Getting Started

Stream's Moderation API lets you integrate content moderation into any application. This guide walks you through installation, configuration, and your first moderation check.

Moderation lives in the Stream Dashboard, where you can create and tune policies, manage AI rules and blocklists, and review flagged content across your app. You can also manage moderation from the terminal with the Stream CLI — useful for scripting policy setup, or for letting an AI agent configure policies and blocklists for you.

Installation

Add to your build.gradle:

dependencies {
    implementation 'io.getstream:stream-sdk-java:7.+'
}

Or Maven pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.getstream</groupId>
    <artifactId>stream-sdk-java</artifactId>
    <version>7.0.0</version>
</dependency>

Initialize the Client

import io.getstream.services.framework.StreamSDKClient;

var client = StreamSDKClient.builder()
    .apiKey("YOUR_API_KEY")
    .apiSecret("YOUR_API_SECRET")
    .build();

Create a Moderation Policy

Before checking content, create a moderation configuration that defines which rules to apply:

client.moderation()
    .upsertConfig(UpsertConfigRequest.builder()
        .key("my_config")
        .aiTextConfig(AiTextConfig.builder()
            .rules(List.of(
                AiTextRule.builder().label("SPAM").action("flag").build(),
                AiTextRule.builder().label("HARASSMENT").action("remove").build()
            ))
            .build())
        .blockListConfig(BlockListConfig.builder()
            .rules(List.of(
                BlockListRule.builder().name("profanity_en").action("remove").build()
            ))
            .build())
        .build())
    .execute();

For Stream Chat, use config key chat:messaging. For Stream Feeds, use feeds. See Configuration for details.

Check Content

var response = client.moderation()
    .check(CheckRequest.builder()
        .entityType("stream:chat:v1:message")
        .entityID("message-123")
        .entityCreatorID("user-456")
        .moderationPayload(ModerationPayload.builder()
            .texts(List.of("Hello, this is a test message"))
            .build())
        .configKey("my_config")
        .build())
    .execute();

System.out.println(response.getData().getRecommendedAction()); // "keep", "flag", or "remove"

Handle the Response

The response includes:

  • getRecommendedAction() -- "keep", "flag", or "remove"
  • getStatus() -- "complete" or "partial" (if async checks are still running)
  • getItem() -- the review queue item (if content was flagged or removed)
String action = response.getData().getRecommendedAction();

switch (action) {
    case "keep":
        // Content is safe, no action needed
        break;
    case "flag":
        // Content is suspicious, send to review queue
        System.out.println("Flagged for review: " + response.getData().getItem());
        break;
    case "remove":
        // Content violates policies, remove it
        System.out.println("Content removed: " + response.getData().getItem());
        break;
}

Next Steps

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