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API changelog

This page documents changes to the Zulip Server API over time. See also the Zulip release lifecycle for background on why this API changelog is important, and the Zulip server changelog.

The API feature levels system used in this changelog is designed to make it possible to write API clients, such as the Zulip mobile and terminal apps, that work with a wide range of Zulip server versions. Every change to the Zulip API is recorded briefly here and with full details in Changes entries in the API documentation for the modified endpoint(s).

When using an API endpoint whose behavior has changed, Zulip API clients should check the zulip_feature_level field, present in the GET /server_settings and POST /register responses, to determine the API format used by the Zulip server that they are interacting with.

Changes in Zulip 10.0

Feature level 327

Feature level 326

  • POST /register: Removed allow_owners_group field from configuration data object of permission settings passed in server_supported_permission_settings.
  • POST /register: Removed id_field_name field from configuration data object of permission settings passed in server_supported_permission_settings.

Feature level 325

Feature level 324

Feature level 323

Feature level 322

Feature level 321

  • PATCH /realm, GET /events, POST /register: Added can_invite_users_group realm setting which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to send email invitations for inviting other users to the organization.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed invite_to_realm_policy property, as the permission to send email invitations for inviting other users to the organization is now controlled by can_invite_users_group setting.

Feature level 320

Feature level 319

Feature level 318

  • POST /register: Updated realm_incoming_webhook_bots with a new config_options key, defining which options should be offered when creating URLs for this integration.

Feature level 317

  • POST /user_groups/create: Added group_id to the success response of the user group creation endpoint, enabling clients to easily access the unique identifier of the newly created user group.

Feature level 316

  • PATCH /realm, GET /events, POST /register: Added can_move_messages_between_topics_group realm setting which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to move messages from one topic to another within a channel in the organization.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed edit_topic_policy property, as the permission to move messages between topics in the organization is now controlled by can_move_messages_between_topics_group setting.

Feature level 315

Feature level 314

Feature level 313

Feature level 312

  • GET /events: Added realm_export_consent event type to allow realm administrators to view which users have consented to export their private data as part of a realm export.

Feature level 311

Feature level 310

  • PATCH /realm, GET /events, POST /register: Added can_move_messages_between_channels_group realm setting which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to move messages from one channel to another in the organization.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed move_messages_between_streams_policy property, as the permission to move messages between channels in the organization is now controlled by can_move_messages_between_channels_group setting.

Feature level 309

  • Group-setting values: Starting with this feature level, it's now possible to use group-setting values in production for those settings whose value is not required to be a system group

Feature level 308

Feature level 307

  • PATCH /realm, GET /events, POST /register: Added can_add_custom_emoji_group realm setting which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to add custom emoji in the organization.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed add_custom_emoji_policy property, as the permission to add custom emoji in the organization is now controlled by can_add_custom_emoji_group setting.

Feature level 306

  • GET /events: Removed the extra_data optional field from the realm/update event format, which was only used for plan_type events, with a single upload_quota field. Now, we use a standard realm/update_dict event to notify clients about changes in plan_type and other fields that atomically change with a given change in plan.
  • GET /events: Added max_file_upload_size_mib field to the data object in realm/update_dict event format; previously, this was a constant. Note that the field does not have a realm_ prefix in the POST /register response.

Feature level 305

  • POST /register, GET /events, GET /user_groups: Add can_add_members_group to user group objects.
  • POST /user_groups/create: Added can_add_members_group parameter to support setting the user group which can add members to the user group.
  • PATCH /user_groups/{user_group_id}: Added can_add_members_group parameter to support changing the user group which can add members to the specified user group.
  • The can_manage_all_groups permission now has the natural semantics of applying to all groups, regardless of the role of the user given this permission. Since its introduction in feature level 299, can_manage_all_groups had temporarily had unusual semantics matching those of the originaluser_group_edit_policy setting.

Feature level 304

  • GET /export/realm, GET /events: Added export_type field to the dictionaries in exports array. It indicates whether the export is of public data or full data with user consent (standard export).

  • POST /export/realm: Added export_type parameter to add support for admins to decide whether to create a public or a standard data export.

Feature level 303

  • POST /register, GET /user_groups, GET /user_groups/{user_group_id}/members/{user_id}, GET /user_groups/{user_group_id}/members: Deactivated users are no longer returned as members of the user groups that they were members of prior to deactivation.
  • POST /register: Settings, represented as group-setting value, will never include deactivated users in the direct_members list for settings whose value is an anonymous group.
  • POST /user_groups/{user_group_id}/members: Deactivated users cannot be added or removed from a user group; they are now implicitly not members of any groups while deactivated.
  • GET /events: User reactivation event is not sent to users who cannot access the reactivated user anymore due to a can_access_all_users_group policy.
  • GET /events: The server will now send user_group events with the add_members/remove_members operations as appropriate when deactivating or reactivating a user, to ensure client state correctly reflects groups never containing deactivated users.
  • GET /events: To ensure that group-setting values are correct, realm/update_dict and user_group/update events may now be by sent by the server when processing a deactivation/reactivation of a user, to ensure client state correctly reflects the state, given that deactivated users cannot have permissions in an organization.

Feature level 302

  • GET /users/{email}: Changed the email values by which users can successfully be looked up to match the user email visibility setting's semantics better.

Feature level 301

Feature level 300

  • GET /messages: Added a new message_ids parameter, as an alternative method of specifying which messages to fetch.

Feature level 299

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added can_create_groups realm setting, which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to create user groups.
  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added can_manage_all_groups realm setting, which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to manage all user groups.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed user_group_edit_policy property, as the permission to create user groups is now controlled by can_create_groups setting and permission to manage groups in now controlled by can_manage_all_groups setting.
  • POST /register: user_group_edit_policy field is deprecated, having been replaced by can_create_groups for user group creation and can_manage_all_groups for user group management.

Feature level 298

  • POST /user_groups/{user_group_id}/deactivate: Server now returns a specific error response ("code": CANNOT_DEACTIVATE_GROUP_IN_USE) when a user group cannot be deactivated because it is in use. The error response contains details about where the user group is being used.

