chat.delete

View other methods

Deletes a message.

Reference docs Sample code Tester

Facts

Method access

HTTP

JavaScript

Python

Java

HTTP

POSThttps://slack.com/api/chat.delete

Bolt for Java

app.client().chatDelete

Bolt for Python

app.client.chat_delete

Bolt for JavaScript

app.client.chat.delete

Required scopes

Bot tokenschat:write

User tokenschat:writechat:write:userchat:write:bot

Legacy bot tokensbot

Content types

application/x-www-form-urlencodedapplication/json

Rate limits

Tier 3

Arguments

Required arguments

token

token

·Required

Authentication token bearing required scopes. Tokens should be passed as an HTTP Authorization header or alternatively, as a POST parameter.

Example

xxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxx

channel

string

·Required

Channel containing the message to be deleted.

Example

C1234567890

ts

string

·Required

Timestamp of the message to be deleted.

Example

"1405894322.002768"

Optional arguments

as_user

boolean

·Optional

Pass true to delete the message as the authed user with chat:write:user scope. Bot users in this context are considered authed users. If unused or false, the message will be deleted with chat:write:bot scope.

Example

true

Usage info

This method deletes a message from a conversation.

When used with a user token, this method may only delete messages that user themselves can delete in Slack.

When used with a bot token, this method may delete only messages posted by that bot.

The response includes the channel and timestamp properties of the deleted message.

Example responses

Common successful response

Typical success response

{
    "ok": true,
    "channel": "C123ABC456",
    "ts": "1401383885.000061"
}

Common error response

Typical error response

{
    "error": "message_not_found",
    "ok": false
}

Errors

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
`cant_delete_message`	Authenticated user does not have permission to delete this message.
`channel_not_found`	Value passed for `channel` was invalid.
`message_not_found`	No message exists with the requested timestamp.
`access_denied`	Access to a resource specified in the request is denied.
`account_inactive`	Authentication token is for a deleted user or workspace when using a `bot` token.
`deprecated_endpoint`	The endpoint has been deprecated.
`ekm_access_denied`	Administrators have suspended the ability to post a message.
`enterprise_is_restricted`	The method cannot be called from an Enterprise.
`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.
`method_deprecated`	The method has been deprecated.
`missing_scope`	The token used is not granted the specific scope permissions required to complete this request.
`not_allowed_token_type`	The token type used in this request is not allowed.
`not_authed`	No authentication token provided.
`no_permission`	The workspace token used in this request does not have the permissions necessary to complete the request. Make sure your app is a member of the conversation it's attempting to post a message to.
`org_login_required`	The workspace is undergoing an enterprise migration and will not be available until migration is complete.
`token_expired`	Authentication token has expired
`token_revoked`	Authentication token is for a deleted user or workspace or the app has been removed when using a `user` token.
`two_factor_setup_required`	Two factor setup is required.
`team_access_not_granted`	The token used is not granted the specific workspace access required to complete this request.
`accesslimited`	Access to this method is limited on the current network
`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.
`internal_error`	The server could not complete your operation(s) without encountering an error, likely due to a transient issue on our end. It's possible some aspect of the operation succeeded before the error was raised.
`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 `_`. If you get this error, it is typically an indication that you have made a very malformed API call.
`invalid_arguments`	The method was either called with invalid arguments or some detail about the arguments passed is invalid, which is more likely when using complex arguments like blocks or attachments.
`invalid_array_arg`	The method was passed an array as an argument. Please only input valid strings.
`invalid_charset`	The method was called via a `POST` request, but the `charset` specified in the `Content-Type` header was invalid. Valid charset names are: `utf-8` `iso-8859-1`.
`invalid_form_data`	The method was called via a `POST` request with `Content-Type` `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` or `multipart/form-data`, but the form data was either missing or syntactically invalid.
`invalid_post_type`	The method was called via a `POST` request, but the specified `Content-Type` was invalid. Valid types are: `application/json` `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` `multipart/form-data` `text/plain`.
`missing_post_type`	The method was called via a `POST` request and included a data payload, but the request did not include a `Content-Type` header.
`ratelimited`	The request has been ratelimited. Refer to the `Retry-After` header for when to retry the request.
`request_timeout`	The method was called via a `POST` request, but the `POST` data was either missing or truncated.
`service_unavailable`	The service is temporarily unavailable
`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.

