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Edit a message

Edit/update the content or topic of a message.

PATCH https://main.zulip.pr.business/api/v1/messages/{msg_id}

{msg_id} in the above URL should be replaced with the ID of the message you wish you update.

You can resolve topics by editing the topic to ✔ {original_topic}.

Note: See configuring message editing for detailed documentation on when users are allowed to edit topics.

Usage examples

  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • curl

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import zulip

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

# Edit a message
# (make sure that message_id below is set to the ID of the
# message you wish to update)
request = {
    "message_id": message_id,
    "content": "New content",
}
result = client.update_message(request)
print(result)

More examples and documentation can be found here.

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

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

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

    // Update a message with the given "message_id"
    const params = {
        message_id,
        content: "New Content",
    };

    console.log(await client.messages.update(params));
})();


curl -sSX PATCH https://main.zulip.pr.business/api/v1/messages/43 \
    -u BOT_EMAIL_ADDRESS:BOT_API_KEY \
    --data-urlencode topic=Castle \
    --data-urlencode propagate_mode=change_all \
    --data-urlencode send_notification_to_old_thread=true \
    --data-urlencode send_notification_to_new_thread=true \
    --data-urlencode content=Hello

Parameters

message_id integer required in path

Example: 43

The target message's ID.

topic string optional

Example: "Castle"

The topic to move the message(s) to, to request changing the topic. Should only be sent when changing the topic, and will throw an error if the target message is not a stream message.

Maximum length of 60 characters.

Changes: New in Zulip 2.0. Previous Zulip releases encoded this as subject, which is currently a deprecated alias.

propagate_mode string optional

Example: "change_all"

Which message(s) should be edited: just the one indicated in message_id, messages in the same topic that had been sent after this one, or all of them.

Only the default value of change_one is valid when editing only the content of a message.

This parameter determines both which messages get moved and also whether clients that are currently narrowed to the topic containing the message should navigate or adjust their compose box recipient to point to the post-edit stream/topic.

Must be one of: "change_one", "change_later", "change_all". Defaults to "change_one".

send_notification_to_old_thread boolean optional

Example: true

Whether to send breadcrumb message to the old thread to notify users where the messages were moved to.

Changes: New in Zulip 3.0 (feature level 9).

Defaults to true.

send_notification_to_new_thread boolean optional

Example: true

Whether to send a notification message to the new thread to notify users where the messages came from.

Changes: New in Zulip 3.0 (feature level 9).

Defaults to true.

content string optional

Example: "Hello"

The content of the message. Maximum message size of 10000 bytes.

stream_id integer optional

Example: 43

The stream ID to move the message(s) to, to request moving messages to another stream.

Should only be sent when changing the stream, and will throw an error if the target message is not a stream message.

Response

Example response

A typical successful JSON response may look like:

{
    "msg": "",
    "result": "success"
}

A typical JSON response for when one doesn't have the permission to edit a particular message:

{
    "code": "BAD_REQUEST",
    "msg": "You don't have permission to edit this message",
    "result": "error"
}