Feature level 297

Feature level 296:

Feature level 295

  • GET /export/realm/consents: Added a new endpoint to fetch the consents of users for their private data exports.
  • /api/v1/tus is an endpoint implementing the tus protocol for resumable uploads. Clients which send authenticated credentials (either via browser-based cookies, or API key via Authorization header) may use this endpoint to create uploads, similar to POST /user_uploads.

Feature level 294

  • POST /register: Clients that do not support the include_deactivated_groups client capability do not receive deactivated user groups in the response.
  • GET /events: Clients that do not support the include_deactivated_groups client capability receive remove event on user group deactivation instead of update event.
  • GET /events: Clients that do not support the include_deactivated_groups client capability do not receive update event when name of a deactivated user group is updated.
  • GET /user_groups: Renamed allow_deactivated parameter to include_deactivated_groups.
  • DELETE /user_groups/{user_group_id}: Removed support for user group deletion as we now support deactivating user groups.

Feature level 293

  • POST /register, PATCH /settings: Added a new allow_private_data_export setting to allow users to decide whether to let administrators export their private data.

Feature level 292

Feature level 291

  • PATCH /realm, GET /events, POST /register: Added can_delete_own_message_group realm setting which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to delete the messages that they have sent in the organization.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed delete_own_message_policy property, as the permission to delete own messages is now controlled by can_delete_own_message_group setting.

Feature level 290

Feature level 289

Feature level 288

  • POST /register: A new presence_history_limit_days parameter can be given, instructing the server to only fetch presence data more recent than the given number of days ago.
  • POST /users/me/presence: A new history_limit_days parameter can be given, with the same meaning as in the presence_history_limit_days parameter of POST /register above.

Feature level 287

  • Markdown message formatting: Added data-original-dimensions attributes to placeholder images (image-loading-placeholder), containing the dimensions of the original image. This change was also backported to the Zulip 9.x series, at feature level 278.

Feature level 286

  • POST /user_uploads: Added filename field to the response, which is closer to the original filename than the basename of the url field in the response.

Feature level 285

  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: Added detached_uploads to the response, indicating which uploaded files are now only accessible via message edit history.

Feature level 284

Feature level 283

Feature level 282

  • POST users/me/tutorial_status: Removed this undocumented endpoint, as the state that it maintained has been replaced by a cleaner onboarding_steps implementation.

Feature level 281

Feature level 280

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added can_create_web_public_channel_group realm setting, which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to create web-public channels.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed create_web_public_stream_policy property, as the permission to create web-public channels is now controlled by can_create_web_public_channel_group setting.
  • POST /register: realm_create_web_public_stream_policy field is deprecated, having been replaced by can_create_web_public_channel_group. Notably, this backwards-compatible realm_create_web_public_stream_policy value now contains the superset of the true value that best approximates the actual permission setting.

Feature levels 278-279 are reserved for future use in 9.x maintenance releases.

Changes in Zulip 9.0

Feature level 278

  • Markdown message formatting: Added data-original-dimensions attributes to placeholder images (image-loading-placeholder), containing the dimensions of the original image. Backported change from feature level 287.

Feature level 277

No changes; feature level used for Zulip 9.0 release.

Feature level 276

  • Markdown message formatting: Image preview elements not contain a data-original-dimensions attribute containing the dimensions of the original image.

Feature level 275

Feature level 274

  • GET /events: delete_message events are now always sent to the user who deletes the message, even if the message was in a channel that the user was not subscribed to.

Feature level 273

  • POST /register: Added server_thumbnail_formats describing what formats the server will thumbnail images into.

Feature level 272

  • POST /user_uploads: uri was renamed to url, but remains available as a deprecated alias for backwards-compatibility.

Feature level 271

Feature level 270

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added two new realm settings, direct_message_initiator_group, which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to initiate direct message thread, and direct_message_permission_group, which is a group-setting value describing the set of users of which at least one member must be included as sender or recipient in all personal and group direct messages. Removed private_message_policy property, as the permission to send direct messages is now controlled by direct_message_initiator_group and direct_message_permission_group settings.

Feature level 269

Feature level 268

Feature level 267

  • GET /invites,POST /invites: Added notify_referrer_on_join parameter, indicating whether the referrer has opted to receive a direct message from the notification bot whenever a user joins via this invitation.

Feature level 266

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added can_create_private_channel_group realm setting, which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to create private channels.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed create_private_stream_policy property, as the permission to create private channels is now controlled by can_create_private_channel_group setting.
  • POST /register: realm_create_private_stream_policy field is deprecated, having been replaced by can_create_private_channel_group. Notably, this backwards-compatible realm_create_private_stream_policy value now contains the superset of the true value that best approximates the actual permission setting.

Feature level 265

Feature level 264

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added can_create_public_channel_group realm setting, which is a group-setting value describing the set of users with permission to create channels.
  • PATCH /realm, GET /events: Removed create_public_stream_policy property, as the permission to create public channels is now controlled by can_create_public_channel_group setting.
  • POST /register: realm_create_public_stream_policy field is deprecated, having been replaced by can_create_public_channel_group. Notably, this backwards-compatible realm_create_public_stream_policy value now contains the superset of the true value that best approximates the actual permission setting.

Feature level 263

  • POST /users/me/presence: A new last_update_id parameter can be given, instructing the server to only fetch presence data with last_update_id greater than the value provided. The server also provides a presence_last_update_id field in the response, which tells the client the greatest last_update_id of the fetched presence data. This can then be used as the value in the aforementioned parameter to avoid re-fetching of already known data when polling the endpoint next time. Additionally, the client specifying the last_update_id implies it uses the modern API format, so slim_presence=true will be assumed by the server.

  • POST /register: The response now also includes a presence_last_update_id field, with the same meaning as described above for /users/me/presence. In the same way, the retrieved value can be passed when querying /users/me/presence to avoid re-fetching of already known data.

