FEATURE: Add site setting to disable group directory.

app/assets/javascripts/discourse/widgets/hamburger-menu.js.es6

@@ -103,7 +103,9 @@ export default createWidget('hamburger-menu', {
       links.push({ route: 'users', className: 'user-directory-link', label: 'directory.title' });
     }
 
-    links.push({ route: 'groups', className: 'groups-link', label: 'groups.index.title' });
+    if (!this.siteSettings.show_group_directory) {
+      links.push({ route: 'groups', className: 'groups-link', label: 'groups.index.title' });
+    }
 
     if (this.siteSettings.tagging_enabled) {
       links.push({ route: 'tags', label: 'tagging.tags' });

app/controllers/groups_controller.rb

@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ class GroupsController < ApplicationController
   skip_before_filter :preload_json, :check_xhr, only: [:posts_feed, :mentions_feed]
 
   def index
+    unless SiteSetting.enable_group_directory?
+      raise Discourse::InvalidAccess.new(:enable_group_directory)
+    end
+
     page_size = 30
     page = params[:page]&.to_i || 0
 

config/locales/server.en.yml

@@ -1315,6 +1315,7 @@ en:
     public_user_custom_fields: "A whitelist of custom fields for a user that can be shown publicly."
     staff_user_custom_fields: "A whitelist of custom fields for a user that can be shown to staff."
     enable_user_directory: "Provide a directory of users for browsing"
+    enable_group_directory: "Provide a directory of groups for browsing"
     allow_anonymous_posting: "Allow users to switch to anonymous mode"
     anonymous_posting_min_trust_level: "Minimum trust level required to enable anonymous posting"
     anonymous_account_duration_minutes: "To protect anonymity create a new anonymous account every N minutes for each user. Example: if set to 600, as soon as 600 minutes elapse from last post AND user switches to anon, a new anonymous account is created."

config/site_settings.yml

@@ -411,6 +411,11 @@ users:
     default: false
     client: true
 
+groups:
+  enable_group_directory:
+    client: true
+    default: true
+
 posting:
   min_post_length:
     client: true

spec/integration/groups_spec.rb

@@ -14,6 +14,15 @@ describe "Groups" do
       group.update_attributes!(automatic: true, visible: true)
     end
 
+    context 'when group directory is disabled' do
+      site_setting(:enable_group_directory, false)
+
+      it 'should deny access' do
+        get "/groups.json"
+        expect(response).to be_forbidden
+      end
+    end
+
     it 'should return the right response' do
       get "/groups.json"