Get messages

Fetch message history from a Zulip server.

GET https://chat.outreachy.org/api/v1/messages

This GET /api/v1/messages endpoint is the primary way to fetch message history from a Zulip server. It is useful both for Zulip clients (e.g. the web, desktop, mobile, and terminal clients) as well as bots, API clients, backup scripts, etc.

By specifying a narrow filter, you can use this endpoint to fetch the messages matching any search query that is supported by Zulip's powerful full-text search backend.

When a narrow is not specified, it can be used to fetch a user's message history. (We recommend paginating to 1000 messages at a time.)

In either case, you specify an anchor message (or ask the server to calculate the first unread message for you and use that as the anchor), as well as a number of messages before and after the anchor message. The server returns those messages, sorted by message ID, as well as some metadata that makes it easy for a client to determine whether there are more messages matching the query that were not returned due to the num_before and num_after limits.

We recommend using num_before <= 1000 and num_after <= 1000 to avoid generating very large HTTP responses. A maximum of 5000 messages can be obtained per request; attempting to exceed this will result in an error.

Usage examples

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import zulip

# Pass the path to your zuliprc file here.
client = zulip.Client(config_file="~/zuliprc")

# Get the 100 last messages sent by "iago@zulip.com" to the stream "Verona"
request: Dict[str, Any] = {
    "anchor": "newest",
    "num_before": 100,
    "num_after": 0,
    "narrow": [
        {"operator": "sender", "operand": "iago@zulip.com"},
        {"operator": "stream", "operand": "Verona"},
    ],
}
result = client.get_messages(request)
print(result)

const zulipInit = require("zulip-js");

// Pass the path to your zuliprc file here.
const config = { zuliprc: "zuliprc" };

(async () => {
    const client = await zulipInit(config);

    const readParams = {
        anchor: "newest",
        num_before: 100,
        num_after: 0,
        narrow: [
            {operator: "sender", operand: "iago@zulip.com"},
            {operator: "stream", operand: "Verona"},
        ],
    };

    // Get the 100 last messages sent by "iago@zulip.com" to the stream "Verona"
    console.log(await client.messages.retrieve(readParams));
})();

curl -sSX GET -G https://chat.outreachy.org/api/v1/messages \
    -u BOT_EMAIL_ADDRESS:BOT_API_KEY \
    --data-urlencode anchor=43 \
    --data-urlencode num_before=4 \
    --data-urlencode num_after=8 \
    --data-urlencode 'narrow=[{"operand": "Denmark", "operator": "stream"}]'

Parameters

Response

Return values

• anchor: integer

  The same anchor specified in the request (or the computed one, if use_first_unread_anchor is true).

• found_newest: boolean

  Whether the messages list includes the very newest messages matching the narrow (used by clients that paginate their requests to decide whether there are more messages to fetch).

• found_oldest: boolean

  Whether the messages list includes the very oldest messages matching the narrow (used by clients that paginate their requests to decide whether there are more messages to fetch).

• found_anchor: boolean

  Whether the anchor message is included in the response. If the message with the ID specified in the request does not exist or did not match the narrow, this will be false.

• history_limited: boolean

  Whether the message history was limited due to plan restrictions. This flag is set to true only when the oldest messages(found_oldest) matching the narrow is fetched.

• messages: (object)[]

  An array of message objects, each containing the following fields:

  • avatar_url: string | null

    The URL of the user's avatar. Can be null only if client_gravatar was passed, which means that the user has not uploaded an avatar in Zulip, and the client should compute the gravatar URL by hashing the user's email address itself for this user.

  • client: string

    A Zulip "client" string, describing what Zulip client sent the message.

  • content: string

    The content/body of the message.

  • content_type: string

    The HTTP content_type for the message content. This will be text/html or text/x-markdown, depending on whether apply_markdown was set.

  • display_recipient: string | (object)[]

    Data on the recipient of the message; either the name of a stream or a dictionary containing basic data on the users who received the message.