Feature level 262

Feature level 261

  • POST /invites, POST /invites/multiuse: Added include_realm_default_subscriptions parameter to indicate whether the newly created user will be automatically subscribed to default channels in the organization. Previously, the default channel IDs needed to be included in the stream_ids parameter. This also allows a newly created user to be automatically subscribed to the default channels in an organization when the user creating the invitation does not generally have permission to subscribe other users to channels.

Feature level 260

Feature level 259

  • POST /register, GET /events: For the onboarding_steps event type, an array of onboarding steps to be displayed to clients is sent. Onboarding step now has one-time notices as the only valid type. Prior to this, both hotspots and one-time notices were valid types of onboarding steps. There is no compatibility support, as we expect that only official Zulip clients will interact with this data. Currently, no client other than the Zulip web app uses this.

Feature level 258

Feature level 257

  • POST /register, POST /server_settings, PATCH /realm: realm_uri was renamed to realm_url, but remains available as a deprecated alias for backwards-compatibility.
  • Mobile push notification payloads, similarly, have a new realm_url, replacing realm_uri, which remains available as a deprecated alias for backwards-compatibility.

Feature level 256

Feature level 255

  • "Stream" was renamed to "Channel" across strings in the Zulip API and UI. Clients supporting a range of server versions are encouraged to use different strings based on the server's API feature level for consistency. Note that feature level marks the strings transition only: Actual API changes related to this transition have their own API changelog entries.

Feature level 254

Feature level 253

Feature level 252

  • PATCH /realm/profile_fields/{field_id}: name, hint, display_in_profile_summary, required and field_data fields are now optional during an update. Previously we required the clients to populate the fields in the PATCH request even if there was no change to those fields' values.

Feature level 251

  • POST /register: Fixed realm_upload_quota_mib value to actually be in MiB. Until now the value was in bytes.

Feature level 250

Feature level 249

Feature level 248

Feature level 247

Feature level 246

Feature level 245

Feature level 244

Feature level 243

  • POST /register, GET /events: Changed the format of realm_authentication_methods and authentication_methods, respectively, to use a dictionary rather than a boolean as the value for each authentication method. The new dictionaries are more extensively and contain fields indicating whether the backend is unavailable to the current realm due to Zulip Cloud plan restrictions or any other reason.

Feature level 242

  • POST /register, POST /events, PATCH /realm: Added zulip_update_announcements_stream_id realm setting, which is the ID of the of the stream to which automated messages announcing new features or other end-user updates about the Zulip software are sent.

Feature level 241

  • POST /register, POST /events, PATCH /realm: Renamed the realm settings notifications_stream and signup_notifications_stream to new_stream_announcements_stream and signup_announcements_stream, respectively.

Feature level 240

  • GET /events: The restart event no longer contains an optional immediate flag.
  • GET /events: A new web_reload_client event has been added; it is used to signal to website-based clients that they should reload their code. This was previously implied by the restart event.

Feature levels 238-239 are reserved for future use in 8.x maintenance releases.

Changes in Zulip 8.0

Feature level 237

No changes; feature level used for Zulip 8.0 release.

Feature level 236

  • POST /messages, POST /scheduled_messages: The new read_by_sender parameter lets the client override the heuristic that determines whether the new message will be initially marked read by its sender.

Feature level 235

Feature level 234

  • Mobile push notifications now include a realm_name field.
  • POST /mobile_push/test_notification now sends a test notification with test rather than test-by-device-token in the event field.

Feature level 233

  • POST /register, GET /events: Renamed the hotspots event type and the related hotspots object array to onboarding_steps. These are sent to clients if there are onboarding steps to display to the user. Onboarding steps now include both hotspots and one-time notices. Prior to this, hotspots were the only type of onboarding step. Also, added a type field to the objects returned in the renamed onboarding_steps array to distinguish between the two types of onboarding steps.

  • POST /users/me/onboarding_steps: Added a new endpoint, which deprecates the /users/me/hotspots endpoint, in order to support displaying both one-time notices (which highlight new features for existing users) and hotspots (which are used in new user tutorials). This endpoint marks both types of onboarding steps, i.e. hotspot and one_time_notice, as read by the user. There is no compatibility support for /users/me/hotspots as no client other than the Zulip web app used the endpoint prior to these changes.

Feature level 232

  • POST /register: Added a new user_list_incomplete client capability controlling whether realm_users contains "Unknown user" placeholder objects for users that the current user cannot access due to a can_access_all_users_group policy.

  • GET /events: The new user_list_incomplete client capability controls whether to send realm_user events with op: "add" containing "Unknown user" placeholder objects to clients when a new user is created that the client does not have access to due to a can_access_all_users_group policy.

Feature level 231

  • POST /register: realm_push_notifications_enabled now represents more accurately whether push notifications are actually enabled via the mobile push notifications service. Added realm_push_notifications_enabled_end_timestamp field to realm data.

  • GET /events: A realm update event is now sent whenever push_notifications_enabled or push_notifications_enabled_end_timestamp changes.

Feature level 230

  • POST /register, GET /events: Added has_trigger field to objects returned in the hotspots array to identify if the hotspot will activate only when some specific event occurs.

Feature level 229

  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}, POST /messages: Topic wildcard mentions involving large numbers of participants are now restricted by wildcard_mention_policy. The server now uses the STREAM_WILDCARD_MENTION_NOT_ALLOWED and TOPIC_WILDCARD_MENTION_NOT_ALLOWED error codes when a message is rejected because of wildcard_mention_policy.

Feature level 228

  • GET /events: realm_user events with op: "update" are now only sent to users who can access the modified user.

  • GET /events: presence events are now only sent to users who can access the user who comes back online if the CAN_ACCESS_ALL_USERS_GROUP_LIMITS_PRESENCE server setting is set to true.

  • GET /events: user_status events are now only sent to users who can access the modified user.

  • GET /realm/presence: The endpoint now returns presence information of accessible users only if the CAN_ACCESS_ALL_USERS_GROUP_LIMITS_PRESENCE server setting is set to true.

  • GET /events: realm_user events with op: "add" are now also sent when a guest user gains access to a user.

