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Teams in Mattermost provide the highest level of organization, allowing you to structure your workspace by department, project, location, or any other logical grouping. Each team contains its own set of channels and members.

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Understanding Teams

Multi-Team Support

Users can belong to multiple teams and switch between them seamlessly

Team Isolation

Channels are scoped to teams, keeping conversations organized and focused

Flexible Membership

Invite users, allow self-signup, or restrict to specific email domains

Cross-Team Collaboration

Direct messages work across all teams for seamless communication

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Team Structure

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What is a Team?

A team is a collection of channels and members working together:
  • Independent channel lists per team
  • Dedicated member roster
  • Team-specific settings and permissions
  • Custom team icons and branding
  • Separate notification preferences
Common Team Structures: 
🏢 Organization: Acme Corp
  ├── 👥 Engineering Team
  │   ├── #engineering
  │   ├── #backend-dev
  │   ├── #frontend-dev
  │   └── #devops
  │
  ├── 📢 Marketing Team  
  │   ├── #marketing
  │   ├── #campaigns
  │   ├── #social-media
  │   └── #content
  │
  └── 🎯 Product Team
      ├── #product
      ├── #roadmap
      ├── #user-research
      └── #design

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Team vs. Channel

FeatureTeamChannel
ScopeOrganization-wide groupingTopic-specific conversations
MembersHundreds to thousandsSubset of team members
PurposeOrganize departments/projectsFocused discussions
VisibilityCan be listed or unlistedPublic or private within team
SwitchingTeam selector in top leftChannel sidebar

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Creating and Managing Teams

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Creating a Team

System admins and authorized users can create teams:
  1. Click the team menu (top-left corner)
  2. Select Create a Team
  3. Configure team settings:
    • Team Name (URL-friendly identifier)
    • Display Name (shown to users)
    • Description (optional)
    • Allow anyone to join (yes/no)
    • Allowed email domains (optional restriction)
// Team creation from source code
interface Team {
  Id: string;
  CreateAt: number;
  UpdateAt: number;
  DeleteAt: number;
  DisplayName: string;  // User-friendly name
  Name: string;         // URL-safe identifier
  Description: string;
  Email: string;
  Type: string;         // 'O' (Open) or 'I' (Invite only)
  AllowedDomains: string;
  AllowOpenInvite: boolean;
}

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Team Settings

General Settings:
  • Team name and display name
  • Team description
  • Team icon/avatar
  • Invite code regeneration
Access Settings:
  • Open team (anyone can join via link)
  • Invite-only team
  • Email domain restrictions
  • Allow any user with account to join
Advanced Settings:
  • Team-specific permission schemes
  • Channel creation permissions
  • Post editing and deletion rules
  • File upload restrictions

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Default Channels

Every team includes default channels that new members automatically join: Standard Defaults:
  • Town Square - General team announcements and discussions
  • Off-Topic - Casual conversation and non-work topics
Custom Defaults: Administrators can configure additional default channels: 
# Example default channel configuration
TeamSettings:
  ExperimentalDefaultChannels:
    - town-square
    - team-announcements  
    - help-desk
    - social
When custom default channels are specified, they replace “Off-Topic” but “Town Square” always remains.

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Team Membership

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Adding Team Members

Multiple ways to grow your team: 1. Direct Invitation
  • Team admins can invite by email
  • Send invitation link to specific people
  • Invited users receive email notification
  • Can set as team admin on invitation
2. Invitation Link
  • Share a unique team invitation URL
  • Anyone with the link can join (if allowed)
  • Regenerate link if it becomes public
  • Set expiration on invitation links
3. Email Domain Restriction
  • Allow automatic joining for specific email domains
  • Perfect for company email addresses
  • Example: @company.com, @subsidiary.com
  • Users with matching emails can find and join team
4. System Admin Addition
  • System admins can add any user to any team
  • Bulk user addition via CLI or API
  • Useful for onboarding large groups

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Team Roles

Teams have a hierarchical role structure: Team Admin:
  • Manage team settings
  • Invite and remove team members
  • Manage channels within the team
  • Set team-level permissions
  • Cannot delete the team (System Admin only)
Team Member:
  • Access team channels
  • Create channels (if permitted)
  • Invite users to team (if permitted)
  • Standard messaging and collaboration
Team Guest:
  • Limited to specific channels within team
  • Cannot browse or discover other channels
  • Restricted feature access
  • Perfect for external collaborators

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Leaving a Team

Users can leave teams they no longer need:
  • Click team menu → Leave Team
  • Removes access to all team channels
  • Direct messages remain accessible
  • Can rejoin if team is open or via invitation
Leaving a team removes you from all channels in that team. You’ll lose access to channel history unless the team or channels are public.

