Octo Messaging

octo-messaging — messages, groups, threads, events

Three related domains live here. They all call $OCTO_API_BASE_URL/v1/bot/* — except the message search family under a uk_ (user API key) token, which the CLI routes to /v1/user/* (real-person mount; see the message search section).

Search capability (the message search family) is a separate axis by token kind:

Before attempting a write, confirm the token type with octo-cli config show — App Bot writes outside DM get FORBIDDEN from the server ("app bot does not support group operations").

1. message — 4 core commands (+ 6 search subcommands, see below)

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# Send a message. payload is a JSON object (not a flag) — pass it inside --data.
# payload.type is an INTEGER code (1=text); see the payload table below.
octo-cli message send --channel-id <cid> --channel-type 1 \
  --data '{"payload":{"type":1,"content":"hello"}}' \
  [--stream-no <n>] [--on-behalf-of <uid>]

# Edit by (message-id, channel-id, channel-type). content-edit is the new
# content, stored opaquely server-side — carry the new payload, same shape as send.
octo-cli message edit --message-id <mid> --message-seq <seq> \
  --channel-id <cid> --channel-type <t> \
  --content-edit '{"type":1,"content":"updated"}'

# Pull history for a channel. Use --data for non-trivial filters.
octo-cli message sync --data '{"channel_id":"ch_abc","channel_type":1,"limit":50}'

# Mark messages read.
octo-cli message read-receipt --channel-id <cid> --channel-type 1 \
  --message-ids m1 --message-ids m2

channel-type values

1 = direct (DM), 2 = group, 5 = thread.

App Bot restrictions (enforced server-side)

• send accepts only channel-type=1; group/thread are rejected, and even for DM the bot must have a friend relationship with the recipient.
• sync explicitly blocks channel-type=2.
• edit and read-receipt work in DM; other scopes follow bot-kind rules.

payload shape

payload is an object (never auto-promoted to a flag). Wrap it under the top-level payload key and pass the whole body via --data '{"channel_id":"…","channel_type":1,"payload":{…}}' (or --data @file.json, --data @-).

payload.type is an integer code (NOT a string like "text"). Authoritative source: common.ContentType in octo-lib/common/msg.go (the server reads it as an int).

Chat content types:

(System/notification types — 1000+ for group events, 2000 Tip — are server-generated, not sent by bots.) Text example: {"type":1,"content":"hello"}.

--on-behalf-of <uid> makes send/typing act as a user persona (OBO) — requires an active OBO grant + channel scope, else the server returns OBO not authorized.

message search — 6 subcommands

Full-text search over messages and files. Registered as message search, message search all|files|media|around|groups.

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# In-channel message search (payload.type in [1,11,14]).
octo-cli message search --chat-id <cid> --keyword "quarterly report" [--sort time_desc]

# Cross-channel message search (omit --chat-id). NOTE: without --chat-id the CLI
# routes to the cross-channel _search_global_messages endpoint, which is a MIXED
# feed (messages + files), so results may include file hits.
octo-cli message search --keyword "quarterly report"

# Messages + files (mixed feed) — in-channel or (no --chat-id) cross-channel.
octo-cli message search all --chat-id <cid> --keyword invoice

# Files only (payload.type=8), by filename / caption.
octo-cli message search files --chat-id <cid> --keyword "*.pdf"

# Images + videos (payload.type in [2,5]) — IN-CHANNEL ONLY, keyword NOT allowed.
octo-cli message search media --chat-id <cid> [--sort time_desc]

# Context window around an anchor message — IN-CHANNEL ONLY.
octo-cli message search around --chat-id <cid> --anchor-message-id <mid>

# Cross-channel aggregated overview (which channels matched) — CROSS-CHANNEL ONLY.
# Use it as level 1 of a two-step search: find matching channels, then pull
# messages per channel with `message search` / `message search all`.
octo-cli message search groups --keyword "quarterly report"

--chat-id decides in-channel vs cross-channel

• With --chat-id → scoped to that channel.
• Without --chat-id → search / search all / search files route to their cross-channel _search_global_* endpoints (CLI-side, in internal/client/search_route.go — not backend dispatch). Plain search cross-channel degrades to the mixed messages+files feed.
• media and around require --chat-id (no cross-channel endpoint; the backend rejects a request without a channel_id). around also requires --anchor-message-id; media does not accept --keyword.
• groups is cross-channel only and does not accept --chat-id.

Token subjects

• bf_ (User Bot) — searches as the bot.
• bf_ + --on-behalf-of <uid> — OBO: searches with that real person's visibility; requires an active OBO grant.
• uk_ (user API key) — real-person identity; the CLI rewrites the path to /v1/user/*.
• app_ (App Bot) — cannot search. The CLI rejects this locally (validation), before any request — distinct from a server-side FORBIDDEN.

Filters and pagination

Rich filters (sender_ids, member_uids, content_types, sent_at_from/sent_at_to, file_exts, …) go through --data '{"filters":{…}}'. All families except around and groups paginate; the cursor travels in the request body (--page-all handles this).

2. group — 9 commands (both 5 / User Bot only 4)

Available to both bot types (5):

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octo-cli group list      [--space-id <sid>]               # groups the bot is a member of
octo-cli group get       <group_no>
octo-cli group members   <group_no>                        # paginated
octo-cli group md-get    <group_no>                        # group markdown description
octo-cli group md-update <group_no> --content "# Updated description"  # write, but bot_admin gate — not App-Bot-blocked

User Bot only (4):

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octo-cli group create        --members u1 --members u2 --name "eng" --creator u0
octo-cli group update        <group_no> --data '{"name":"new name"}'
octo-cli group member-add    <group_no> --members u3 --members u4
octo-cli group member-remove <group_no> --members u3

App Bot attempting any of the four write operations gets FORBIDDEN with message "app bot does not support group operations".

3. thread — 8 commands, User Bot only

Every thread operation calls validateBotGroupAccess() on the backend and rejects App Bot unconditionally. Don't attempt these with an app_* token.

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octo-cli thread create    <group_no> --name "Incident #42"
octo-cli thread list      <group_no>                          # paginated
octo-cli thread get       <group_no> <short_id>
octo-cli thread members   <group_no> <short_id>
octo-cli thread join      <group_no> <short_id>
octo-cli thread leave     <group_no> <short_id>
octo-cli thread md-get    <group_no> <short_id>
octo-cli thread md-update <group_no> <short_id> --content "# …"

The User Bot must be a member of the parent group.

4. event — polling for inbound events

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octo-cli event list                          # newest page
octo-cli event list --event-id 1234 --limit 50   # cursor = highest event-id seen
octo-cli event ack  <event_id>

Important: event list is a POST

Even though the semantics are "list", the handler is POST /v1/bot/events — the cursor travels in the body, not the query string. The CLI handles this; agents calling octo-cli api must use POST.

Standard poll loop

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cursor=0
while :; do
  batch=$(octo-cli event list --event-id "$cursor" --limit 100)
  # response shape: {ok, data:{status, results:[{event_id, event_type, message{...}}]}}
  echo "$batch" | jq -c '.data.results[]' | while read -r ev; do
    id=$(jq -r '.event_id' <<<"$ev")
    process "$ev"
    octo-cli event ack "$id"
    cursor=$id
  done
  sleep 2
done

--limit defaults to 20, caps at 100.

5. Error recovery cheatsheet

6. Schema lookup

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octo-cli schema message.send
octo-cli schema message.search
octo-cli schema message.search.all
octo-cli schema group.members
octo-cli schema thread.create
octo-cli schema event.list