Delete a space

This guide explains how use the delete() method on the Space resource of the Google Chat API to delete a named space when it's no longer needed. Deleting a space also deletes everything that it contains, including messages and attachments.

If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you can call the delete() method to delete any named space in your Google Workspace organization.

The Space resource represents a place where people and Chat apps can send messages, share files, and collaborate. There are several types of spaces:

  • Direct messages (DMs) are conversations between two users or a user and a Chat app.
  • Group chats are conversations between three or more users and Chat apps.
  • Named spaces are persistent places where people send messages, share files, and collaborate.

Prerequisites

Node.js

Delete a named space as a user

To delete an existing space in Google Chat with user authentication, pass the following in your request:

  • Specify the chat.delete authorization scope.
  • Call the DeleteSpace() method.
  • Pass the name of the space to delete.

Here's how to delete a space:

Node.js

chat/client-libraries/cloud/delete-space-user-cred.js
import {createClientWithUserCredentials} from './authentication-utils.js';

const USER_AUTH_OAUTH_SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.delete'];

// This sample shows how to delete a space with user credential
async function main() {
  // Create a client
  const chatClient = await createClientWithUserCredentials(USER_AUTH_OAUTH_SCOPES);

  // Initialize request argument(s)
  const request = {
    // Replace SPACE_NAME here
    name: 'spaces/SPACE_NAME'
  };

  // Make the request
  const response = await chatClient.deleteSpace(request);

  // Handle the response
  console.log(response);
}

main().catch(console.error);

To run this sample, replace SPACE_NAME with the ID from the space's name field. You can obtain the ID by calling the ListSpaces() method or from the space's URL.

Delete a named space as a Chat app

App authentication requires one-time administrator approval.

With app authentication, you can only delete spaces created by Chat apps.

To delete an existing space in Google Chat with app authentication, pass the following in your request:

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:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to Menu > APIs & Services > Credentials.

    Go to Credentials

  2. Click Create credentials > API key.
  3. 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 space:

Python

  1. In your working directory, create a file named chat_space_delete_app.py.

  2. Include the following code in chat_space_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.delete"]

def main():
    '''
    Authenticates with Chat API using app authentication,
    then deletes the specified space.
    '''

    # 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().delete(

          # The space 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.
          name='spaces/SPACE'

      ).execute()

    # Print Chat API's response in your command line interface.
    # When deleting a space, the response body is empty.
    print(result)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

  3. In the code, replace the following:

    • API_KEY: the API key you created to build the service endpoint for Chat API.

    • SPACE with the space name, which you can obtain from the spaces.list method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.

  4. In your working directory, build and run the sample:

    python3 chat_space_delete_app.py

If successful, the response body is empty, which indicates that the space is deleted.

Delete a named space as a Google Workspace administrator

If you're a Google Workspace administrator, you can call the DeleteSpace() method to delete any named space in your Google Workspace organization.

To call this method as a Google Workspace administrator, do the following:

For more information and examples, see Manage Google Chat spaces as a Google Workspace administrator.