Overview

In a Sendbird application, users can chat with other users by participating in open channels and joining group channels, and even moderate their channels as an operator. They are identified by their own unique ID, and may have a customized nickname and profile image. Using the API, you can manage various attributes and actions of a user.

User types

Users can chat with each other by participating in open channels and joining group channels. Depending on the channel type and the assigned role within the channel, users can be given different labels: participant, member, or operator. Users are identified by their own unique ID, and may have a customized nickname and profile image. Using Platform API, you can manage various attributes and actions of a user.

Type	Definition
User	Scope: Application Refers to someone who can access all chat features of a Sendbird application with their own unique ID but does not have administrative privileges.
Participant	Scope: Open channels Refers to a user who has entered an open channel without an invitation and is online in the channel. Open channel participants are provided with limited information only. As opposed to group channel members, relational information such as connection status, typing indicators, and read receipts are not provided to open channel participants. These participants can enter and exit the channel at all times.
Member	Scope: Group channels Refers to a user who has joined a group channel through either an invitation from a channel member or without an invitation depending on the channel's characteristics. Relational information such as connection status, typing indicators, and read receipts can be provided to group channel members depending on the channel settings.
Operator	Scope: Open channels and Group channels Refers to a user who can moderate participants or members with abnormal activities. Users must be assigned as a moderator to carry the role. Moderation tools includes mute, ban, freeze and block. Additionally, channel operators can also delete or update any messages sent in a channel.

Resource representation

The following table shows the list of properties in a user resource.

Name	Type	Description
user_id	string	A user's unique ID. The length is limited to 80 characters.
nickname	string	A user's nickname. The length is limited to 80 characters.
profile_url	string	The URL of a user's profile image. If left empty, no profile image is set for the user. The length is limited to 2,048 characters.
access_token	string	An opaque string that identifies the user. It is recommended that every user has their own access token and provides it upon login for security.
has_ever_logged_in	boolean	Indicates whether the user has ever logged into the application.
is_active	boolean	Indicates whether the user is active within the Sendbird application. * Monthly Active Users (MAU) isn't calculated based on this property.
role	string	A user's role in a channel. When the user is an operator, its value is set to `operator`. Otherwise, this field is empty.
joined_ts	int	The time the user joined the channel in Unix milliseconds format.
is_online	boolean	Indicates whether the user is connected to the Sendbird server.
discovery_keys[]	array of strings	An array of unique keys of the user, which is provided to Sendbird server when searching for friends. The unique key acts as an identifier for users' friends to find each other. The server uses discovery keys to identify and match the user with other users.
preferred_languages[]	array of strings	An array of one or more language codes to translate notification messages to preferred languages. Up to four languages can be set for the user. If messages are sent in one of the preferred languages, notification messages won't be translated. If messages are sent in a language other than the preferred languages, notification messages are translated into the first language in the array. Messages translated into other preferred languages are provided in the `sendbird` property of the notification message payload.
created_at	long	The time that the user was created in Unix seconds format.
last_seen_at	long	The time the user went offline in Unix milliseconds format to indicate when the user was last connected to the Sendbird server. If the user is online, the value is set as `0`. If the user is offline and there's no `last_seen_at` data, the value is set as `-1`. * This property isn't tracked by default. To start tracking `last_seen_at`, visit this page and contact us on Sendbird Dashboard.
metadata	nested object	A `JSON` object of one or more key-value items to store additional user information such as their preference settings. For more information, see the managing metadata page. * Do not use PII (Personally Identifiable Information) such as user email address, legal name, or phone number as it could jeopardize data security and privacy.
is_blocking_me	boolean	Indicates whether the listed user is blocking the user specified in the `user_id` parameter. *Only included in the `members[]` property when `user_id` is specified.
is_blocked_by_me	boolean	Indicates whether the listed user is blocked by the user specified in the `user_id` parameter. *Only included in the `members[]` property when `user_id` is specified.
~~session_tokens[]~~	list	(Deprecated) A list of information of session tokens that identifies the user session that has no validity after their own expiration time. Each of the items consists of two `session_token` and `expires_at` properties. The `session_token` is an opaque string and `expires_at` is a validation period of the session token. It is recommended that a new session token is periodically issued to every user, and provided upon the user's login for security.

Actions

The following table shows a list of actions supported for users. API endpoints are relative to the base URL allocated to your Sendbird application. The base URL for the following endpoints are https://api-{application_id}.sendbird.com/v3.

Note: If you want to know the ID and base URL of your application, go to Settings > Application > General on Sendbird Dashboard, and then check the Application ID and API request URL.

It's recommended that the parameter values, such as {user_id} and {channel_url}, in API URLs be urlencoded.

List of actions for managing users

Action	HTTP request
List users	`GET` /users Retrieves a list of users in your Sendbird application. You can query the list using various parameters.
Get a user	`GET` /users/{user_id} Retrieves information of a user.
Create a user	`POST` /users Creates a new user in the application. You can choose to authenticate the user with just their user ID, or with either an access token or a session token.
Update a user	`PUT` /users/{user_id} Updates information of a user.
Delete a user	`DELETE` /users/{user_id} Deletes a user.
Issue a session token	`POST` /users/{user_id}/token Issues a session token for a user.
Revoke all session tokens	`DELETE` /users/{user_id}/token Revokes all existing session tokens of a user with a single API call.