  • GET /events: realm_user events with op: "remove" are now also sent when a guest user loses access to a user.

Feature level 227

  • PATCH /realm/user_settings_defaults, POST /register, PATCH /settings: Added DMs, mentions, and followed topics option for desktop_icon_count_display setting, and renumbered the options. The total unread count of DMs, mentions, and followed topics appears in desktop sidebar and browser tab when this option is configured.

Feature level 226

Feature level 225

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added can_access_all_users_group_id realm setting, which is the ID of the user group whose members can access all the users in the oragnization.

  • POST /register: Added allowed_system_groups field to configuration data object of permission settings passed in server_supported_permission_settings.

Feature level 224

Feature level 223

  • POST /users/me/apns_device_token: The appid parameter is now required. Previously it defaulted to the server setting ZULIP_IOS_APP_ID, defaulting to "org.zulip.Zulip".

  • POST /remotes/server/register: The ios_app_id parameter is now required when kind is 1, i.e. when registering an APNs token. Previously it was ignored, and the push bouncer effectively assumed its value was the server setting APNS_TOPIC, defaulting to "org.zulip.Zulip".

Feature level 222

  • GET /events: When a user is deactivated or reactivated, the server uses realm_user events with op: "update" updating the is_active field, instead of realm_user events with op: "remove" and op: "add", respectively.

  • GET /events: When a bot is deactivated or reactivated, the server sends realm_bot events with op: "update" updating the is_active field, instead of realm_bot events with op: "remove" and op: "add", respectively.

Feature level 221

  • POST /register: Added server_supported_permission_settings field in the response which contains configuration data for various permission settings.

Feature level 220

  • GET /events: Stream creation events for web-public streams are now sent to all guest users in the organization as well.

  • GET /events: The subscription events for op: "peer_add" and op: "peer_remove" are now sent to subscribed guest users for public streams and to all the guest users for web-public streams; previously, they incorrectly only received these for private streams.

Feature level 219

Feature level 218

  • POST /messages: Added an optional automatic_new_visibility_policy enum field in the success response to indicate the new visibility policy value due to the visibility policy settings during the send message action.

Feature level 217

Feature level 216

  • PATCH /realm, POST register, GET /events: Added enable_guest_user_indicator setting to control whether "(guest)" is added to user names in UI.

Feature level 215

  • GET /events: Replaced the value private with direct in the message_type field for the typing events sent when a user starts or stops typing a message.

  • POST /typing: Stopped supporting private as a valid value for the type parameter.

  • POST /typing: Stopped using the to parameter for the "stream" type. Previously, in the case of the "stream" type, it accepted a single-element list containing the ID of the stream. Added an optional parameter, stream_id. Now, to is used only for "direct" type. In the case of "stream" type, stream_id and topic are used.

  • Note that stream typing notifications were not enabled in any Zulip client prior to feature level 215.

Feature level 214

  • PATCH /realm/user_settings_defaults, POST /register, PATCH /settings: Added two new user settings, automatically_follow_topics_policy and automatically_unmute_topics_in_muted_streams_policy. The settings control the user's preference on which topics the user will automatically 'follow' and 'unmute in muted streams' respectively.

Feature level 213

  • POST /register: Fixed incorrect handling of unmuted and followed topics in calculating the mentions and count fields of the unread_msgs object.

Feature level 212

  • GET /events, POST /register, PATCH /realm: Added the jitsi_server_url field to the realm object, allowing organizations to set a custom Jitsi Meet server. Previously, this was only available as a server-level configuration.

  • POST /register: Added server_jitsi_server_url fields to the realm object. The existing jitsi_server_url will now be calculated as realm_jitsi_server_url || server_jitsi_server_url.

Feature level 211

  • POST /streams/{stream_id}/delete_topic, POST /mark_all_as_read: Added a complete boolean field in the success response to indicate whether all or only some of the targeted messages were processed. This replaces the use of "result": "partially_completed" (introduced in feature levels 154 and 153), so that these endpoints now send a result string of either "success" or "error", like the rest of the Zulip API.

Feature level 210

Feature level 209

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added create_multiuse_invite_group realm setting, which is the ID of the user group whose members can create reusable invitation links to an organization. Previously, only admin users could create these links.

  • POST /invites/multiuse: Non-admin users can now use this endpoint to create reusable invitation links. Previously, this endpoint was restricted to admin users only.

  • GET /invites: Endpoint response for non-admin users now includes both email invitations and reusable invitation links that they have created. Previously, non-admin users could only create email invitations, and therefore the response did not include reusable invitation links for these users.

  • DELETE /invites/multiuse/{invite_id}: Non-admin users can now revoke reusable invitation links they have created. Previously, only admin users could create and revoke reusable invitation links.

  • GET /events: When the set of invitations in an organization changes, an invites_changed event is now sent to the creator of the changed invitation, as well as all admin users. Previously, this event was only sent to admin users.

Feature level 208

  • POST /users/me/subscriptions, DELETE /users/me/subscriptions: These endpoints now return an HTTP status code of 400 with code: "BAD_REQUEST" in the error response when a user specified in the principals parameter is deactivated or does not exist. Previously, these endpoints returned an HTTP status code of 403 with code: "UNAUTHORIZED_PRINCIPAL" in the error response for these cases.

Feature level 207

  • POST /register: Added display_name and all_event_types fields to the realm_incoming_webhook_bots object.

Feature level 206

  • POST /calls/zoom/create: Added is_video_call parameter controlling whether to request a Zoom meeting that defaults to having video enabled.

Feature level 205

  • POST /register: streams field in the response now includes web-public streams as well.
  • GET /events: Events for stream creation and deletion are now sent to clients when a user gains or loses access to any streams due to a change in their role.
  • GET /events: The subscription events for op: "peer_add" are now sent to clients when a user gains access to a stream due to a change in their role.

Feature level 204

  • POST /register: Added server_typing_started_wait_period_milliseconds, server_typing_stopped_wait_period_milliseconds, and server_typing_started_expiry_period_milliseconds fields for clients to use when implementing typing notifications protocol.

