The Discourse team has launched a new feature: Event Chat Channels, allowing admins and moderators to enable real-time chat for calendar events. When creating or editing an event, checking “Chat integration” automatically generates a private chat channel and adds users who mark themselves as “Going” or “Interested”. Events display a direct link to their chat, making coordination easier for meetups, workshops, or group activities. sam notes this requires both the Calendar and Chat plugins enabled and is currently staff-only.
Sean_Dahlberg asks if this complements or replaces the Livestream plugin; Bas confirms it’s a complement for now, though future convergence is possible.
opcourdis suggests adding participant limits, referencing an existing plugin. nathank praises the feature as a “killer feature” for streamlining event coordination. However, nathank reports a bug: attempting to create a chat channel in a private message (PM) triggers an “internal server error.” They recommend either extending support to PMs or hiding the option in PM contexts to prevent errors — the former being preferable for future-proofing if topics are later converted to PMs.
How to use:
When creating/editing an event, check the “Chat integration” option. The system handles the rest - creating the channel and syncing attendees automatically.
This works well for coordinating meetups, workshops, or any event where participants benefit from real-time discussion.
Note: Chat channel creation is currently limited to staff (admins and moderators) only.
This is a killer feature! I’ve just re-enabled chat on an instance in order to utilise this. It will really help with the often messy event shenanigans that happen all too often!
