# Message operations

Every channel and every thread has `messageOperations`: the operations that send, retry, edit and delete a message, and add or remove a reaction. Each one changes the message list first, then sends the request, and settles the list when the server answers. The composer's `MessageComposer.send()` and `MessageComposer.update()` go through them.

>
> **Info:** **Example**
>
> The user sends "Hello" and the request fails:
>
> 1. The message appears in the list at once, with the status `sending`.
> 2. The request fails. The message stays in the list, now `failed`, with the server's error in `message.error`.
> 3. The user retries. `MessageOperations.retry({ localMessage })` marks the message `sending` again and sends the same request.
> 4. The server answers. Its copy replaces the local one, with the status `received`.
>

```ts
const retryMessage = async (messageId: string) => {
  const localMessage = channel.messagePaginator.getItem(messageId);
  if (localMessage?.status !== "failed") return;

  try {
    await channel.messageOperations.retry({ localMessage });
  } catch {
    // The message is marked failed again, ready for another retry.
  }
};
```

Unlike the composer's `MessageComposer.send()`, the operations reject when the request fails. The list is already settled by then, so the rejection only tells the caller.

The SDK's message actions call these operations through `useMessageOperations()`: retrying a failed message, deleting a message, and adding or removing a reaction. They use the open thread's operations for a reply loaded in the thread, and the channel's otherwise. Deleting a message that failed to send removes it from the list without a request, because the server never had it.

## Operations

Every channel has its operations interface in `channel.messageOperations`, and every thread in `thread.messageOperations`. The `MessageOperations` class itself isn't exported from `stream-chat`. A thread's operations send to the thread's channel, with the thread's id as `parent_id`, and the reply lands in `thread.messagePaginator`. The composer's `MessageComposer.send()` and `MessageComposer.update()` use them underneath.

| Operation                                                          | Takes                                                                                                                |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `MessageOperations.send({ localMessage, message?, options? })`     | The message to show, and optionally the request body and send options.                                               |
| `MessageOperations.retry({ localMessage, message?, options? })`    | A failed message. Without `message`, it resends the request that failed, and a failed edit is sent again as an edit. |
| `MessageOperations.update({ localMessage, options? })`             | The edited message. `options` takes `skip_enrich_url` and `skip_push`.                                               |
| `MessageOperations.delete({ localMessage, options? })`             | The message. `options` takes `hard` and `delete_for_me`.                                                             |
| `MessageOperations.addReaction({ messageId, reaction, options? })` | The message id and the reaction, such as `{ type: "like" }`.                                                         |
| `MessageOperations.deleteReaction({ messageId, type })`            | The message id and the reaction type.                                                                                |

When a change should show in the message list, use the operations, not raw API calls such as `Channel.sendMessage()` or `client.updateMessage()`. A raw call only sends the request: in a watched channel, the list changes when the server's event arrives, and a failed request isn't shown in it. [Raw API calls](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/state/writing-messages/whats-optimistic-and-what-isnt/#raw-api-calls) lists them.

## Message statuses

A message on its way has one of three statuses in `message.status`:

| `message.status` | Means                                                      | What your UI can do                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `sending`        | The message is in the list, and the request is on its way. | Show it as pending.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| `received`       | The server's copy is in the list.                          | Show it as sent. Whether it was delivered and read comes from `channel.messageReceiptsTracker`: see [Read state, unread and receipts](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/features/messaging/read-state-unread-and-receipts/).                      |
| `failed`         | The request failed, and `message.error` says why.          | Offer a retry, with `MessageOperations.retry({ localMessage })`. For a failed send it sends the request again. For a failed edit it sends the edit again, and editing the message again with `MessageOperations.update()` saves it as well. |

These statuses describe the request, and don't match the statuses a UI shows on the user's own messages: sending, sent, delivered and read. The SDK's `MessageStatus` shows a `received` message as sent until another member has it, and takes delivered and read from the other members' read state, as [Read state, unread and receipts](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/features/messaging/read-state-unread-and-receipts/) explains. In a channel whose read events are off it shows only the sending status, and it shows nothing for a failed, error or deleted message.

Each channel and each thread keeps the request of a failed send in memory for five minutes, for up to 100 messages, so a retry sends exactly what failed. After that, or after the app restarts, a retry rebuilds the request from the message. Both limits can be changed under `messageOperations` in [Configuration](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/state/state-and-entities/configuration/).

If the server rejects a send because the message already exists, the earlier attempt did arrive. The message is marked `received` rather than `failed`, and the call resolves.

## Optimistic updates

The operations change the list before the request goes out, and the server's copy replaces the local one when it answers:

| Operation                                                                  | Shown at once                                                                         | When the request fails                                                                       |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `MessageOperations.send()` and `MessageOperations.retry()`                 | the message, as `sending`                                                             | the message stays, marked `failed`, ready to retry                                           |
| `MessageOperations.update()`                                               | the new text, marked as edited (a message that never reached the server isn't marked) | the edit stays, and the message is marked `failed`; retrying or editing again sends the edit |
| `MessageOperations.delete()`                                               | the message as deleted, or removed for a hard delete                                  | the message comes back                                                                       |
| `MessageOperations.addReaction()` and `MessageOperations.deleteReaction()` | the reaction appears or disappears                                                    | undone                                                                                       |

When the server answers, its copy replaces the local one. For a send or an edit, that happens only if nothing newer arrived in the meantime, such as a `message.updated` event.

The SDK's reaction actions go through these operations: `useMessageOperations()` picks the open thread's operations for a message the thread holds, and the channel's otherwise. Conversation actions, such as marking a channel read or archiving it, work the other way: their effect appears when the server's event arrives. Every action is listed on [What's optimistic and what isn't](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/state/writing-messages/whats-optimistic-and-what-isnt/).