Feature level 203

Feature level 202

Feature level 201

  • POST /zulip-outgoing-webhook: Renamed the notification trigger private_message to direct_message.

Feature level 200

  • PATCH /streams/{stream_id}: Added is_default_stream parameter to change whether the stream is a default stream for new users in the organization.
  • POST /users/me/subscriptions: Added is_default_stream parameter which determines whether any streams created by this request will be default streams for new users.

Feature level 199

Feature level 198

Feature level 197

Feature level 196

Feature level 195

  • GET /events, POST /register: The default_code_block_language realm setting is now consistently an empty string when no default pygments language code is set. Previously, the server had a bug that meant it might represent no default for this realm setting as either null or an empty string. Clients supporting older server versions should treat either value (null or "") as no default being set.

Feature level 194

Feature level 193

Feature level 192

  • GET /events: Stream creation events are now sent when guest users gain access to a public stream by being subscribed. Guest users previously only received these events when subscribed to private streams.

Feature level 191

Feature level 190

Feature level 189

  • PATCH /realm/user_settings_defaults, POST /register, PATCH /settings: Added new boolean user settings enable_followed_topic_email_notifications, enable_followed_topic_push_notifications, enable_followed_topic_wildcard_mentions_notify, enable_followed_topic_desktop_notifications and enable_followed_topic_audible_notifications to control whether a user receives email, push, wildcard mention, visual desktop and audible desktop notifications, respectively, for messages sent to followed topics.

Feature level 188

Feature levels 186-187 are reserved for future use in 7.x maintenance releases.

Changes in Zulip 7.0

Feature level 185

No changes; feature level used for Zulip 7.0 release.

Feature level 184

Feature level 183

  • POST /register: Removed the realm_community_topic_editing_limit_seconds property, which was no longer in use. The time limit for editing topics is controlled by the realm setting move_messages_within_stream_limit_seconds, see feature level 162.
  • GET /events: Removed the community_topic_editing_limit_seconds property from realm update_dict event documentation, because it was never returned as a changed property in this event and was only ever returned in the POST /register response.

Feature level 182

  • POST /export/realm: This endpoint now returns the ID of the data export object created by the request.

Feature level 181

  • GET /scheduled_messages, GET /events, POST /register: Added failed boolean field to scheduled message objects to indicate if the server tried to send the scheduled message and was unsuccessful. Clients that support unscheduling and editing scheduled messages should use this field to indicate to the user when a scheduled message failed to send at the appointed time.

Feature level 180

  • POST /invites: Added support for invitations specifying the empty list as the user's initial stream subscriptions. Previously, this returned an error. This change was also backported to Zulip 6.2, and is available at feature levels 157-158 as well.

Feature level 179

  • POST /scheduled_messages: Added new endpoint to create and edit scheduled messages.
  • GET /events: Added scheduled_messages events sent to clients when a user creates, edits or deletes scheduled messages.
  • POST /register: Added an optional scheduled_messages field to that includes all of the undelivered scheduled messages for the current user.

Feature level 178

Feature level 177

  • GET /messages, GET /messages/matches_narrow, POST /messages/flags/narrow, POST /register: Added support for three search/narrow filters related to direct messages: is:dm, dm and dm-including. The dm operator replaces and deprecates the pm-with operator. The is:dm filter replaces and deprecates the is:private filter. The dm-including operator replaces and deprecates the group-pm-with operator. Because existing Zulip messages may have links with these legacy filters, they are still supported for backwards-compatibility.

Feature level 176

  • POST /realm/filters, PATCH /realm/filters/<int:filter_id>: The url_format_string parameter is replaced by url_template. Linkifiers now only accept RFC 6570 compliant URL templates. The old URL format strings are no longer supported.
  • GET /events, POST /register: The url_format_string key in realm_linkifiers objects is replaced by url_template. For backwards-compatibility, clients that do not support the linkifier_url_template client capability will receive an empty realm_linkifiers array in the /register response and not receive realm_linkifiers events. Unconditionally, the deprecated realm_filters event type returns an empty array in the /register response and these events are no longer sent to clients.

Feature level 175

Feature level 174

  • POST /typing, POST /messages: Added "direct" as the preferred way to indicate a direct message for the type parameter, deprecating the original "private". While "private" is still supported for direct messages, clients are encouraged to use the modern convention with servers that support it, because support for "private" may eventually be removed.

Feature level 173

Feature level 172

  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: Topic editing restrictions now apply to stream messages without a topic.
  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: When users, other than organization administrators and moderators, use "propagate_mode": "change_all" to move messages that have passed the organization's time limit for updating a message's topic and/or stream, this endpoint now returns an error response ("code": "MOVE_MESSAGES_TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED").

Feature level 171

Feature level 170

Feature level 169

Feature level 168

Feature level 167

  • All REST API endpoints: Implemented ignored_parameters_unsupported as a possible return value in the JSON success response for all endpoints. This value is a array of any parameters that were sent in the request by the client that are not supported by the endpoint. Previously, unsupported parameters were silently ignored, except in the subset of endpoints which already supported this return value; see feature levels 111, 96 and 78.

Feature level 166

  • POST /messages: Eliminated the undocumented realm_str parameter. This parameter was already redundant due to it needing to match the realm of the user making the request, otherwise returning an authorization error. With this, the parameter is removed, meaning that if provided in the API request, it will be ignored.

Feature level 165

Feature level 164

  • POST /register: Added the server_presence_ping_interval_seconds and server_presence_offline_threshold_seconds fields for clients to use when implementing the presence system.

Feature level 163

Feature level 162

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Added two new realm settings move_messages_within_stream_limit_seconds and move_messages_between_streams_limit_seconds for organizations to configure time limits for editing topics and moving messages between streams.
  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: For users other than administrators and moderators, the time limit for editing topics is now controlled via the realm setting move_messages_within_stream_limit_seconds and the time limit for moving messages between streams is now controlled by the realm setting move_messages_between_streams_limit_seconds.

