Message Persistence API for Python SDK

Message Persistence gives you real-time access to the history of messages published to PubNub. Each message is timestamped to the nearest 10 nanoseconds and stored across multiple availability zones in several geographic locations. You can encrypt stored messages with AES-256 so they are not readable on PubNub’s network. For details, see Message Persistence.

You control how long messages are stored through your account’s retention policy. Options include: 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or Unlimited.

You can retrieve the following:

• Messages
• Message reactions
• Files (using the File Sharing API)

Request execution and return values

You can decide whether to perform the Python SDK operations synchronously or asynchronously.

• .sync() returns an Envelope object, which has two fields: Envelope.result, whose type differs for each API, and Envelope.status of type PnStatus.

  1pubnub.publish() \
  2    .channel("myChannel") \
  3    .message("Hello from PubNub Python SDK") \
  4    .sync()

• .pn_async(callback) returns None and passes the values of Envelope.result and Envelope.status to a callback you must define beforehand.

  1def my_callback_function(result, status):
  2    print(f'TT: {result.timetoken}, status: {status.category.name}')
  3
  
  4pubnub.publish() \
  5    .channel("myChannel") \
  6    .message("Hello from PubNub Python SDK") \
  7    .pn_async(my_callback_function)

Fetch history

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

Fetch historical messages from one or more channels. Use include_message_actions to include message actions.

You can control how messages are returned and in what order.

• If you specify only start, you receive messages older than that timetoken. start is the newer boundary of the query (exclusive).
• If you specify only end, you receive messages newer than or equal to that timetoken. end is the older boundary of the query (inclusive).
• If you specify both start and end, start must be a higher timetoken than end. Results contain messages between those timetokens, excluding the message at start and including the message at end.

How to use the start and end parameters

PubNub retrieves messages by searching backward through time (newest to oldest). Because of this, the parameter names are the reverse of their intuitive meaning:

• start is the newer boundary (higher timetoken value) - search begins here, exclusive
• end is the older boundary (lower timetoken value) - search stops here, inclusive

When you provide both parameters, start must be a higher timetoken than end.

9:00 AM10:00 AM11:00 AM11:59 AM

Results are always returned in oldest-first order.

You can receive up to 100 messages for a single channel. For multiple channels (up to 500), you can receive up to 25 messages per channel. If more messages match the time range, make iterative calls and adjust the start timetoken to page through the results.

Method(s)

Use the following method(s) in the Python SDK:

1pubnub.fetch_messages() \
2    .channels(List) \
3    .maximum_per_channel(Integer) \
4    .start(Integer) \
5    .end(Integer) \
6    .include_message_actions(Boolean) \
7    .include_meta(Boolean)
8    .include_message_type(Boolean) \
9    .include_custom_message_type(Boolean) \
10    .include_uuid(Boolean) \

* required

Parameter	Description
channels * Type: List<string> Default: n/a	Specifies the channels for which to return history. Maximum of 500 channels are allowed.
maximum_per_channel Type: Integer Default: 25 or 100	Specifies the number of historical messages to return. If include_message_actions is True, method is limited to single channel and 25 is the default (and maximum) value; otherwise, default and maximum is 100 for a single channel, or 25 for multiple channels.
start Type: Integer Default: n/a	Newer boundary of the query (exclusive). Retrieval begins at this timetoken and moves backward in time. Must be a higher timetoken value than end when both are provided.
end Type: Integer Default: n/a	Older boundary of the query (inclusive). Retrieval stops at this timetoken. Must be a lower timetoken value than start when both are provided.
include_message_actions Type: Boolean Default: False	Set to True to retrieve history messages with their associated message actions. If you include message actions, the fetch_messages() method is limited to one channel only.
include_meta Type: Boolean Default: False	Whether to include message metadata within response or not.
include_message_type Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Indicates whether to retrieve messages with PubNub message type. For more information, refer to Retrieving Messages.
include_custom_message_type Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Indicates whether to retrieve messages with the custom message type. For more information, refer to Retrieving Messages.
include_uuid Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Whether to include UUID of the sender

Sample code

Reference code

This example is a self-contained code snippet ready to be run. It includes necessary imports and executes methods with console logging. Use it as a reference when working with other examples in this document.

