Add documentation for anonymous team and channel URLs by Combs7th · Pull Request #8891 · mattermost/docs

Combs7th · 2026-04-15T01:00:39Z

Adds documentation for the anonymous team and channel URLs feature introduced in Mattermost server v11.6.0 (Enterprise Advanced).

Changes:

Admin config docs: New "Enable anonymous team and channel URLs" setting under Site Configuration > Users and Teams
End-user docs: Updated team creation flow to reflect single-step creation when anonymous URLs are enabled
Channel rename docs: Minimal qualifier noting anonymous channel URLs may not reflect channel name

Closes #8887

Generated with Claude Code

Documents the new Enterprise Advanced setting introduced in Mattermost v11.6.0 that allows system admins to enable anonymous team and channel URLs, so that URLs no longer expose team or channel names. Updates admin configuration docs (Site Configuration > Users and Teams), end-user team creation docs, and adds a qualifier to the channel rename docs. Co-authored-by: Combs7th <Combs7th@users.noreply.github.com>

coderabbitai · 2026-04-15T01:00:46Z

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 3d88d36a-be78-4b9b-97c4-5eb8a49fa456

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 6c32c46 and b584416.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

source/administration-guide/configure/site-configuration-settings.rst
source/end-user-guide/collaborate/organize-using-teams.rst
source/end-user-guide/collaborate/rename-channels.rst

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The PR updates Mattermost documentation to cover the enable-anonymous-urls configuration setting introduced in v11.6.0 (Enterprise Advanced). Changes include adding configuration documentation with system settings metadata and updating end-user documentation to explain conditional behavior for team and channel URL assignment when the feature is enabled.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Configuration Documentation `source/administration-guide/configure/site-configuration-settings.rst`	Added new `enable-anonymous-urls` configuration directive with System Console path, config.json key (`.PrivacySettings.UseAnonymousURLs`), environment variable (`MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_USEANONYMOUSURLS`), and behavior table describing `true` vs `false` states; includes Ent-Advanced badge.
End-User Documentation `source/end-user-guide/collaborate/organize-using-teams.rst`, `source/end-user-guide/collaborate/rename-channels.rst`	Updated team and channel management docs with conditional notes explaining that when admins enable anonymous URLs, team creation becomes single-step with automatic URL assignment; added guidance that URLs are assigned automatically and may not match team/channel names.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~5 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately and concisely summarizes the main change: documentation addition for anonymous team and channel URLs feature.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description is clearly related to the changeset, providing context about the feature and listing specific documentation updates across three files.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR successfully addresses all coding requirements from issue `#8887`: admin config docs for the new setting, end-user team creation flow updates, and channel rename docs qualifications.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are directly scoped to the objectives: documentation updates to three specific files for the anonymous URLs feature with no extraneous modifications.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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Commit unit tests in branch claude/issue-8887-20260415-0040

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Combs7th · 2026-04-15T01:02:39Z

@harshilsharma63 - Do the above doc updates look accurate to you?

github-actions · 2026-04-15T01:03:57Z

Newest code from mattermost has been published to preview environment for Git SHA 16dce2c

harshilsharma63 · 2026-04-15T04:27:28Z

+.. config:setting:: enable-anonymous-urls
+  :displayname: Enable anonymous team and channel URLs (Users and Teams)
+  :systemconsole: Site Configuration > Users and Teams
+  :configjson: .PrivacySettings.EnableAnonymousURLs


The setting is UseAnonymousURLs, not EnableAnonymousURLs.

harshilsharma63 · 2026-04-15T04:28:03Z

+  :displayname: Enable anonymous team and channel URLs (Users and Teams)
+  :systemconsole: Site Configuration > Users and Teams
+  :configjson: .PrivacySettings.EnableAnonymousURLs
+  :environment: MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_ENABLEANONYMOUSURLS


Same here, the environment variable would be MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_USEANONYMOUSURLS.

harshilsharma63 · 2026-04-15T04:31:37Z

+| meaning the URL no longer contains the team or channel name. This prevents                                       | - ``config.json`` setting: ``PrivacySettings`` > ``EnableAnonymousURLs``     |
+| team and channel names from being identified through web addresses.                                              | - Environment variable: ``MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_ENABLEANONYMOUSURLS``           |
+|                                                                                                                  |                                                                              |
+| When this setting is enabled, the team creation workflow no longer includes a                                    |                                                                              |


Can we also include the same for channel creation flow? As in, channel creation also skips the option to define a channel URL.

