> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://learn.social.plus/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Community Platform

> Create public and private communities, manage membership and roles, set up governance rules, and surface trending communities.

<Info>**SDK v7.x** · Last verified March 2026 · iOS · Android · Web · Flutter</Info>

<Accordion title="Speed run — just the code" icon="forward">
  ```typescript theme={null}
  // 1. Create a community
  const { data: community } = await CommunityRepository.createCommunity({
    displayName: 'Gaming Hub', isPublic: true,
    postSetting: CommunityPostSettings.ANYONE_CAN_POST,
  });

  // 2. Join a community
  await CommunityRepository.joinCommunity('communityId');

  // 3. Query trending communities
  CommunityRepository.getTrendingCommunities(
    { limit: 10 },
    ({ data }) => { /* render */ }
  );
  ```

  Full walkthrough below ↓
</Accordion>

<Tip>
  **Platform note** — code samples below use TypeScript. Every method has an equivalent in the iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin), and Flutter (Dart) SDKs — see the linked SDK reference in each step.
</Tip>

Communities are the organizational backbone of social apps. This guide walks through the full lifecycle: create a community, grow its membership, set governance rules, and help users discover it.

```mermaid theme={null}
graph TD
    A[Create Community] --> B{Public or Private?}
    B -->|Public| C[Discoverable via Search & Browse]
    B -->|Private| D[Invitation Only]
    C --> E[Members Join]
    D --> F[Send Invitations]
    F --> E
    E --> G[Post Content]
    G --> H{Moderation Setting}
    H -->|Admin Review| I[Posts Queue for Approval]
    H -->|Anyone Can Post| G
    I --> J[Moderator Approves]
    J --> G
    G --> K[Community Feed]

    classDef action fill:#e1f5fe,stroke:#0288d1,color:#01579b
    classDef decision fill:#fff8e1,stroke:#f9a825,color:#f57f17
    classDef process fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#7b1fa2,color:#4a148c
    classDef outcome fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#388e3c,color:#1b5e20

    class A,G action
    class B,H decision
    class C,D,E,F,I,J process
    class K outcome
```

## Data Model

```mermaid theme={null}
erDiagram
    COMMUNITY {
        string communityId PK
        string displayName
        boolean isPublic
        string postSetting "ANYONE | ADMIN_REVIEW | ADMIN_ONLY"
        int membersCount
        string[] categoryIds
    }
    CATEGORY {
        string categoryId PK
        string name
    }
    MEMBER {
        string communityId FK
        string userId FK
        string role "member | moderator | admin"
    }
    POST {
        string postId PK
        string communityId FK
        string creatorId FK
        string reviewStatus "published | reviewing | declined"
    }
    COMMUNITY ||--o{ MEMBER : "has members"
    COMMUNITY ||--o{ POST : "contains"
    COMMUNITY }o--o{ CATEGORY : "tagged with"
    MEMBER }o--|| USER : "is a"
```

<Info>
  **Prerequisites**: SDK installed and authenticated → [SDK Setup](/social-plus-sdk/getting-started/overview). By default, all authenticated users can create communities.
</Info>

<Note>
  **After completing this guide you'll have:**

  * Community creation flow (public and private) with categories
  * Member join/leave and role assignment wired up
  * Trending and recommended communities discoverable in-app
</Note>

***

## Quick Start: Create a Community

Use `AmityCommunityRepository` to create a community with privacy and moderation settings:

<CreateCommunity />

Full reference → [Create Community](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/community-lifecycle/create-community)

***

## Step-by-Step Implementation

<Steps>
  <Step title="Choose community settings">
    Pick the right `postSettings` for your community type before creating it. This controls the entire content governance model.

    | `postSettings`               | Who can post                         | Best for              |
    | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | --------------------- |
    | `ANYONE_CAN_POST`            | All members                          | Open communities      |
    | `ADMIN_REVIEW_POST_REQUIRED` | All members, but posts need approval | Curated communities   |
    | `ONLY_ADMIN_CAN_POST`        | Admins/moderators only               | Announcement channels |

    ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
    import { CommunityRepository } from '@amityco/ts-sdk';

    const { data: community } = await CommunityRepository.createCommunity({
      displayName: 'My Community',
      isPublic: true,
      postSetting: 'ANYONE_CAN_POST',   // or 'ADMIN_REVIEW_POST_REQUIRED'
    });
    ```

    Full reference → [Create Community](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/community-lifecycle/create-community)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add categories">
    Categorizing communities improves discoverability. Fetch available categories, then set category IDs on creation.

    ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
    import { CategoryRepository } from '@amityco/ts-sdk';

    const unsubscriber = CategoryRepository.getCategories(
      {},
      ({ data: categories, loading }) => {
        if (categories) { /* render category picker */ }
      },
    );
    ```

    Full reference → [Community Categories](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/organization/community-categories)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Handle membership — join and leave">
    For public communities, join is immediate. For private communities, joining sends a request that moderators can accept or reject.

    ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
    import { CommunityRepository } from '@amityco/ts-sdk';

    const unsub = CommunityRepository.getCommunity(communityId, async (response) => {
      const community = response.data;
      await community.join();
      unsub();
    });
    ```

    Full reference → [Join / Leave Community](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/organization/join-leave-community)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Manage member roles">
    Promote members to moderator or admin, ban members, or remove them from the community.

    ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
    import { CommunityRepository } from '@amityco/ts-sdk';

    await CommunityRepository.Membership.addMembers(communityId, ['userId1', 'userId2']);
    ```

    Full reference → [Member Management](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/organization/member-management)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Invite members (private communities)">
    For private communities, invite specific users by their user IDs. Invitees receive a notification and can accept or decline.

    ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
    // Send invitations to users
    await community.createInvitations(['userId1', 'userId2']);
    ```

    Full reference → [Community Invitation](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/organization/community-invitation)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Discover communities">
    Query trending and recommended communities for an explore page, or browse by category.

    ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
    import { CommunityRepository } from '@amityco/ts-sdk';

    const unsubscriber = CommunityRepository.getTrendingCommunities(
      { limit: 5 },
      ({ data: communities, loading }) => {
        if (communities) { /* render trending section */ }
      },
    );
    ```

    Full reference → [Trending & Recommended Communities](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/discovery/trending-and-recommended-communities) · [Query Communities](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/discovery/query-communities)
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Connect to Moderation & Analytics

<Frame caption="Admin Console — Community management showing member lists, post queues, and settings">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/social-b97141fb/1NUkPv8NmKhPS-wU/images/create-commupublic(1).png?fit=max&auto=format&n=1NUkPv8NmKhPS-wU&q=85&s=b1ea7db571336128b914173b4e53ae74" alt="Admin Console — Community management" width="375" height="1069" data-path="images/create-commupublic(1).png" />
</Frame>

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Admin Console: community management" icon="shield">
    The Admin Console gives moderators a full view of every community: member lists, post queues (when `ADMIN_REVIEW_POST_REQUIRED` is set), banned users, and community settings.

    → [Admin Console: Social Management](/analytics-and-moderation/console/social-management/README)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Webhook: community events" icon="webhook">
    Subscribe to `community.created`, `member.joined`, `member.left`, and `post.flagged` webhook events to sync community state with your own backend or trigger automation.

    → [Webhook Events](/analytics-and-moderation/social+-apis-and-services/webhook-event)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Push notifications: community activity" icon="bell">
    Subscribe users to community push notifications so they're alerted when new posts are approved or when they're mentioned.

    → [Community Notification Settings](/social-plus-sdk/core-concepts/realtime-communication/push-notifications/settings/community-settings)
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Common Mistakes

<Warning>
  **Creating communities without setting `postSetting`** — If you omit `postSetting`, the default may prevent regular members from posting. Always specify `ANYONE_CAN_POST` or `ADMIN_REVIEW_POST_REQUIRED` explicitly.
</Warning>

<Warning>
  **Joining private communities without handling the pending state** — `joinCommunity` on a private community returns a pending request, not immediate membership. Your UI should show a "Request Sent" state instead of community content.
</Warning>

<Warning>
  **Querying communities without `filter`** — Without a filter, `getCommunities` returns all communities including ones the user isn't a member of. Use `filter: 'member'` when building "My Communities" views.
</Warning>

## Best Practices

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Privacy & governance" icon="shield-check">
    * Default new communities to **public** unless your use case requires private — discoverability drives growth
    * Use `ADMIN_REVIEW_POST_REQUIRED` for communities with compliance requirements (e.g., healthcare, finance)
    * Define clear community guidelines and surface them during the join flow
    * Assign at least two moderators per community to avoid single-point-of-failure moderation
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Performance" icon="gauge">
    * Cache category lists — they change infrequently
    * Paginate member queries (`queryMembers`) with a reasonable page size (20-50)
    * Use Live Collections for member counts so they update in real-time without manual refresh
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="User experience" icon="heart">
    * Show the member count and post count on community cards to signal activity level
    * Surface trending communities on the home screen to drive initial engagement
    * Send an in-app notification when a private community approves a join request
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

<Tip>
  **Dive deeper**: [Communities API Reference](/social-plus-sdk/social/communities-spaces/overview) has full parameter tables, method signatures, and platform-specific details for every API used in this guide.
</Tip>

## Next Steps

<Card title="Your next step → Roles, Permissions & Governance" icon="arrow-right" href="/use-cases/social/roles-permissions-and-governance">
  Communities are live — now set up moderator roles, post review gating, and ban management.
</Card>

Or explore related guides:

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Build a Social Feed" href="/use-cases/social/build-a-social-feed" icon="rectangle-list">
    Query and render the community feed
  </Card>

  <Card title="Rich Content Creation" href="/use-cases/social/rich-content-creation" icon="pen-to-square">
    Let community members create posts
  </Card>

  <Card title="Content Moderation Pipeline" href="/use-cases/social/content-moderation-pipeline" icon="shield-check">
    Set up moderation for community content
  </Card>
</CardGroup>