zulip/templates/zerver/api/get-message-history.md

Get a message's edit history

Fetch the message edit history of a previously edited message.

GET {{ api_url }}/v1/messages/<message_id>/history

Note that edit history may be disabled in some organizations; see the Zulip Help Center documentation on editing messages.

Usage examples

{start_tabs} {tab|python}

{generate_code_example(python)|/messages/{message_id}/history:get|example}

{tab|curl}

curl -X GET {{ api_url }}/v1/messages/<message_id>/history \
    -u BOT_EMAIL_ADDRESS:BOT_API_KEY

{end_tabs}

Arguments

{generate_api_arguments_table|zulip.yaml|/messages/{message_id}/history:get}

Response

Return values

• message_history: a chronologically sorted array of snapshot objects, containing the modified state of the message before and after the edit:
  • topic: the topic for the message.
  • content: the body of the message.
  • rendered_content: the already rendered, HTML version of content.
  • prev_content: the body of the message before being edited.
  • prev_rendered_content: the already rendered, HTML version of prev_content.
  • user_id: the ID of the user that made the edit.
  • content_html_diff: an HTML diff between this version of the message and the previous one.
  • timestamp: the UNIX timestamp for this editi.

Please note that the original message's snapshot only contains the fields topic, content, rendered_content, timestamp and user_id. This snapshot will be the only one present if the message has never been edited.

Also note that if a message's content was edited (but not the topic) or the topic was edited (but not the content), the snapshot object will only contain data for the modified fields (e.g. if only the topic was edited, prev_content, prev_rendered_content, and content_html_diff will not appear).

Example response

A typical successful JSON response may look like:

{generate_code_example|/messages/{message_id}/history:get|fixture(200)}

An example JSON response for when the specified message does not exist:

{generate_code_example|/messages/{message_id}/history:get|fixture(400)}