We should also include that this applies only to newly created teams and channels and that existing teams and channels are not included.

Combs7th · 2026-04-16T00:03:34Z

@claude - Please implement each of the proposed updates that Harshil mentioned above.

claude · 2026-04-16T00:03:53Z

Claude finished @Combs7th's task in 58s —— View job

Implementing Harshil's Review Changes

Read the changed files to understand current state
Fix setting name: EnableAnonymousURLs → UseAnonymousURLs (line 999)
Fix environment variable: MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_ENABLEANONYMOUSURLS → MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_USEANONYMOUSURLS (line 1000)
Add channel creation flow documentation (skips URL definition step)
Add note that this applies only to newly created teams/channels (not existing ones)
Commit and push changes

All four of Harshil's requested changes have been implemented in source/administration-guide/configure/site-configuration-settings.rst:

Corrected config key — .PrivacySettings.EnableAnonymousURLs → .PrivacySettings.UseAnonymousURLs
Corrected env var — MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_ENABLEANONYMOUSURLS → MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_USEANONYMOUSURLS
Added channel creation flow — The description now mentions that both team and channel creation workflows skip the URL definition step
Scope clarification — Added "This applies only to newly created teams and channels; existing teams and channels are not affected."
|

…n docs - Fix config.json key: EnableAnonymousURLs → UseAnonymousURLs - Fix env var: MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_ENABLEANONYMOUSURLS → MM_PRIVACYSETTINGS_USEANONYMOUSURLS - Add channel creation workflow to anonymous URLs description - Note that only newly created teams/channels are affected, not existing ones Co-authored-by: Combs7th <Combs7th@users.noreply.github.com>

github-actions · 2026-04-16T00:08:16Z

Newest code from mattermost has been published to preview environment for Git SHA b584416

Combs7th · 2026-04-16T00:18:52Z

@harshilsharma63 - Looking better now?

github-actions · 2026-04-16T06:36:42Z

Newest code from mattermost has been published to preview environment for Git SHA b9db4ce

github-actions · 2026-04-16T06:41:50Z

Newest code from mattermost has been published to preview environment for Git SHA 6d635d7

harshilsharma63

LGTM!

Combs7th requested a review from harshilsharma63 April 15, 2026 01:01

Combs7th added 1: Dev Review Requires review by a core commiter 2: Editor Review Requires review by an editor Guidance labels Apr 15, 2026

Combs7th added this to the v11.6.0 milestone Apr 15, 2026

harshilsharma63 requested changes Apr 15, 2026

View reviewed changes

coderabbitai Bot approved these changes Apr 16, 2026

View reviewed changes

Merge branch 'master' into claude/issue-8887-20260415-0040

b9db4ce

amyblais requested a review from harshilsharma63 April 16, 2026 06:33

Merge branch 'master' into claude/issue-8887-20260415-0040

6d635d7

harshilsharma63 approved these changes Apr 16, 2026

View reviewed changes

amyblais removed the 2: Editor Review Requires review by an editor label Apr 16, 2026

amyblais merged commit 840fc4b into master Apr 16, 2026
6 checks passed

amyblais deleted the claude/issue-8887-20260415-0040 branch April 16, 2026 06:54

esethna removed the Guidance label May 6, 2026

coderabbitai Bot mentioned this pull request May 12, 2026

update feature description #8955

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Implementing Harshil's Review Changes

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