Importing Data

Other/REST

Client SDKs

Backend SDKs

If you've just started using Stream, you might want to import data from your infrastructure or provider. Instead of using the APIs and creating your import scripts, you can make use of our import feature.

The Process

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The steps for importing data into your app are as follows:

Generate the import file for your data (full file reference below)
Reach out to send us the import file
The file will be validated according to the rules described in this doc
If validation passes, a member of our team will approve and run the import
Once the import is completed (usually a few minutes), you will get a confirmation email

Before uploading the import file make sure that every feed group in your import file is configured in your app.

Importing data on a live app may cause high response times for requests during the import process.

Import File

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The import file must be structured as a JSON array of objects. Each object is an item to add to your application (eg. a user, a message, etc.).

Here's an example of an import file:

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[ 
	{ 
		"type": "channel", 
		"item": { 
			"id": "6e693c74-262d-4d3d-8846-686364c571c8", 
			"type": "livestream", 
			"created_by": "aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
			"name": "Rock'n Roll Circus" 
		} 
	}, 
	{ 
		"type": "message", 
		"item": { 
			"id": "977e691a-c091-4e3b-8f70-ba8944a3e500", 
			"channel_type": "livestream", 
			"channel_id": "6e693c74-262d-4d3d-8846-686364c571c8", 
			"user": "aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
			"text": "Such a great song, check out my solo at 2:25", 
			"type": "regular", 
			"created_at": "2017-02-01T02:00:00Z", 
			"attachments": [ 
				{ 
					"type": "video", 
					"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgUbBtjl9c" 
				} 
			] 
		} 
	}, 
	{ 
		"type": "reaction", 
		"item": { 
			"message_id": "977e691a-c091-4e3b-8f70-ba8944a3e500", 
			"type": "love", 
			"user_id": "aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
			"created_at": "2019-03-02T15:00:00Z" 
		} 
	} 
]

Import Entries Format

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Name	Type	Description
type	string	the type of data for this entry. Allowed values are: user, channel, message, reaction, member
item	object	the data for this entry, see below for the format of each type

Item Types

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An import file can contain entries with any of these types.

Note that you can add custom fields to users, channels, members, messages, attachments and reactions. The limit is 5KB of custom field data per object.

User Type

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The user type fields are shown below:

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{ 
  "type": "user", 
  "item": { 
    "id": "aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
    "name": "Jesse", 
    "image": "http://getstream.com", 
    "created_at": "2017-01-01T01:00:00Z", 
    "description": "Taj Mahal guitar player at some point" 
  } 
}

Channel Type

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The channel type fields are shown below:

name	type	description	default	optional
id	string	the unique id for the channel
type	string	the type of the channel. ie livestream, messaging etc.
created_by	string	the id of the user that created the message
frozen	boolean	you can't add messages to a frozen channel	false	✓
*	string/list/object	add as many custom fields as needed		✓

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{ 
  "type": "channel", 
  "item": { 
    "id": "6e693c74-262d-4d3d-8846-686364c571c8", 
    "type": "livestream", 
    "created_by": "aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
    "name": "Rock'n Roll Circus" 
  } 
}

Member Type

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Channel members store the mapping between users and channels. The fields are shown below:

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{ 
  "type": "member", 
  "item": { 
    "channel_type": "livestream", 
    "channel_id": "6e693c74-262d-4d3d-8846-686364c571c8", 
    "user_id": "aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
    "is_moderator": true, 
    "created_at": "2017-02-01T02:00:00Z" 
  } 
}

Message Type

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message creation time in RFC3339 format

last time the message was updated

message deletion time in RFC3339 format

reply messages are only shown inside the message thread unless show_in_channel is set to true, in that case the message is shown in the channel as well

Add as many custom fields as needed

name	type	description	default	optional
id	string	the id of the message	A random UUIDv4	✓
channel_type	string	the type of channel for this message
channel_id	string	the id of the channel for this message
type	string	the type of the message, regular, deleted or system	regular	✓
user	string	the id of the user that posted the message
attachments	list of attachments	list of message attachments, see the attachment section below	[]	✓
parent_id	string	the id of the parent message (if the message is a reply)	null	✓
created_at	string
updated_at	string	created_at	✓
deleted_at	string	null	✓
show_in_channel	bool	false	✓
*	string/list/object		✓

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{ 
  "type": "message", 
  "item": { 
    "id": "977e691a-c091-4e3b-8f70-ba8944a3e500", 
    "channel_type": "livestream", 
    "channel_id": "6e693c74-262d-4d3d-8846-686364c571c8", 
    "user":"aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
    "text": "Such a great song, check out my solo at 2:25", 
    "type": "regular", 
    "created_at": "2017-02-01T02:00:00Z", 
    "attachments": [ 
      { 
        "type": "video", 
        "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgUbBtjl9c" 
      } 
    ] 
  } 
}

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The only required field of an attachment is "type". All other fields are optional, and you can add as many custom fields as you'd like. The attachments are a great way to extend Stream's functionality. If you want to have a custom product attachment, location attachment, checkout, etc., attachments are the way to go. The fields below are automatically picked up and shown by our component libraries.

Reaction Type

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The reaction type has the following fields:

name	type	description	optional
message_id	string	The id of the message
type	string	The type of reaction (up to you to define the types, it's a string)
user_id	string	The ID of the user
created_at	string	The creation time in RFC3339
*	string/list/object	Add as many custom fields as needed	✓

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{ 
  "type": "reaction", 
  "item": { 
    "message_id": "977e691a-c091-4e3b-8f70-ba8944a3e500", 
    "type": "love", 
    "user_id": "aad24491-c286-4169-bbfc-9280de419cb6", 
    "created_at": "2019-03-02T15:00:00Z" 
  } 
}

Client SDKs

Backend SDKs

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The Process

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Import File

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Import Entries Format

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Item Types

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User Type

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Channel Type

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Member Type

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Message Type

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Message Attachments

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Reaction Type

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Importing Data Feedback