List of actions for operating users' channels

Action	HTTP request
List operators of an open channel	`GET` /open_channels/{channel_url}/operators Retrieves a list of operators of an open channel.
List operators of a group channel	`GET` /group_channels/{channel_url}/operators Retrieves a list of operators of a group channel.
List operators of a channel by a custom channel type	`GET` /settings_by_channel_custom_type/{custom_type}/operators Retrieves a list of operators of a channel with a specified custom channel type.
Register operators to an open channel	`POST` /open_channels/{channel_url}/operators Registers one or more operators to an open channel.
Register operators to a group channel	`POST` /group_channels/{channel_url}/operators Registers one or more operators to a group channel.
Register users as operators to a channel by a custom channel type	`POST` /applications/settings_by_channel_custom_type/{custom_type}/operators Registers one or more users as operators at once to a channel with a custom channel type.
Register a user as an operator to channels by custom channel types	`POST` /users/{user_id}/operating_channel_custom_types Registers a user as an operator to channels with custom channel types.
Unregister operators from an open channel	`DELETE` /open_channels/{channel_url}/operators Cancels the registration of operators in an open channel but leaves them as participants.
Unregister operators from a group channel	`DELETE` /group_channels/{channel_url}/operators Cancels the registration of operators in a group channel but leaves them as members.
Unregister operators from a channel by a custom channel type	`DELETE` /settings_by_channel_custom_type/{custom_type}/operators Cancels the registration of operators in channels with a specified custom channel type but leaves them in the channels.
List group channels by user	`GET` /users/{user_id}/my_group_channels Retrieves a list of the user's group channels.
Leave group channels	`PUT` /users/{user_id}/my_group_channels/leave Makes the user leave all group channels.
Get number of unread messages	`GET` /users/{user_id}/unread_message_count Retrieves the total number of a user’s unread messages in group channels.
Get number of unread items	`GET` /users/{user_id}/unread_item_count Retrieves a set of total number of a user's unread messages, unread mentioned messages, or received invitations in either Supergroup channels or non-Supergroup channels.
Get number of channels with unread messages	`GET` /users/{user_id}/unread_channel_count Retrieves the total number of group channels in which a user has unread messages.
Get count preference of a channel	`GET` /users/{user_id}/count_preference/{channel_url} Retrieves a user's count preference of a specific group channel.
Update count preference of a channel	`PUT` /users/{user_id}/count_preference/{channel_url} Updates a user's count preference of a specific group channel.
Get number of channels by join status	`GET` /users/{user_id}/group_channel_count Retrieves the number of group channels a user joined by join status.
Mark all of a user's messages as read	`PUT` /users/{user_id}/mark_as_read_all Marks all of a user’s unread messages as read in group channels.

List of actions for managing users' push notifications

Action	HTTP request
List registration or device tokens	`GET` /users/{user_id}/push/{token_type} Retrieves a list of a user's registration or device tokens.
Add a registration or device token	`POST` /users/{user_id}/push/{token_type} Adds a user's registration or device token to the Sendbird Server.
Remove a registration or device token	`DELETE` /users/{user_id}/push or .../push/{token_type}/{token} Removes a user's specific registration or device token or all tokens.
Get a registration or device token owner	`GET` /push/device_tokens/{token_type}/{token} Retrieves a user who owns a registration or device token.
Remove a registration or device token from an owner	`DELETE` /push/device_tokens/{token_type}/{token} Removes a registration or device token from a user who is the owner of the token.
Get push notification preferences	`GET` /users/{user_id}/push_preference Retrieves a user's push notification preferences.
Update push notification preferences	`PUT` /users/{user_id}/push_preference Updates a user's push notification preferences.
Reset push notification preferences	`DELETE` /users/{user_id}/push_preference Resets a user's push notification preferences.
Get push notification preferences for a channel	`GET` /users/{user_id}/push_preference/{channel_url} Retrieves a user's push notification preferences for a specific channel.
Update push notification preferences for a channel	`PUT` /users/{user_id}/push_preference/{channel_url} Updates a user's push notification preferences for a specific channel.
Choose a push notification content template	`PUT` /users/{user_id}/push/template Chooses a template for push notifications.

List of actions for managing user metadata

Action	HTTP request
Get metadata	`GET` /users/{user_id}/metadata or .../metadata/{key} Retrieves a specific item or all items of the metadata of a user.
Create metadata	`POST` /users/{user_id}/metadata Creates items to add to the metadata of a user.
Update metadata	`PUT` /users/{user_id}/metadata or .../metadata/{key} Updates existing items or adds new items to the metadata of a user.
Delete metadata	`DELETE` /users/{user_id}/metadata or .../metadata/{key} Deletes a specific item or all items of the metadata of a user.

On this page

User types Resource representation Actions