Retrieve the last message on a channel:

Builder Pattern

1import os
2from pubnub.pnconfiguration import PNConfiguration
3from pubnub.pubnub import PubNub
4

5

6def my_fetch_messages_callback(envelope, status):
7    if status.is_error():
8        print(f"Something went wrong. Error: {status.error_data}")
9        return
10

11    print("Fetch Messages Result:\n")
12    for message in envelope.channels["my_channel"]:
13        print("Message: %s" % message.message)
14        print("Meta: %s" % message.meta)
15        print("Timetoken: %s" % message.timetoken)
16

17        for action_type in message.actions:
18            print("\nMessage Action type: " + action_type)
19            for action_value in message.actions[action_type]:
20                print("Message Action value: %s" % action_value)
21                for action in message.actions[action_type][action_value]:
22                    print("Message Action timetoken: %s" % action['actionTimetoken'])
23                    print("Message Action uuid: %s" % action['uuid'])
24

25

26def main():
27    # Configuration for PubNub instance
28    pn_config = PNConfiguration()
29    pn_config.subscribe_key = os.getenv('SUBSCRIBE_KEY', 'demo')
30    pn_config.user_id = os.getenv('USER_ID', 'my_custom_user_id')
31

32    # Initialize PubNub client
33    pubnub = PubNub(pn_config)
34

35    # Fetch messages
36    pubnub.fetch_messages() \
37        .channels(["my_channel"]) \
38        .maximum_per_channel(1) \
39        .include_message_actions(True) \
40        .include_meta(True) \
41        .include_message_type(True) \
42        .include_custom_message_type(True) \
43        .include_uuid(True) \
44        .pn_async(my_fetch_messages_callback)
45

46

47if __name__ == "__main__":
48    main()

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Named Arguments

1message_envelope = pubnub.fetch_messages(channels=["my_channel"], maximum_per_channel=1, include_message_actions=True,
2    include_meta=True, include_message_type=True, include_custom_message_type=True, include_uuid=True).sync()
3

4if message_envelope.status.is_error():
5    print(f"Something went wrong. Error: {status.error_data}")
6else:
7        print("Fetch Messages Result:\n")
8    for message in message_envelope.result.channels["my_channel"]:
9        print(f"Message: {message.message}")
10        print(f"Meta: {message.meta}")
11        print(f"Timetoken: {message.timetoken}")
12

13        for action_type in message.actions:
14            print(f"Message Action type: {action_type}")
15            for action_value in message.actions[action_type]:
16                print(f"Message Action value: {action_value}")
17                for action in message.actions[action_type][action_value]:
18                    print(f"Message Action timetoken: {action['actionTimetoken']}")
19                    print(f"Message Action uuid: {action['uuid']}")
20

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Returns

The fetch_messages() operation returns an Envelope which contains the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
result	PNFetchMessagesResult	A detailed object containing the result of the operation.
status	PNStatus	A status object with additional information.

PNFetchMessagesResult

Method	Description
channels Type: Dictionary	Dictionary of PNFetchMessageItem
start_timetoken Type: Int	Start timetoken
end_timetoken Type: Int	End timetoken

PNFetchMessageItem

Method	Description
message Type: String	The message
meta Type: Any	Meta value
message_type Type: Any	Type of the message
custom_message_type Type: Any	Custom type of the message
uuid Type: String	UUID of the sender
timetoken Type: Int	Timetoken of the message
actions Type: List	A 3-dimensional List of message actions, grouped by action type and value

Delete messages from history

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

Remove messages from the history of a specific channel.

Required setting

Enable Delete-From-History for your key in the Admin Portal and initialize the SDK with a secret key.

How to use the start and end parameters

PubNub retrieves messages by searching backward through time (newest to oldest). Because of this, the parameter names are the reverse of their intuitive meaning:

• start is the newer boundary (higher timetoken value) - search begins here, exclusive
• end is the older boundary (lower timetoken value) - search stops here, inclusive

When you provide both parameters, start must be a higher timetoken than end.

9:00 AM10:00 AM11:00 AM11:59 AM

Results are always returned in oldest-first order.

Method(s)

To Delete Messages from History you can use the following method(s) in the Python SDK.