Feature level 161

  • POST /users/me/subscriptions, PATCH /streams/{stream_id}: Added can_remove_subscribers_group_id parameter to support setting and changing the user group whose members can remove other subscribers from the specified stream.
  • DELETE /users/me/subscriptions: Expanded the situations where users can use this endpoint to unsubscribe other users from a stream to include the case where the current user has access to the stream and is a member of the user group specified by the can_remove_subscribers_group_id for the stream.

Feature level 160

  • POST /api/v1/jwt/fetch_api_key: Added new endpoint to fetch API keys using JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication.
  • accounts/login/jwt/: Adjusted format of requests to undocumented, optional endpoint for JWT authentication log in support.

Feature level 159

  • PATCH /realm, POST /register, GET /events: Nobody added as an option for the realm settings edit_topic_policy and move_messages_between_streams_policy.
  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: Permission to edit the stream and/or topic of messages no longer depends on the realm setting allow_message_editing.
  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: The user who sent the message can no longer edit the message's topic indefinitely.

Feature level 158 is reserved for future use in 6.x maintenance releases.

Changes in Zulip 6.2

Feature level 157

  • POST /invites: Added support for invitations specifying the empty list as the user's initial stream subscriptions. Previously, this returned an error. This change was backported from the Zulip 7.0 branch, and thus is available at feature levels 157-158 and 180+.

Changes in Zulip 6.0

Feature level 156

No changes; feature level used for Zulip 6.0 release.

Feature level 155

  • GET /messages: The new include_anchor parameter controls whether a message with ID matching the specified anchor should be included.
  • The update_message_flags event sent by POST /messages/flags no longer redundantly lists messages where the flag was set to the same state it was already in.
  • POST /messages/flags/narrow: This new endpoint allows updating message flags on a range of messages within a narrow.

Feature level 154

  • POST /streams/{stream_id}/delete_topic: When the process of deleting messages times out, but successfully deletes some messages in the topic (see feature level 147 for when this endpoint started deleting messages in batches), a success response with "result": "partially_completed" will now be returned by the server, analogically to the POST /mark_all_as_read endpoint (see feature level 153 entry below).

Feature level 153

  • POST /mark_all_as_read: Messages are now marked as read in batches, so that progress will be made even if the request times out because of an extremely large number of unread messages to process. Upon timeout, a success response with "result": "partially_completed" will be returned by the server.

Feature level 152

  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: The default value for send_notification_to_old_thread was changed from true to false. When moving a topic within a stream, the send_notification_to_old_thread and send_notification_to_new_thread parameters are now respected, and by default a notification is sent to the new thread.

Feature level 151

Feature level 150

  • GET /events: Separate events are now sent on changing allow_message_editing, message_content_edit_limit_seconds and edit_topic_policy settings, whereas previously one event was sent including all of these setting values irrespective of which of them were actually changed.
  • PATCH /realm: Only changed settings are included in the response data now when changing allow_message_editing, edit_topic_policy and message_content_edit_limit_seconds settings, instead of including all the fields even if one of these settings was changed.

Feature level 149

Feature level 148

  • POST /users/me/status, POST /register, GET /events: The user status away field/parameter is deprecated, and as of this feature level are a legacy way to access the user's presence_enabled setting, with away = !presence_enabled. To be removed in a future release.

Feature level 147

  • POST /streams/{stream_id}/delete_topic: Messages now are deleted in batches, starting from the newest, so that progress will be made even if the request times out because of an extremely large topic.

Feature level 146

Feature level 145

Feature level 144

Feature level 143

  • PATCH /realm: The disallow_disposable_email_addresses, emails_restricted_to_domains, invite_required, and waiting_period_threshold settings can no longer be changed by organization administrators who are not owners.
  • PATCH /realm/domains, POST /realm/domains, DELETE /realm/domains: Organization administrators who are not owners can no longer access these endpoints.

Feature level 142

Feature level 141

Feature level 140

  • POST /register: Added string field server_emoji_data_url to the response.

Feature level 139

  • GET /get-events: When a user mutes or unmutes their subscription to a stream, a subscription update event is now sent for the is_muted property and for the deprecated in_home_view property to support clients fully migrating to use the is_muted property. Prior to this feature level, only one event was sent to clients with the deprecated in_home_view property.

Feature level 138

  • POST /register, GET /events: message_content_edit_limit_seconds now represents no limit using null, instead of the integer 0.
  • PATCH /realm: One now sets message_content_edit_limit_seconds to no limit by passing the string unlimited, rather than the integer 0.

Feature level 137

Feature level 136

  • PATCH /streams/{stream_id}: The endpoint now returns an error for a request to make a public stream with protected history which was previously ignored silently.
  • PATCH /streams/{stream_id}: Added support to change access to history of the stream by only passing history_public_to_subscribers parameter without is_private and is_web_public parameters.

Feature level 135

  • DELETE /user/{user_id}: Added deactivation_notification_comment field controlling whether the user receives a notification email about their deactivation.

Feature level 134

  • GET /events: Added user_topic event type which is sent when a topic is muted or unmuted. This generalizes and replaces the previous muted_topics array, which will no longer be sent if user_topic was included in event_types when registering the queue.
  • POST /register: Added user_topics array to the response. This generalizes and replaces the previous muted_topics array, which will no longer be sent if user_topic is included in fetch_event_types.
  • GET /events: When private streams are made public, stream events for op: "create" and subscription events for op: "peer_add" are now sent to clients.

Feature level 133

Feature level 132

Feature level 131

Feature level 130

  • PATCH /bots/{bot_user_id}: Added support for changing a bot's role via this endpoint. Previously, this could only be done via PATCH /users/{user_id}.

Feature level 129

  • POST /register, GET /events, PATCH /realm: Added realm setting want_advertise_in_communities_directory for organizations to give permission to be advertised in the Zulip communities directory.

Feature level 128

Feature level 127

Feature level 126

Feature level 125

Feature levels 123-124 are reserved for future use in 5.x maintenance releases.

Changes in Zulip 5.0

Feature level 122

No changes; feature level used for Zulip 5.0 release.

