# "Arrive at topic" invite permissions issue

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/arrive-at-topic-invite-permissions-issue/413611>\
**Category:** Bug\
**Created:** [September 29, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/arrive-at-topic-invite-permissions-issue/413611 "2026-09-29T21:42:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RGJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/rgj/32/523185_2.png) [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/arrive-at-topic-invite-permissions-issue/413611/1 "2026-09-29T21:42:42Z")

</div>

## Summary:

If the option “Arrive at topic” is used in an invite, weird permissions issues happen.

## Reproduction:

1. create a group `specialgroup`
2. set up a category `testcategory`
3. add groups `trust_level_0` and `specialgroup`, both as See/Reply/Create\*
4. create a topic in that category
5. create an invite and set “arrive at topic” to the topic created in step 4
6. 

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/a/1/ca1d472ed2bd503e70098292375f7435e15748c9.png)

1. sigh
2. remove `specialgroup` from the category permissions for now, so the category only has `trust_level_0` as See/Reply/Create
3. try to create the invite again and set “arrive at topic” to the topic created in step 4
4. see how things actually got worse

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/5/2/c521c2324538030913c72c3b744baf925e8dfcc3.png)

1. be smart and try to set the category permissions to `logged_in_users` instead of `trust_level_0`
2. learn that this does not make a difference

## May be related

Variant on [Invite link to private group, arrive at topic (private category) not working](https://meta.discourse.org/t/invite-link-to-private-group-arrive-at-topic-private-category-not-working/406457). This time it goes south during invite link _creation_.

\*) it sounds like it does not make sense to have both groups but if you have a subcategory that only allows `specialgroup`, you must add that group to the parent category as well, because Discourse does not understand that `trust_level_0` is always a superset.

---

_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/arrive-at-topic-invite-permissions-issue/413611)._