1pubnub.delete_messages() \
2    .channel(String) \
3    .start(Integer) \
4    .end(Integer) \
5    .sync()

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: String Default: n/a	Specifies channels to delete messages from.
start Type: Integer Default: n/a	Newer boundary of the query (exclusive). Must be a higher timetoken value than end when both are provided.
end Type: Integer Default: n/a	Older boundary of the query (inclusive). Must be a lower timetoken value than start when both are provided.

Sample code

Builder Pattern

1envelope = PubNub(pnconf).delete_messages() \
2    .channel("my-ch") \
3    .start(123) \
4    .end(456) \
5    .sync()

Named Arguments

1envelope = pubnub.delete_messages(channels=["my_channel"], start=123, end=456).sync()

Returns

The delete_messages() operation doesn't have a return value.

Other examples

Delete specific message from history

To delete a specific message, pass the publish timetoken (received from a successful publish) in the End parameter and timetoken +/- 1 in the Start parameter. For example, if 15526611838554310 is the publish timetoken, pass 15526611838554309 in Start and 15526611838554310 in End parameters respectively as shown in the following code snippet.

Builder Pattern

1envelope = PubNub(pnconf).delete_messages() \
2    .channel("my-ch") \
3    .start(15526611838554309) \
4    .end(15526611838554310) \
5    .sync()

Named Arguments

1envelope = pubnub.delete_messages(channels="my-ch", start=15526611838554309, end=15526611838554310).sync()

Message counts

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

Return the number of messages published since the given time. The count is the number of messages with a timetoken greater than or equal to the value in channel_timetokens.

Unlimited message retention

Only messages from the last 30 days are counted.

Method(s)

You can use the following method(s) in the Python SDK:

1pn.message_counts() \
2    .channel(String) \
3    .channel_timetokens(List)

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: String Default: n/a	The channels to fetch the message count. Single channel or multiple channels, separated by comma are accepted.
channel_timetokens * Type: List Default: null	A list of timetokens ordered the same way as channels. Timetokens can be str or int type.

Sample code

Builder Pattern

1envelope = pn.message_counts() \
2    .channel('unique_1') \
3    .channel_timetokens([15510391957007182]) \
4    .sync() \
5print(envelope.result.channels['unique_1'])

Named Arguments

1envelope = pubnub.message_counts(channels="my-ch", channel_timetokens=[15510391957007182]).sync()

Returns

The message_counts() operation returns an Envelope which contains the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
result	PNMessageCountResult	A detailed object containing the result of the operation.
status	PNStatus	A status object with additional information.

PNMessageCountResult

Field	Type	Description
channels	Dictionary	A dictionary with the number of missed messages for each channel.

Other examples

Retrieve count of messages using different timetokens for each channel

Builder Pattern

1envelope = pn.message_counts() \
2    .channel('unique_1,unique_100') \
3    .channel_timetokens([15510391957007182, 15510391957007184]) \
4    .sync()
5print(envelope.result.channels)

Named Arguments

1envelope = pubnub.message_counts(channels="unique_1,unique_100",
2    channel_timetokens=[15510391957007182, 15510391957007184]).sync()

History (deprecated)

Requires Message Persistence

This method requires that Message Persistence is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal.

Alternative method

This method is deprecated. Use fetch history instead.

This function fetches historical messages of a channel.

It is possible to control how messages are returned and in what order, for example you can:

• Search for messages starting on the newest end of the timeline (default behavior - reverse = False)
• Search for messages from the oldest end of the timeline by setting reverse to True.
• Page through results by providing a start OR end timetoken.
• Retrieve a slice of the time line by providing both a start AND end timetoken.
• Limit the number of messages to a specific quantity using the count parameter.

