Chat channels
Set up Google Chat
The assistant inside Google Chat (Workspace) — direct messages, and @mentions in spaces. People are matched to their accounts by their work email automatically, and replies are instant HTTP responses: no service account, no tokens to create or rotate, nothing else to configure.
Before you start
- A Google Cloud project with the Chat API enabled — any project works, about five minutes. You'll need its project NUMBER, not the project ID: every project has both, the ID in letters and the number all digits, on the project dashboard at console.cloud.google.com. Use the same project where you enable the Chat API.
- Nothing else: no service account, no OAuth consent screen, no credential to paste.
- Chat channels → Google Chat: enter the project number and choose what happens “When @mentioned in a space”. Create, then Test — Test checks the number has the right shape (“Configuration looks right”); the proof is the first message.
- In the Cloud console → Chat API → Configuration: set the app name and avatar, set Connection settings to “HTTP endpoint URL” and paste the webhook URL from the channel's checklist, enable “Receive 1:1 messages” and “Join spaces”, and set visibility for your domain.
- In Google Chat, start a chat with the app and ask something to confirm.
How people use it
Direct messages are always personal and private; /new starts a fresh conversation, /help lists the commands. In a space the app receives only messages that @mention it, and the whole space sees the reply. “When @mentioned in a space” decides what those answers use: the asker's own access, guest access groups only — every asker capped at guest level, whoever they are — or off, which ignores spaces entirely. Replies carry the answer's short form with its [n] markers, cut at 3,900 characters.
Access
Senders arrive with their Workspace email attached and are matched against the accounts already set up here automatically, so nobody needs setting up by hand. Someone without a matching account can be assigned in the people list (Manage people) after their first message, or link themselves with a one-time code from “Link messaging apps” in the web chat (valid ten minutes). An unmatched sender in a direct message is told how to link, unless guest access groups are open on this channel — then they read from those groups; in a space an unmatched sender is simply not answered.
Every delivery is verified as signed by Google for the project number you entered; anything else is dropped. Test fails with “the project number is the all-digits number from the Cloud console (not the project ID)” when the shape is wrong — it doesn't contact Google, so if the app stays silent, re-check the endpoint URL and the two switches in the Chat API configuration.
Last updated 20 Sep 2026