Find a direct message (DM) space

This guide explains how to use the findDirectMessage method on the Space resource of the Google Chat API to get details about a direct message (DM) space.

The Space resource represents a place where people and Chat apps can send messages, share files, and collaborate. There are several types of spaces:

  • Direct messages (DMs) are conversations between two users or a user and a Chat app.
  • Group chats are conversations between three or more users and Chat apps.
  • Named spaces are persistent places where people send messages, share files, and collaborate.

Authenticating with app authentication lets a Chat app get DMs that the Chat app has access to in Google Chat (for example, DMs it's a member of). Authenticating with user authentication returns DMs that the authenticated user has access to.

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-httplib2 google-auth-oauthlib oauth2client

  • A published Chat app. To create and publish a Chat app, see Build a Google Chat app.

  • Authorization configured for the Chat app. Finding a direct message supports both:

Find a direct message

To find a direct message in Google Chat, pass the following in your request:

  • With app authentication, specify the chat.bot authorization scope. With user authentication, specify the chat.spaces.readonly or chat.spaces authorization scope.
  • Call the findDirectMessage method on the User resource, passing the name of the other user in the DM to return. With user authentication, this method returns a DM between the calling user and the specified user. With app authentication, this method returns a DM between the calling app and the specified user.
  • To add a human user as a space member, specify users/{user}, where {user} is either the {person_id} for the person from the People API, or the ID of a user in the Directory API. For example, if the People API person resourceName is people/123456789, you can add the user to the space by including a membership with users/123456789 as the member.name.

Find a direct message with user authentication

Here's how to find a direct message with user authentication:

Python

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

  2. Include the following code in chat_space_find_dm_user.py:

    import os.path

from google.auth.transport.requests import Request
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from googleapiclient.errors import HttpError

# 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.spaces.readonly"]

def main():
    '''
    Authenticates with Chat API via user credentials,
    then returns details about a specified DM.
    '''

    # 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().findDirectMessage(

          # The other user in the direct message (DM) to return.
          #
          # Replace USER with a user name.
          name='users/USER'

      ).execute()

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

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

  3. In the code, replace USER with the name of a User in Google Chat.

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

    python3 chat_space_find_dm_user.py

The Chat API returns an instance of Space that details the specified DM.

Find a direct message with app authentication

Here's how to find a direct message with app authentication:

Python

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

  2. Include the following code in chat_space_find_dm_app.py:

    from httplib2 import Http
from oauth2client.service_account import ServiceAccountCredentials
from apiclient.discovery import build

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

# Specify service account details.
CREDENTIALS = ServiceAccountCredentials.from_json_keyfile_name(
    'credentials.json', SCOPES)

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

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

    # The other user in the direct message (DM) to return.
    #
    # Replace USER with a user name.
    name='users/USER'

).execute()

print(result)

  3. In the code, replace USER with the name of a User in Google Chat.

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

    python3 chat_space_find_dm_app.py

The Chat API returns an instance of Space that details the specified DM.