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Creating a Community

Status: Complete

Any user can create a community, unless the instance administrator has restricted community creation to admins only.

How to Create a Community

  1. Open the community picker on the left side of the screen.
  2. Click the + (plus) button at the bottom of the community list.
  3. Fill in the community details:
  4. Name (required) -- 1 to 64 characters
  5. Description (optional) -- up to 2,048 characters
  6. Click Create.

Your new community is created immediately, and you are set as its Owner.

What Gets Created by Default

When you create a community, Chatalot automatically sets up:

  • A "General" group -- the first organizational folder in your community
  • A #general text channel inside that group -- ready for conversation

You can rename, reconfigure, or delete these defaults at any time.

Who Can Create Communities

Community creation is controlled by the instance administrator through the COMMUNITY_CREATION_MODE environment variable:

Mode Who can create
everyone (default) Any registered user
admin_only Only instance administrators

If you cannot see the create button, your instance may have restricted community creation. Contact your instance administrator for access.

After Creating

Once your community exists, you will want to:

  1. Invite members -- generate an invite link so others can join (see Managing Members)
  2. Create groups -- organize your community with additional groups (see Creating Groups)
  3. Configure settings -- set up the community icon, banner, and policies (see Community Settings)
  4. Upload custom emoji -- add fun emoji for your community (see Custom Emoji)

Limits

  • Community name: 1--64 characters
  • Community description: up to 2,048 characters
  • Groups per community: up to 200
  • There is no hard limit on the number of communities a user can create or join

Tip: Choose a descriptive community name and add a description. These are shown in invite previews when the community is set to discoverable.