Delete a message

This guide explains how to use the delete method on the Message resource of the Google Chat API to delete a text or card message.

The Message resource represents a text or card message in Google Chat. You can create, get, update, or delete a message in the Google Chat API by calling corresponding methods. To learn more about text and card messages, see Google Chat messages overview.

Prerequisites

Python

  • Python 3.6 or greater
  • The pip package management tool

  • The latest Google client libraries for Python. To install or update them, run the following command in your command-line interface:

    pip3 install --upgrade google-api-python-client google-auth-oauthlib google-auth
  • A Google Cloud project with the Google Chat API enabled and configured. For steps, see Build a Google Chat app.

  • Authorization configured for the Chat app. Deleting a message supports both of the following authentication methods:

Delete a message with user authentication

To delete a message with user authentication, pass the following in your request:

  • Specify the chat.messages authorization scope.
  • Call the delete method on the Message resource.
  • Set name to the resource name of the message to delete.

The following example deletes a message with user authentication:

Python

  1. In your working directory, create a file named chat_message_delete_user.py.

  2. Include the following code in chat_message_delete_user.py:

    from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
from googleapiclient.discovery import build

# Define your app's authorization scopes.
# When modifying these scopes, delete the file token.json, if it exists.
SCOPES = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.messages"]

def main():
    '''
    Authenticates with Chat API via user credentials,
    then deletes a message.
    '''

    # Authenticate with Google Workspace
    # and get user authorization.
    flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file(
                      'client_secrets.json', SCOPES)
    creds = flow.run_local_server()

    # Build a service endpoint for Chat API.
    chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=creds)

    # Use the service endpoint to call Chat API.
    result = chat.spaces().messages().delete(

        # The message to delete.
        #
        # Replace SPACE with a space name.
        # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API,
        # or from a space's URL.
        #
        # Replace MESSAGE with a message name.
        # Obtain the message name from the response body returned
        # after creating a message asynchronously with Chat REST API.
        name = 'spaces/SPACE/messages/MESSAGE'

    ).execute()

    # Prints details about the created membership.
    print(result)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

  3. In the code, replace the following:

    • SPACE: a space name, which you can obtain from the spaces.list method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.
    • MESSAGE: a message name, which you can obtain from the response body returned after creating a message asynchronously with the Chat API, or with the custom name assigned to the message at creation.

  4. In your working directory, build and run the sample:

    python3 chat_message_delete_user.py

If successful, the response body is empty, which indicates that the message is deleted.

Delete a message with app authentication

To delete a message with app authentication, pass the following in your request:

  • Specify the chat.bot authorization scope.
  • Call the delete method on the Message resource.
  • Set name to the resource name of the message to delete.

The following example deletes a message with app authentication:

Python

  1. In your working directory, create a file named chat_delete_message_app.py.

  2. Include the following code in chat_delete_message_app.py:

    from google.oauth2 import service_account
from apiclient.discovery import build

# Specify required scopes.
SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.bot']

# Specify service account details.
CREDENTIALS = (
    service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file('credentials.json')
    .with_scopes(SCOPES)
)

# Build the URI and authenticate with the service account.
chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=CREDENTIALS)

# Delete a Chat message.
result = chat.spaces().messages().delete(

  # The message to delete.
  #
  # Replace SPACE with a space name.
  # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API,
  # or from a space's URL.
  #
  # Replace MESSAGE with a message name.
  # Obtain the message name from the response body returned
  # after creating a message asynchronously with Chat REST API.
  name='spaces/SPACE/messages/MESSAGE'

).execute()

# Print Chat API's response in your command line interface.
# When deleting a message, the response body is empty.
print(result)

  3. In the code, replace the following:

    • SPACE: the name of the space where the message is posted, which you can obtain from the spaces.list method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.
    • MESSAGE: the message name, which you can obtain from the response body returned after creating a message asynchronously with the Chat API, or with the custom name assigned to the message at creation.

  4. In your working directory, build and run the sample:

    python3 chat_delete_message_app.py

If successful, the response body is empty, which indicates that the message is deleted.