ChannelListContext

The context value is provided by ChannelListContextProvider, which wraps the content rendered by ChannelList. It exposes API used by the default and custom components. In v14, SDK-owned channel list UI customization mainly flows through WithComponents / ComponentContext:

ChannelListUI - renders the list container, loading state, and error state
ChannelListItemUI - renders the information for one channel row
Avatar - component used to display the channel image inside the default row UI
LoadingErrorIndicator - rendered when the channels query fails
LoadingIndicator - rendered during the channels query
Search - renders the search input and results when showChannelSearch is enabled
EmptyStateIndicator - still provided directly through ChannelList
Paginator - still provided directly through ChannelList

Best Practices

Read from context instead of passing channel list state down manually.
Defer setChannels until the initial query completes to avoid overwrites.
Keep custom list components aligned with the default loading/error states.
Use Paginator for infinite scroll instead of DIY pagination.
Register SDK-owned channel list UI overrides through WithComponents.
Gate expensive logic to avoid blocking list rendering.

Basic Usage

Access the API from ChannelListContext with our custom hook:

import { useChannelListContext } from "stream-chat-react";

export const CustomComponent = () => {
  const { channels, setChannels } = useChannelListContext();
  // component logic ...
  return {/* rendered elements */};
};

Values

Value	Description	Type
`channels`	State representing the array of loaded channels. By default, the channels query is executed by `ChannelList`.	`Channel[]`
`setChannels`	Sets the list of channels rendered by `ChannelList`. Be careful when calling this early: the initial `ChannelList` query overwrites the whole `channels` state. A common pattern is to wait for the `channels.queried` event before calling `setChannels`.	`Dispatch<SetStateAction<Channel[]>>`

Examples

Set the active channel from the URL

The example below waits for the first page, then falls back to getChannel() if the channel is not in that page:

import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { useNavigate, useParams } from 'react-router-dom';
import type { Event } from 'stream-chat';
import {
  ChannelList,
  ChannelListUI,
  type ChannelListUIProps,
  WithComponents,
  getChannel,
  useChannelListContext,
  useChatContext,
} from 'stream-chat-react';

const DEFAULT_CHANNEL_ID = 'general';
const DEFAULT_CHANNEL_TYPE = 'messaging';

const CustomChannelListUI = (props: ChannelListUIProps) => {
  const { channelId } = useParams();
  const navigate = useNavigate();
  const { client, channel, setActiveChannel } = useChatContext();
  const { setChannels } = useChannelListContext();

  useEffect(() => {
    if (!channelId) return navigate(`/${DEFAULT_CHANNEL_ID}`);

    if (channel?.id === channelId || !client) return;

    let subscription: { unsubscribe: () => void } | undefined;
    if(!channel?.id || channel?.id !== channelId) {
      subscription = client.on('channels.queried', (event: Event) => {
        const loadedChannelData = event.queriedChannels?.channels.find((response) => response.channel.id === channelId);

        if (loadedChannelData) {
          setActiveChannel(client.channel( DEFAULT_CHANNEL_TYPE, channelId));
          subscription?.unsubscribe();
          return;
        }

        return getChannel({client, id: channelId, type: DEFAULT_CHANNEL_TYPE}).then((newActiveChannel) => {
          setActiveChannel(newActiveChannel);
          setChannels((channels) => {
            return ([newActiveChannel, ...channels.filter((ch) => ch.data?.cid !== newActiveChannel.data?.cid)]);
          });
        });
      });
    }

    return () => {
      subscription?.unsubscribe();
    };
  }, [channel?.id, channelId, setChannels, client, navigate, setActiveChannel]);

  return <ChannelListUI {...props} />;
};

const Sidebar = () => {
  return (
    <WithComponents overrides={{ ChannelListUI: CustomChannelListUI }}>
      <ChannelList
        {/* some props */}
        {/* setting active channel will be performed inside the custom ChannelListUI component */}
        setActiveChannelOnMount={false}
        {/* some props */}
      />
    </WithComponents>
  );
};