conversations.history

As part of the Conversations API, this method's required scopes depend on the type of channel-like object you're working with. For example, a corresponding channels: scope is required when working with public channels.

This method returns a portion of message events from the specified conversation.

To read the entire history for a conversation, call the method with no latest or oldest arguments, and then continue paging using the instructions below.

Arguments

This method has the URL https://slack.com/api/conversations.history and follows the Slack Web API calling conventions.

Response

{
    "ok": true,
    "messages": [
        {
            "type": "message",
            "user": "U012AB3CDE",
            "text": "I find you punny and would like to smell your nose letter",
            "ts": "1502126499.221215"
        },
        {
            "type": "message",
            "user": "U061F7AUR",
            "text": "Isn't this whether dreadful? <https://badpuns.example.com/puns/123>",
            "attachments": [
                {
                    "service_name": "Leg end nary a laugh, Ink.",
                    "title": "Leg end nary a laugh, Ink.",
                    "title_link": "https://badpuns.example.com/puns/123",
                    "text": "This is likely a pun about the weather.",
                    "fallback": "We're withholding a pun from you",
                    "thumb_url": "https://badpuns.example.com/puns/123.png",
                    "from_url": "https://badpuns.example.com/puns/123",
                    "thumb_width": 1920,
                    "thumb_height": 700,
                    "service_icon": "https://badpuns.example.com/puns.png",
                    "id": 1
                }
            ],
            "ts": "1502126439.218404"
        }
    ],
    "has_more": true,
    "unread_count_display": 0,
    "pin_count": 0,
    "response_metadata": {
        "next_cursor": "bmV4dF90czoxNTAyMTI2Mzk0MjE2NzEw"
    }
}

Navigating through collections of messages

Pagination with cursors

This method uses cursor-based pagination to make it easier to incrementally collect information. To begin pagination, specify a limit value under 1000. We recommend no more than 200 results at a time.

Responses will include a top-level response_metadata attribute containing a next_cursor value. By using this value as a cursor parameter in a subsequent request, along with limit, you may navigate through the collection page by virtual page.

See pagination for more information.

Pagination by time

This form of pagination can be used in conjunction with cursors.

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.

If a message has the same timestamp as latest or oldest it will not be included in the list. This allows a client to fetch all messages in a hole in channel history, by calling channels.history with latest set to the oldest message they have after the hole, and oldest to the latest message they have before the hole. 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.

Message types

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.

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.

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.