Fetches history of messages and events from a channel.
Method URL: | https://slack.com/api/channels.history |
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Preferred HTTP method: | GET |
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Accepted content types: | application/x-www-form-urlencoded |
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Rate limiting: | Tier 3 | ||||||||
Works with: |
|
This method returns a portion of message events from the specified public channel.
To read the entire history for a channel, call the method with no latest
or
oldest
arguments, and then continue paging using the instructions below.
To retrieve a single message, set latest
to the message’s ts
value, inclusive
to true
, and dial your count
down to 1
.
Argument | Example | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
token | xxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxx |
Required | Authentication token bearing required scopes. |
channel | C1234567890 |
Required | Channel to fetch history for. |
count | 100 |
Optional, default=100 | Number of messages to return, between 1 and 1000. |
inclusive | true |
Optional, default=0 | Include messages with latest or oldest timestamp in results. |
latest | 1234567890.123456 |
Optional, default=now | End of time range of messages to include in results. |
oldest | 1234567890.123456 |
Optional, default=0 | Start of time range of messages to include in results. |
unreads | true |
Optional, default=0 | Include |
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
querystring or POST body. This method does not currently accept application/json
.
Typical success response containing the channel's history
{
"ok": true,
"latest": "1358547726.000003",
"messages": [
{
"type": "message",
"ts": "1358546515.000008",
"user": "U2147483896",
"text": "Hello"
},
{
"type": "message",
"ts": "1358546515.000007",
"user": "U2147483896",
"text": "World",
"is_starred": true,
"reactions": [
{
"name": "space_invader",
"count": 3,
"users": [
"U1",
"U2",
"U3"
]
},
{
"name": "sweet_potato",
"count": 5,
"users": [
"U1",
"U2",
"U3",
"U4",
"U5"
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "something_else",
"ts": "1358546515.000007"
},
{
"text": "Containment unit is 98% full",
"username": "ecto1138",
"bot_id": "B19LU7CSY",
"attachments": [
{
"text": "Don't get too attached",
"id": 1,
"fallback": "This is an attachment fallback"
}
],
"type": "message",
"subtype": "bot_message",
"ts": "1503435956.000247"
}
],
"has_more": false
}
Error response when the specified channel cannot be found
{
"ok": false,
"error": "channel_not_found"
}
The messages
array contains up to 100 messages between latest
and oldest
. If
there were more than 100 messages between those two points, then has_more
will be true
.
Provide timestamps in latest
and oldest
to specify the period in channel’s history you want to cover. If a message has the same timestamp as latest
or oldest
it will not be included in the list, unless inclusive
is true. The inclusive
parameter is ignored when latest
or oldest
is not specified.
If the response includes has_more
then the client can make another call, using the ts
value of the final messages as the latest
param to get the next page of messages.
If there are more than 100 messages between the two timestamps then the
messages returned are the ones closest to latest
. In most cases an
application will want the most recent messages and will page backward from
there. If oldest
is provided but not latest
then the messages returned are
those closest to oldest
, allowing you to page forward through history if
desired.
channels.history
can also be used to pluck a single message from the archive.
You'll need a message's ts
value, uniquely identifying it within a channel. You'll also need that channel's ID.
Provide another message's ts
value as the latest
parameter. Specify true
for the inclusive
parameter and set the count
to 1
. If it exists, you'll receive the queried message in return.
GET /api/channels.history?token=TOKEN_WITH_CHANNELS_HISTORY_SCOPE&channel=C2EB2QT8A&latest=1476909142.000007&inclusive=true&count=1
Easily generate a permalink URL for any specific message using chat.getPermalink
.
Messages of type "message"
are user-entered text messages sent to the channel, while other types are events that happened within the channel. All messages have both a type
and a sortable ts
, but the other fields depend on the type
. For a list of all possible events, see the channel messages documentation.
Messages that have been reacted to by team members will have a reactions array delightfully included.
If a message has been starred by the calling user, the is_starred
property will be present and true. This property is only added for starred items, so is not present in the majority of messages.
The is_limited
boolean property is only included for free teams that have
reached the free message limit. If true, there are messages before the current
result set, but they are beyond the message limit.
This table lists the expected errors that this method could return.
However, other errors can be returned in the case where the service is down
or other unexpected factors affect processing. Callers should always
check the value of the ok
params in the response.
Error | Description |
---|---|
channel_not_found |
Value passed for |
invalid_ts_latest |
Value passed for |
invalid_ts_oldest |
Value passed for |
not_authed |
No authentication token provided. |
invalid_auth |
Some aspect of authentication cannot be validated. Either the provided token is invalid or the request originates from an IP address disallowed from making the request. |
account_inactive |
Authentication token is for a deleted user or workspace. |
token_revoked |
Authentication token is for a deleted user or workspace or the app has been removed. |
no_permission |
The workspace token used in this request does not have the permissions necessary to complete the request. |
org_login_required |
The workspace is undergoing an enterprise migration and will not be available until migration is complete. |
invalid_arg_name |
The method was passed an argument whose name falls outside the bounds of accepted or expected values. This includes very long names and names with non-alphanumeric characters other than |
invalid_array_arg |
The method was passed a PHP-style array argument (e.g. with a name like |
invalid_charset |
The method was called via a |
invalid_form_data |
The method was called via a |
invalid_post_type |
The method was called via a |
missing_post_type |
The method was called via a |
team_added_to_org |
The workspace associated with your request is currently undergoing migration to an Enterprise Organization. Web API and other platform operations will be intermittently unavailable until the transition is complete. |
request_timeout |
The method was called via a |
fatal_error |
The server could not complete your operation(s) without encountering a catastrophic error. It's possible some aspect of the operation succeeded before the error was raised. |
This table lists the expected warnings that this method will return. However, other warnings can be returned in the case where the service is experiencing unexpected trouble.
Warning | Description |
---|---|
missing_charset | The method was called via a |
superfluous_charset | The method was called via a |