Retrieve Groups

Fetch and search groups in your CometChat application

Quick Reference for AI Agents & Developers

// Fetch groups list
const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(30)
  .build();
const groups = await groupsRequest.fetchNext();

// Get joined groups only
const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .joinedOnly(true)
  .build();

// Search groups
const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setSearchKeyword("team")
  .build();

// Filter by tags
const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setTags(["engineering", "product"])
  .withTags(true)
  .build();

// Get specific group
const group = await CometChat.getGroup("group_guid");

// Get online member count
const counts = await CometChat.getOnlineGroupMemberCount(["guid1", "guid2"]);

Retrieve group information including group lists, individual group details, and online member counts.

Availability: SDK, API, UI Kits

Public and password groups are visible to all users. Private groups are only visible to members.

---

Fetch Group List

Use GroupsRequestBuilder to fetch groups with various filters:

JavaScript

const limit = 30;

const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .build();

groupsRequest.fetchNext().then(
  (groupList) => console.log("Groups:", groupList),
  (error) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

TypeScript

const limit: number = 30;

const groupsRequest: CometChat.GroupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .build();

groupsRequest.fetchNext().then(
  (groupList: CometChat.Group[]) => console.log("Groups:", groupList),
  (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

Async/Await

async function fetchGroups(limit = 30) {
  const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
    .setLimit(limit)
    .build();

  try {
    const groupList = await groupsRequest.fetchNext();
    console.log(`Fetched ${groupList.length} groups`);
    return groupList;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Failed to fetch groups:", error);
    throw error;
  }
}

// Usage
const groups = await fetchGroups();

Builder Options

Method	Description
setLimit(limit)	Number of groups per request (max 100)
setSearchKeyword(keyword)	Search groups by name
joinedOnly(true)	Only return groups user has joined
setTags(tags)	Filter by group tags
withTags(true)	Include tags in response

---

Get Joined Groups Only

Fetch only groups the user is a member of:

const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(30)
  .joinedOnly(true)
  .build();

groupsRequest.fetchNext().then(
  (groupList) => console.log("My groups:", groupList),
  (error) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

---

Search Groups

const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(30)
  .setSearchKeyword("team")
  .build();

groupsRequest.fetchNext().then(
  (groupList) => console.log("Search results:", groupList),
  (error) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

---

Filter by Tags

const groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(30)
  .setTags(["engineering", "product"])
  .withTags(true)  // Include tags in response
  .build();

groupsRequest.fetchNext().then(
  (groupList) => {
    groupList.forEach((group) => {
      console.log(group.getName(), "Tags:", group.getTags());
    });
  },
  (error) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

---

Get Single Group

Fetch details for a specific group:

JavaScript

const GUID = "group-123";

CometChat.getGroup(GUID).then(
  (group) => {
    console.log("Name:", group.getName());
    console.log("Type:", group.getType());
    console.log("Members:", group.getMembersCount());
    console.log("Has Joined:", group.getHasJoined());
  },
  (error) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

TypeScript

const GUID: string = "group-123";

CometChat.getGroup(GUID).then(
  (group: CometChat.Group) => {
    console.log("Name:", group.getName());
    console.log("Type:", group.getType());
    console.log("Members:", group.getMembersCount());
  },
  (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

---

Get Online Member Count

Get the count of online members in specific groups:

const guids = ["group-123", "group-456"];

CometChat.getOnlineGroupMemberCount(guids).then(
  (counts) => {
    console.log("Online counts:", counts);
    // { "group-123": 5, "group-456": 12 }
  },
  (error) => console.log("Failed:", error)
);

---

Pagination

Use fetchNext() repeatedly to paginate through results:

class GroupListManager {
  constructor() {
    this.groupsRequest = new CometChat.GroupsRequestBuilder()
      .setLimit(30)
      .build();
    this.groups = [];
  }

  async loadMore() {
    try {
      const groupList = await this.groupsRequest.fetchNext();
      this.groups = [...this.groups, ...groupList];
      return groupList;
    } catch (error) {
      console.log("Failed to load groups:", error);
      return [];
    }
  }
}

// Usage
const manager = new GroupListManager();
const firstPage = await manager.loadMore();
const secondPage = await manager.loadMore();

---

Group Properties

Property	Type	Description
guid	String	Unique identifier
name	String	Display name
type	String	PUBLIC, PASSWORD, or PRIVATE
icon	String	URL to group icon
description	String	Group description
owner	String	UID of group owner
membersCount	Number	Number of members
hasJoined	Boolean	If logged-in user is a member
joinedAt	Number	When user joined (timestamp)
scope	String	User’s scope (ADMIN, MODERATOR, PARTICIPANT)
createdAt	Number	Creation timestamp
tags	Array	Group tags
metadata	Object	Custom data

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Next Steps

Create Group

Create new groups

Join Group

Join existing groups

Group Members

Fetch group members

Update Group

Modify group settings