Feature level 121

  • GET /events: Added message_details field appearing in message flag update events when marking previously read messages as unread.

Feature level 120

  • GET /messages/{message_id}: This endpoint now sends the full message details. Previously, it only returned the message's raw Markdown content.

Feature level 119

  • POST /register: Added other_user_id field to the pms objects in the unread_msgs data set, deprecating the less clearly named sender_id field. This change was motivated by the possibility that a one-on-one direct message sent by the current user to another user could be marked as unread. The sender_id field is still present for backwards compatibility with older server versions.

Feature level 118

  • GET /messages, GET /events: Improved the format of the edit_history object within message objects. Entries for stream edits now include a both a prev_stream and stream field to indicate the previous and current stream IDs. Prior to this feature level, only the prev_stream field was present. Entries for topic edits now include both a prev_topic and topic field to indicate the previous and current topic, replacing the prev_subject field. These changes substantially simplify client complexity for processing historical message edits.

  • GET /messages/{message_id}/history: Added stream field to message history snapshot indicating the updated stream ID of messages moved to a new stream.

Feature level 117

Feature level 116

  • GET /server_settings: Added realm_web_public_access_enabled as a realm-specific server setting, which can be used by clients to detect whether the realm allows and has at least one web-public stream.

Feature level 115

  • Mobile push notifications about stream messages now include the stream_id field.

Feature level 114

  • GET /events: Added rendering_only field to update_message event type to indicate if the message change only updated the rendering of the message or if it was the result of a user interaction.

  • GET /events: Updated update_message event type to always include edit_timestamp and user_id fields. If the event only updates the rendering of the message, then the user_id field will be present, but with a value of null as the update was not the result of a user interaction.

Feature level 113

  • GET /realm/emoji, POST /realm/emoji/{emoji_name}, GET /events, POST /register: The still_url field for custom emoji objects is now always present, with a value of null for non-animated emoji. Previously, it only was present for animated emoji.

Feature level 112

  • GET /events: Updated update_message event type to include stream_id field for all edits to stream messages.

Feature level 111

Feature level 110

  • POST /register: Added server_web_public_streams_enabled to the response.

Feature level 109

Feature level 108

  • In the mobile application authentication flow, the authenticated user's user_id is now included in the parameters encoded in the final zulip:// redirect URL.

Feature level 107

Feature level 106

Feature level 105

Feature level 104

  • PATCH /realm: Added string_id parameter for changing an organization's subdomain. Currently, this is only allowed for changing a demo organization to a normal one.

Feature level 103

  • POST /register: Added create_web_public_stream_policy policy for which users can create web-public streams.
  • GET /events, PATCH /realm: Added support for updating create_web_public_stream_policy.
  • POST /register: Added can_create_web_public_streams boolean field to the response.

Feature level 102

  • POST /register, PATCH /realm: The create_stream_policy setting was split into two settings for different types of streams: create_private_stream_policy and create_public_stream_policy.
  • POST /register: The create_stream_policy property was deprecated in favor of the create_private_stream_policy and create_public_stream_policy properties, but it still available for backwards-compatibility.

Feature level 101

  • POST /register, PATCH /realm: Replaced the allow_message_deleting boolean field with an integer field delete_own_message_policy defining which roles can delete messages they had sent.

Feature level 100

  • POST /register, GET /events: message_content_delete_limit_seconds now represents no limit using null, instead of the integer 0, and 0 is no longer a possible value with any meaning.
  • PATCH /realm: One now sets message_content_delete_limit_seconds to no limit by passing the string unlimited, rather than the integer 0.

Feature level 99

  • PATCH /realm/user_settings_defaults, PATCH /realm: The default_twenty_four_hour_time parameter to PATCH /realm has been replaced by the twenty_four_hour_time parameter to PATCH /realm/user_settings_defaults, to match the new model for user preference defaults settings.

  • POST /register: Removed realm_default_twenty_four_hour_time from the response object. This value is now available in the twenty_four_hour_time field of the realm_user_settings_default object.

Feature level 98

Feature level 97

  • GET /realm/emoji, POST /realm/emoji/{emoji_name}, GET /events, POST /register: Custom emoji objects may now contain a still_url field, with the URL of a PNG still image version of the emoji. This field will only be present for animated emoji.

Feature level 96

Feature level 95

  • POST /register: Added realm_user_settings_defaults object, containing default values of personal user settings for new users in the realm.

  • GET /events: Added realm_user_settings_defaults event type, which is sent when the organization's configured default settings for new users change.

Feature level 94

  • POST /register: Added demo_organization_scheduled_deletion_date field to realm data.

Feature level 93

Feature level 92

Feature level 91

  • PATCH /realm, PATCH /streams/{stream_id}: These endpoints now accept "unlimited" for message_retention_days, replacing "forever" as the way to encode a retention policy where messages are not automatically deleted.

Feature level 90

  • POST /register: The unread_msgs section of the response no longer includes sender_ids in the streams dictionaries. These were removed because no clients were interested in using the data, which required substantial complexity to construct correctly.

Feature level 89

  • GET /events: Introduced the user_settings event type, unifying and replacing the previous update_display_settings and update_global_notifications event types. The legacy event types are still supported for backwards compatibility, but will be removed in a future release.
  • POST /register: Added user_settings field in the response, which is a dictionary containing all the user's personal settings. For backwards-compatibility, individual settings will still appear in the top-level response for clients don't support the user_settings_object client capability.
  • POST /register: Added the user_settings_object property to supported client_capabilities. When enabled, the server will not include a duplicate copy of personal settings in the top-level response.
  • GET /events: update_display_settings and update_global_notifications events now only sent to clients that did not include user_settings_object in their client_capabilities when the event queue was created.

Feature level 88

  • POST /register: Added zulip_merge_base field to the response.
  • GET /events: Added new zulip_merge_base field to the restart event.
  • GET /server_settings: Added zulip_merge_base to the responses which can be used to make "About Zulip" widgets in clients.