  • edit_history: (object)[]

    An array of objects, with each object documenting the changes in a previous edit made to the the message, ordered chronologically from most recent to least recent edit.

    Not present if the message has never been edited or if the realm has disabled viewing of message edit history.

    Every object will contain user_id and timestamp.

    The other fields are optional, and will be present or not depending on whether the stream, topic, and/or message content were modified in the edit event. For example, if only the topic was edited, only prev_topic and topic will be present in addition to user_id and timestamp.

    • prev_content: string

      Only present if message's content was edited.

      The content of the message immediately prior to this edit event.

    • prev_rendered_content: string

      Only present if message's content was edited.

      The rendered HTML representation of prev_content.

    • prev_rendered_content_version: integer

      Only present if message's content was edited.

      The Markdown processor version number for the message immediately prior to this edit event.

    • prev_stream: integer

      Only present if message's stream was edited.

      The stream ID of the message immediately prior to this edit event.

    • prev_topic: string

      Only present if message's topic was edited.

      The topic of the message immediately prior to this edit event.

      Changes: New in Zulip 5.0 (feature level 118). Previously, this field was called prev_subject; clients are recommended to rename prev_subject to prev_topic if present for compatibility with older Zulip servers.

    • stream: integer

      Only present if message's stream was edited.

      The ID of the stream containing the message immediately after this edit event.

      Changes: New in Zulip 5.0 (feature level 118).

    • timestamp: integer

      The UNIX timestamp for the edit.

    • topic: string

      Only present if message's topic was edited.

      The topic of the message immediately after this edit event.

      Changes: New in Zulip 5.0 (feature level 118).

    • user_id: integer | null

      The ID of the user that made the edit.

      Will be null only for edit history events predating March 2017.

      Clients can display edit history events where this is null as modified by either the sender (for content edits) or an unknown user (for topic edits).

  • id: integer

    The unique message ID. Messages should always be displayed sorted by ID.

  • is_me_message: boolean

    Whether the message is a /me status message

  • last_edit_timestamp: integer

    The UNIX timestamp for when the message was last edited, in UTC seconds.

    Not present if the message has never been edited.

  • reactions: (object)[]

    Data on any reactions to the message.

    • emoji_code: string

      A unique identifier, defining the specific emoji codepoint requested, within the namespace of the reaction_type.

      For example, for unicode_emoji, this will be an encoding of the Unicode codepoint; for realm_emoji, it'll be the ID of the realm emoji.

    • emoji_name: string

      Name of the emoji.

    • reaction_type: string

      One of the following values:

      • unicode_emoji: Unicode emoji (emoji_code will be its Unicode codepoint).
      • realm_emoji: Custom emoji. (emoji_code will be its ID).
      • zulip_extra_emoji: Special emoji included with Zulip. Exists to namespace the zulip emoji.

    • user_id: integer

      The ID of the user who added the reaction.

      Changes: New in Zulip 3.0 (feature level 2). The user object is deprecated and will be removed in the future.

    • user: object

      Deprecated and to be removed in a future release once core clients have migrated to use the adjacent user_id field introduced in Zulip 3.0 (feature level 2). Clients supporting older Zulip server versions should just use the user ID below as they would the user_id field.

      Dictionary with data on the user who added the reaction, including the user ID as the id field. Note that reactions data received from the events API has a slightly different user dictionary format, with the user ID field called user_id instead.

      • id: integer

        ID of the user.

      • email: string

        Email of the user.

      • full_name: string

        Full name of the user.

      • is_mirror_dummy: boolean

        Whether the user is a mirror dummy.

  • recipient_id: integer

    A unique ID for the set of users receiving the message (either a stream or group of users). Useful primarily for hashing.

  • sender_email: string

    The Zulip display email address of the message's sender.

  • sender_full_name: string

    The full name of the message's sender.

  • sender_id: integer

    The user ID of the message's sender.