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Multi-Team Experience

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Team Switching

Users can belong to multiple teams simultaneously: Navigation:
  • Team icons displayed in left sidebar
  • Click team icon to switch
  • Keyboard shortcut: Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + [Number]
  • Unread indicators on team icons
Team Selector: 
┌─────────────────┐
│  AC  ← Acme Corp
│ [2] ← Unread count
├─────────────────┤  
│  EN  ← Engineering
├─────────────────┤
│  MK  ← Marketing  
├─────────────────┤
│  +   ← Join/Create
└─────────────────┘

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Cross-Team Features

Direct Messages:
  • Work across all teams
  • Message any user regardless of team membership
  • Single DM conversation appears in all teams
  • Truly organization-wide communication
Global User Search:
  • Find and message users from any team
  • See user’s team affiliations
  • Add users from other teams to channels (with permissions)
Unified Notifications:
  • Aggregated notification settings
  • Team-specific notification customization
  • Global “Do Not Disturb” affects all teams

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Team Administration

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Team Statistics

Monitor team health and usage:
  • Total team members
  • Active users (last 30 days)
  • Total posts in team
  • Channel count
  • File storage used
  • Recent activity trends

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Managing Team Channels

Team admins can oversee all team channels:
  • View all channels (public and private)
  • Archive inactive channels
  • Convert channel privacy (public ↔ private)
  • Manage channel members
  • Enforce naming conventions

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Team Permissions

Fine-grained control over team member capabilities: Channel Management:
  • Who can create public channels
  • Who can create private channels
  • Who can delete channels
  • Who can manage channel members
Content Management:
  • Who can edit posts
  • Who can delete posts
  • Post editing time limits
  • File upload restrictions
Integration Management:
  • Who can create webhooks
  • Who can create slash commands
  • Who can manage integrations
  • Bot account permissions
Use permission schemes to create reusable permission sets that can be applied to multiple teams.

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Team Archiving and Deletion

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Archiving Teams

Preserve team history while removing active access:
  • Soft delete preserves all data
  • Team and channels become read-only
  • Searchable for historical reference
  • Can be restored if needed
  • Useful for completed projects or inactive teams

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Deleting Teams

Permanent Deletion (System Admin only):
  • Complete removal of team and all channels
  • Cannot be undone
  • All messages and files deleted
  • Use with extreme caution
Team deletion is permanent and irreversible. Archive teams instead to preserve history.

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Cloud Limits Archiving

For cloud installations with team limits:
  • Oldest teams automatically archived when limit exceeded
  • Marked with CloudLimitsArchived flag
  • Automatically restored when under limit
  • Based on team creation date

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Team Collaboration Patterns

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Organizational Structure

Department-Based: 
Engineering Team
Marketing Team  
Sales Team
Support Team
Pros: Clear ownership, aligns with org chart Cons: Can create silos Project-Based: 
Project Alpha Team
Project Beta Team
BAU Operations Team
Pros: Cross-functional collaboration, focused Cons: Users in many teams, complex navigation Location-Based: 
San Francisco Office
New York Office
Remote Team
Pros: Timezone alignment, local context Cons: Reduced cross-location collaboration Hybrid Approach: 
All Hands (company-wide)
Engineering Dept
Marketing Dept
Project Apollo (cross-functional)
SF Office (location)
Pros: Flexible, supports multiple workflows Cons: Requires clear governance

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Best Practices

  1. Start with fewer teams - One or two company-wide teams often sufficient
  2. Use channels for organization - Channels are easier to manage than teams
  3. Clear naming conventions - Help users understand team purpose
  4. Document team purpose - Set expectations in team description
  5. Regular cleanup - Archive completed project teams
  6. Consistent permissions - Use permission schemes for predictability

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Team Limits and Scaling

Default Limits:
  • Unlimited teams per workspace (varies by edition)
  • Channels per team: Configurable (default ~2,000)
  • Members per team: Thousands supported
  • Teams per user: Unlimited
Performance Considerations:
  • Users in 10+ teams may experience slower loading
  • Teams with 10,000+ channels require indexing optimization
  • Direct messages don’t count against team limits
Cloud Professional and Enterprise editions may have different team limits. Check your plan for specifics.

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Team Discovery

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Finding Teams to Join

Team Directory (if enabled):
  • Browse all open teams
  • Search by team name
  • See team descriptions
  • View member count
  • Join with one click
Invitation Links:
  • Receive link from team member
  • Click to join immediately
  • Works across email/chat/web
Email Domain Auto-Join:
  • Teams with domain restrictions listed
  • Automatic eligibility for company email users
  • Seamless onboarding experience

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