When I create an invite link and choose to add to a specific private group arrive at a topic that is in a category that only that private group can access Then, the member gets an access denied screen when clicking the invite link. However, if they then click the invite link again, it will bring …

This should work smoothly, and unfortunately I can’t reproduce the error on a test site… does it happen consistently on your site? Does your site use SSO? Which version of Discourse are you on?

Yes it happens consistently. We do use SSO. currently on 2026.5.0

are there any errors in the browser console throughout the process of accepting an invite?

Just the 404 for the the topic that it’s trying to redirect to.

What happens if they just refresh the page instead of clicking the link again? My thought is that the group add doesn’t take place before the page loads.

When I refreshed it was still giving me the error. If I clicked “Take me home”, I was able to see the group was added and category was visible. When I put the invite back in the browser and clicked through on “___ is inviting you”, I ended up on the right topic.

Invite link to private group, arrive at topic (private category) not working

Support

awesomerobot (Kris) September 30, 2026, 6:51pm 8

I have a fix on the way from another topic that should solve this one too "Arrive at topic" invite permissions issue

Topic		Replies	Views
Sorry, that user has already been invited. You may only invite a user to a topic once Support	9	1063	June 21, 2018
Redirecting invited users to a topic in a restricted category Feature	0	380	April 22, 2021
Existing users don't get added to groups in an invite if they can already access the Topic the invite directs to Bug groups , invites , fixed	8	448	May 20, 2025
Add users to topic in private category Feature	15	6878	February 24, 2015
Arrive at topic does not allow searching for topics from restricted categories when creating an invite UX	3	910	June 8, 2022

Invite link to private group, arrive at topic (private category) not working

Related topics