  • sender_realm_str: string

    A string identifier for the realm the sender is in. Unique only within the context of a given Zulip server.

    E.g. on example.zulip.com, this will be example.

  • stream_id: integer

    Only present for stream messages; the ID of the stream.

  • subject: string

    The topic of the message. Currently always "" for private messages, though this could change if Zulip adds support for topics in private message conversations.

    The field name is a legacy holdover from when topics were called "subjects" and will eventually change.

  • submessages: (string)[]

    Data used for certain experimental Zulip integrations.

  • timestamp: integer

    The UNIX timestamp for when the message was sent, in UTC seconds.

  • topic_links: (object)[]

    Data on any links to be included in the topic line (these are generated by custom linkification filters that match content in the message's topic.)

    Changes: This field contained a list of urls before Zulip 4.0 (feature level 46).

    New in Zulip 3.0 (feature level 1): Previously, this field was called subject_links; clients are recommended to rename subject_links to topic_links if present for compatibility with older Zulip servers.

    • text: string

      The original link text present in the topic.

    • url: string

      The expanded target url which the link points to.

  • type: string

    The type of the message: stream or private.

  • flags: (string)[]

    The user's message flags for the message.

  • match_content: string

    Only present if keyword search was included among the narrow parameters.

    HTML content of a queried message that matches the narrow, with <span class="highlight"> elements wrapping the matches for the search keywords.

  • match_subject: string

    Only present if keyword search was included among the narrow parameters.

    HTML-escaped topic of a queried message that matches the narrow, with <span class="highlight"> elements wrapping the matches for the search keywords.

Example response

When a request is successful, this endpoint returns a dictionary containing the following (in addition to the msg and result keys present in all Zulip API responses). A typical successful JSON response may look like:

{
    "anchor": 21,
    "found_anchor": true,
    "found_newest": true,
    "messages": [
        {
            "avatar_url": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6d8cad0fd00256e7b40691d27ddfd466?d=identicon&version=1",
            "client": "populate_db",
            "content": "<p>Security experts agree that relational algorithms are an interesting new topic in the field of networking, and scholars concur.</p>",
            "content_type": "text/html",
            "display_recipient": [
                {
                    "email": "hamlet@zulip.com",
                    "full_name": "King Hamlet",
                    "id": 4,
                    "is_mirror_dummy": false
                },
                {
                    "email": "iago@zulip.com",
                    "full_name": "Iago",
                    "id": 5,
                    "is_mirror_dummy": false
                },
                {
                    "email": "prospero@zulip.com",
                    "full_name": "Prospero from The Tempest",
                    "id": 8,
                    "is_mirror_dummy": false
                }
            ],
            "flags": [
                "read"
            ],
            "id": 16,
            "is_me_message": false,
            "reactions": [],
            "recipient_id": 27,
            "sender_email": "hamlet@zulip.com",
            "sender_full_name": "King Hamlet",
            "sender_id": 4,
            "sender_realm_str": "zulip",
            "subject": "",
            "submessages": [],
            "timestamp": 1527921326,
            "topic_links": [],
            "type": "private"
        },
        {
            "avatar_url": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6d8cad0fd00256e7b40691d27ddfd466?d=identicon&version=1",
            "client": "populate_db",
            "content": "<p>Wait, is this from the frontend js code or backend python code</p>",
            "content_type": "text/html",
            "display_recipient": "Verona",
            "flags": [
                "read"
            ],
            "id": 21,
            "is_me_message": false,
            "reactions": [],
            "recipient_id": 20,
            "sender_email": "hamlet@zulip.com",
            "sender_full_name": "King Hamlet",
            "sender_id": 4,
            "sender_realm_str": "zulip",
            "stream_id": 5,
            "subject": "Verona3",
            "submessages": [],
            "timestamp": 1527939746,
            "topic_links": [],
            "type": "stream"
        }
    ],
    "msg": "",
    "result": "success"
}