Warnings

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 `POST` request, and recommended practice for the specified `Content-Type` is to include a `charset` parameter. However, no `charset` was present. Specifically, non-form-data content types (e.g. `text/plain`) are the ones for which `charset` is recommended.
`superfluous_charset`	The method was called via a `POST` request, and the specified `Content-Type` is not defined to understand the `charset` parameter. However, `charset` was in fact present. Specifically, form-data content types (e.g. `multipart/form-data`) are the ones for which `charset` is superfluous.

API response

URL

POST body

Submit your arguments to see the API response

Calling chat.delete

Java

JavaScript

Python

HTTP

Java

import com.slack.api.bolt.App;
import com.slack.api.bolt.AppConfig;
import com.slack.api.bolt.jetty.SlackAppServer;
import com.slack.api.methods.SlackApiException;
import com.slack.api.model.event.ReactionAddedEvent;

import java.io.IOException;

public class ChatDelete {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        var config = new AppConfig();
        config.setSingleTeamBotToken(System.getenv("SLACK_BOT_TOKEN"));
        config.setSigningSecret(System.getenv("SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET"));
        var app = new App(config); // `new App()` does the same

        // When a user reacts to a message with an X emoji, delete the message
        app.event(ReactionAddedEvent.class, (req, ctx) -> {
            var logger = ctx.logger;
            try {
                var event = req.getEvent();
                // Only delete message if emoji is "x"
                if (event.getReaction().equals("x")) {
                    // Call the chat.delete method using the built-in WebClient
                    var item = event.getItem();
                    var result = ctx.client().chatDelete(r -> r
                        // The token you used to initialize the app, stored in context
                        .token(ctx.getBotToken())
                        .channel(item.getChannel())
                        .ts(item.getTs())
                    );
                    logger.info("result: {}", result);
                }
            } catch (IOException | SlackApiException e) {
                logger.error("error: {}", e.getMessage(), e);
            }
            return ctx.ack();
        });

        var server = new SlackAppServer(app);
        server.start();
    }
}

JavaScript

Code to initialize Bolt app
// Require the Node Slack SDK package (github.com/slackapi/node-slack-sdk)
const { WebClient, LogLevel } = require("@slack/web-api");

// WebClient instantiates a client that can call API methods
// When using Bolt, you can use either `app.client` or the `client` passed to listeners.
const client = new WebClient("xoxb-your-token", {
  // LogLevel can be imported and used to make debugging simpler
  logLevel: LogLevel.DEBUG
});
// The ts of the message you want to delete
const messageId = "12345.9876";
// The ID of the channel that contains the message
const channelId = "C12345";

try {
  // Call the chat.delete method using the WebClient
  const result = await client.chat.delete({
    channel: channelId,
    ts: messageId
  });

  console.log(result);
}
catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Python

Code to initialize Bolt app
import logging
import os
# Import WebClient from Python SDK (github.com/slackapi/python-slack-sdk)
from slack_sdk import WebClient
from slack_sdk.errors import SlackApiError

# WebClient instantiates a client that can call API methods
# When using Bolt, you can use either `app.client` or the `client` passed to listeners.
client = WebClient(token=os.environ.get("SLACK_BOT_TOKEN"))
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
# The ts of the message you want to delete
message_id = "12345.9876"
# The ID of the channel that contains the message
channel_id = "C12345"

try:
    # Call the chat.chatDelete method using the built-in WebClient
    result = client.chat_delete(
        channel=channel_id,
        ts=message_id
    )
    logger.info(result)

except SlackApiError as e:
    logger.error(f"Error deleting message: {e}")

HTTP

POST https://slack.com/api/chat.delete
Content-type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxb-your-token
{
  "channel": "PARENT_CHANNEL_ID",
  "ts": "MESSAGE_TO_DELETE"
}