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

npm install @stream-io/stream-node
# or
yarn add @stream-io/stream-node

Initialize the Client

const { StreamClient } = require("@stream-io/stream-node");

const client = new StreamClient("YOUR_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_SECRET");

Create a Moderation Policy

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

await client.moderation.upsertConfig({
  key: "my_config",
  ai_text_config: {
    rules: [
      { label: "SPAM", action: "flag" },
      { label: "HARASSMENT", action: "remove" },
    ],
  },
  block_list_config: {
    rules: [{ name: "profanity_en", action: "remove" }],
  },
});

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

Check Content

const response = await client.moderation.check({
  entity_type: "stream:chat:v1:message",
  entity_id: "message-123",
  entity_creator_id: "user-456",
  moderation_payload: {
    texts: ["Hello, this is a test message"],
  },
  config_key: "my_config",
});

console.log(response.recommended_action); // "keep", "flag", or "remove"

Handle the Response

The response includes:

  • recommended_action -- "keep", "flag", or "remove"
  • status -- "complete" or "partial" (if async checks are still running)
  • item -- the review queue item (if content was flagged or removed)
if (response.recommended_action === "keep") {
  // Content is safe, no action needed
} else if (response.recommended_action === "flag") {
  // Content is suspicious, send to review queue
  console.log("Flagged for review:", response.item);
} else if (response.recommended_action === "remove") {
  // Content violates policies, remove it
  console.log("Content removed:", response.item);
}

Next Steps

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