## Offline

With [offline support](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/state/offline-support/offline-support/), every operation on this page that fails because the device is offline is kept as a pending task in the offline database, and sent after the next reconnect, in the order the operations were made. A request the server refuses for good, for example for missing permissions, isn't kept.

- **A send** is still marked `failed`, so the user can retry it, and the pending task sends it after the reconnect.
- **An edit, a delete or a reaction** isn't failed but pending: its change stays in the list until the pending task has been sent.

The operation rejects in both cases, as for any failed request.

## Customizing requests

To change how a request is made, register a request handler in `client.config`. The operation then calls your handler instead of making the request itself, and hands it the default request, so the handler can still send the usual way:

```ts
import { StreamChat } from "stream-chat";
import type { OperationRequestFn } from "stream-chat";

const client = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");

const sendMessageRequest: OperationRequestFn<"send"> = (
  params,
  defaultRequest,
) =>
  defaultRequest({
    ...params,
    options: { ...params.options, skip_push: true },
  });

client.config.set({ channel: { requestHandlers: { sendMessageRequest } } });
```

`updateMessageRequest` and `deleteMessageRequest` change the options of an edit or a delete the same way.

Handlers are registered for the client and apply to every channel, the ones that exist and the ones created later. To treat channels differently, branch inside the handler, for example on `params.localMessage.cid`. There is no request function for a single call: every call goes through the registered handler.

The optimistic update happens before the handler runs, and settling the list happens after it, whatever the handler does.

### Request handlers

| Handler                   | Runs on                                                                                   | Receives                             | Resolves to                       |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------- |
| `sendMessageRequest`      | `MessageOperations.send()`, and `MessageOperations.retry()` when there's no retry handler | `{ localMessage, message, options }` | `{ message }`                     |
| `retrySendMessageRequest` | `MessageOperations.retry()`                                                               | `{ localMessage, message, options }` | `{ message }`                     |
| `updateMessageRequest`    | `MessageOperations.update()`                                                              | `{ localMessage, options }`          | `{ message }`                     |
| `deleteMessageRequest`    | `MessageOperations.delete()`                                                              | `{ localMessage, options }`          | `{ message }`                     |
| `markReadRequest`         | `Channel.markReadViaReporter()` and the SDK's own marking read                            | `{ channel, options }`               | the mark-read response, or `null` |

In `send` and `retry`, `message` is the request body and `localMessage` the copy in the list. The message the handler resolves with is the server's copy, and it replaces the local one.

`markReadRequest` has no default request. To mark read the usual way, call `Channel.markRead(options)` in it. A direct `Channel.markRead()` call doesn't go through the handler. Marking read is explained on [Read state and unread counts](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/state/channels-and-threads/read-state-and-unread-counts/).

### Wrapping the default request

The default request is the one the operation would make without a handler, and it's the second argument of every message handler. Call it to send the usual way, with the parameters as given or changed. Leave it out to send somewhere else:

```ts
import { StreamChat } from "stream-chat";
import type { OperationRequestFn } from "stream-chat";

const client = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");

const sendMessageRequest: OperationRequestFn<"send"> = async (
  params,
  defaultRequest,
) => {
  if (!params.localMessage.cid.startsWith("support:")) {
    return defaultRequest(params);
  }

  const response = await fetch("https://api.example.com/support/messages", {
    body: JSON.stringify(params.message),
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    method: "POST",
  });
  const { message } = await response.json();

  return { message };
};

client.config.set({ channel: { requestHandlers: { sendMessageRequest } } });
```

Here, messages in `support` channels go through the app's backend, which sends them to Stream and returns the server's copy. Every other channel sends the usual way.

A handler replaces the default request, so a request it sends some other way isn't kept as a pending task while the device is offline.

### Threads use their channel's handlers

A thread reply is sent, retried, edited and deleted through the handlers registered under `channel`. The `thread` key takes one handler of its own, `markReadRequest`, which runs when a thread is marked read. It receives `{ thread, options }`, where `options` already carries the thread's id, and resolves to `null` when nothing was sent:

```ts
import { AppState } from "react-native";
import { StreamChat } from "stream-chat";
import type { CustomThreadMarkReadRequestFn } from "stream-chat";

const client = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");

const markReadRequest: CustomThreadMarkReadRequestFn = async ({
  thread,
  options,
}) => {
  // Keep the thread unread while the app is in the background.
  if (AppState.currentState !== "active") return null;

  return thread.channel.markRead(options);
};

client.config.set({ thread: { requestHandlers: { markReadRequest } } });
```

## Pitfalls

- **Resolve with the server's message.** A send handler that resolves without a `message` leaves the local copy as `sending` until the server's `message.new` event replaces it.
- **Options of an edit.** An edit sends only `skip_enrich_url` and `skip_push` of its options, the ones `MessageOperations.update()` was called with or the ones an `updateMessageRequest` handler passes to the default request. The other options are dropped.
- **Raw calls skip all of this.** `Channel.sendMessage()` and the like neither show the message first nor mark it failed.

## Used in

- [Sending, editing and deleting](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/features/messaging/sending-editing-and-deleting/)
- [Reactions](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/features/messaging/reactions/)
- [Message actions](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/features/messaging/message-actions/)
- [Sending with pending uploads](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/features/messaging/sending-with-pending-uploads/)

---

For the most recent version of this documentation, visit [https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/state/writing-messages/message-operations/](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react-native/state/writing-messages/message-operations/).