Chat spaces as a Google Workspace administrator.
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.
- Invite or add a user or Chat app to a space.