Method(s)

To run History you can use the following method(s) in the Python SDK:

1pubnub.history() \
2    .channel(String) \
3    .include_meta(True) \
4    .reverse(Boolean) \
5    .include_timetoken(Boolean) \
6    .start(Integer) \
7    .end(Integer) \
8    .count(Integer)

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: String Default: n/a	Specifies channel to return history messages from.
include_meta Type: Boolean Default: False	Specifies whether or not the message's meta information should be returned.
reverse Type: Boolean Default: False	Setting to True will traverse the time line in reverse starting with the oldest message first.
include_timetoken Type: Boolean Default: False	Whether event dates timetokens should be included in response or not.
start Type: Integer Default: n/a	Newer boundary of the query (exclusive). Retrieval begins at this timetoken and moves backward in time. Must be a higher timetoken value than end when both are provided.
end Type: Integer Default: n/a	Older boundary of the query (inclusive). Retrieval stops at this timetoken. Must be a lower timetoken value than start when both are provided.
count Type: Integer Default: n/a	Specifies the number of historical messages to return.

tip

Using the reverse parameter

Messages are always returned sorted in ascending time direction from history regardless of reverse. The reverse direction matters when you have more than 100 (or count, if it's set) messages in the time interval, in which case reverse determines the end of the time interval from which it should start retrieving the messages.

Sample code

Retrieve the last 100 messages on a channel:

1envelope = pubnub.history() \
2    .channel("history_channel") \
3    .count(100) \
4    .sync()

Returns

The history() operation returns a PNHistoryResult which contains the following fields:

Method	Description
messages Type: List	List of messages of type PNHistoryItemResult. See PNHistoryItemResult for more details.
start_timetoken Type: Integer	Start timetoken.
end_timetoken Type: Integer	End timetoken.

PNHistoryItemResult

Method	Description
timetoken Type: Integer	Timetoken of the message.
entry Type: Object	Message.

Other examples

Use history() to retrieve the three oldest messages by retrieving from the time line in reverse

1envelope = pubnub.history() \
2    .channel("my_channel") \
3    .count(3) \
4    .reverse(True) \
5    .sync()

Response

1{
2    end_timetoken: 13406746729185766,
3    start_timetoken: 13406746780720711,
4    messages: [{
5        crypto: None,
6        entry: 'Pub1',
7        timetoken: None
8    },{
9        crypto: None,
10        entry: 'Pub2',
11        timetoken: None
12    },{
13        crypto: None,
14        entry: 'Pub2',
15        timetoken: None
16    }]
17}

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Use history() to retrieve messages newer than a given timetoken by paging from oldest message to newest message starting at a single point in time (exclusive)

1pubnub.history()\
2    .channel("my_channel")\
3    .start(13847168620721752)\
4    .reverse(True)\
5    .sync()

Response

1{
2    end_timetoken: 13406746729185766,
3    start_timetoken: 13406746780720711,
4    messages: [{
5        crypto: None,
6        entry: 'Pub4',
7        timetoken: None
8    },{
9        crypto: None,
10        entry: 'Pub5',
11        timetoken: None
12    },{
13        crypto: None,
14        entry: 'Pub6',
15        timetoken: None
16    }]
17}

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Use history() to retrieve messages until a given timetoken by paging from newest message to oldest message until a specific end point in time (inclusive)

1pubnub.history()\
2    .channel("my_channel")\
3    .count(100)\
4    .start(-1)\
5    .end(13847168819178600)\
6    .reverse(True)\
7    .sync()

Response

1{
2    end_timetoken: 13406746729185766,
3    start_timetoken: 13406746780720711,
4    messages: [{
5        crypto: None,
6        entry: 'Pub4',
7        timetoken: None
8    },{
9        crypto: None,
10        entry: 'Pub5',
11        timetoken: None
12    },{
13        crypto: None,
14        entry: 'Pub6',
15        timetoken: None
16    }]
17}

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History paging example

Usage

You can call the method by passing 0 or a valid timetoken as the argument.

1def get_all_messages(start_tt):
2    def history_callback(result, status):
3        msgs = result.messages
4        start = result.start_timetoken
5        end = result.end_timetoken
6        count = len(msgs)
7

8        if count > 0:
9            print("%d" % count)
10            print("start %d" % start)
11            print("end %d" % end)
12

13        if count == 100:
14            get_all_messages(start)
15

16    pubnub.history()\
17        .channel('history_channel')\
18        .count(100)\
19        .start(start_tt)\
20        .pn_async(history_callback)
21

22get_all_messages(14759343456292767)

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Include timetoken in history response

1pubnub.history()\
2    .channel("my_channel")\
3    .count(100)\
4    .include_timetoken()
5    .sync()