Feature level 87

  • PATCH /settings: Added a new enable_drafts_synchronization setting, which controls whether the syncing drafts between different clients is enabled.

  • GET /events, POST /register: Added new enable_drafts_synchronization setting under update_display_settings.

  • GET /drafts: Added new endpoint to fetch user's synced drafts from the server.

  • POST /drafts: Added new endpoint to create drafts when syncing has been enabled.

  • PATCH /drafts/{draft_id}: Added new endpoint to edit a draft already owned by the user.

  • DELETE /drafts/{draft_id}: Added new endpoint to delete a draft already owned by the user.

Feature level 86

  • GET /events: Added emoji_name, emoji_code, and reaction_type fields to user_status objects.
  • POST /register: Added emoji_name, emoji_code, and reaction_type fields to user_status objects.
  • POST /users/me/status: Added support for new emoji_name, emoji_code, and reaction_type parameters.

Feature level 85

  • POST /register, PATCH /realm: Replaced add_emoji_by_admins_only field with an integer field add_custom_emoji_policy.

Feature level 84

  • POST /register: The enter_sends setting is now sent when update_display_setting is present in fetch_event_types instead of realm_user.

Feature level 83

  • POST /register: The cross_realm_bots section of the response now uses the is_system_bot flag to indicate whether the bot is a system bot.

Feature level 82

  • PATCH /settings now accepts a new email_notifications_batching_period_seconds field for setting the time duration for which the server will collect email notifications before sending them.

Feature level 81

  • POST /users/me/enter-sends has been removed. The enter_sends setting is now edited using the normal PATCH /settings endpoint.

Feature level 80

  • PATCH /settings: The /settings/notifications and /settings/display endpoints were merged into the main /settings endpoint; now all personal settings should be edited using that single endpoint. The old URLs are preserved as deprecated aliases for backwards compatibility.

Feature level 79

  • GET /users/me/subscriptions: The subscribers field now returns user IDs if include_subscribers is passed. Previously, this endpoint returned user display email addresses in this field.
  • GET /streams/{stream_id}/members: This endpoint now returns user IDs. Previously, it returned display email addresses.

Feature level 78

  • PATCH /settings: Added ignored_parameters_unsupported field, which is a list of parameters that were ignored by the endpoint, to the response object.

  • PATCH /settings: Removed full_name and account_email fields from the response object.

Feature level 77

  • GET /events: Removed recipient_id and sender_id field in responses of delete_message event when message_type is private.

Feature level 76

  • POST /fetch_api_key, POST /dev_fetch_api_key: The HTTP status for authentication errors is now 401. These previously used the HTTP 403 error status.
  • Error handling: API requests that involve a deactivated user or organization now use the HTTP 401 error status. These previously used the HTTP 403 error status.
  • Error handling: All error responses now include a code key with a machine-readable string value. The default value for this key is "BAD_REQUEST" for general error responses.
  • Mobile push notifications now include the mentioned_user_group_id and mentioned_user_group_name fields when a user group containing the user is mentioned. Previously, these were indistinguishable from personal mentions (as both types have trigger="mention").

Feature level 75

  • POST /register, PATCH /realm: Replaced allow_community_topic_editing field with an integer field edit_topic_policy.

Feature level 74

  • POST /register: Added server_needs_upgrade and event_queue_longpoll_timeout_seconds field when fetching realm data.

Feature level 73

Feature level 72

  • POST /register: Renamed max_icon_file_size to max_icon_file_size_mib, realm_upload_quota to realm_upload_quota_mib and max_logo_file_size to max_logo_file_size_mib.

Feature level 71

  • GET /events: Added is_web_public field to stream events changing invite_only.

Feature level 70

  • POST /register: Added new top-level server_timestamp field when fetching presence data, to match the existing presence API.

Feature levels 66-69 are reserved for future use in 4.x maintenance releases.

Changes in Zulip 4.0

Feature level 65

No changes; feature level used for Zulip 4.0 release.

Feature level 64

  • PATCH /streams/{stream_id}: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameters new_name and description.
  • PATCH /settings/display: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameters default_view, emojiset and timezone.

Feature level 63

  • PATCH /settings/notifications: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameter notification_sound.
  • PATCH /settings/display: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameter default_language.
  • POST /users/me/tutorial_status: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameter status.
  • POST /realm/domains: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameter domain.
  • PATCH /default_stream_groups/{user_id}: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameters new_group_name and new_description.
  • POST /users/me/hotspots: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameter hotspot.

Feature level 62

  • Added moderators only option for wildcard_mention_policy.

Feature level 61

Feature level 60

  • POST /register: Added a new boolean field is_moderator, similar to the existing is_admin, is_owner and is_guest fields, to the response.
  • PATCH /users/{user_id}: Added support for changing a user's organization-level role to moderator.
  • API endpoints that return role values can now return 300, the encoding of the moderator role.

Feature level 59

Feature level 58

  • POST /register: Added the new stream_typing_notifications property to supported client_capabilities.
  • GET /events: Extended format for typing events to support typing notifications in stream messages. These new events are only sent to clients with client_capabilities showing support for stream_typing_notifications.
  • POST /typing: Added support for sending typing notifications for stream messages.

Feature level 57

Feature level 56

  • POST /register: Added a new setting move_messages_between_streams_policy for controlling who can move messages between streams.

Feature level 55

  • POST /register: Added realm_giphy_rating and giphy_rating_options fields.
  • PATCH /realm: Added giphy_rating parameter.

Feature level 54

  • GET /realm/filters has been removed and replace with GET /realm/linkifiers which returns the data in a cleaner dictionary format.
  • GET /events: Introduced new event type realm_linkifiers. The previous realm_filters event type is still supported for backwards compatibility, but will be removed in a future release.
  • POST /register: The response now supports a realm_linkifiers event type, containing the same data as the legacy realm_filters key, with a more extensible object format. The previous realm_filters event type is still supported for backwards compatibility, but will be removed in a future release. The legacy realm_filters key is deprecated but remains available for backwards compatibility.

Feature level 53

  • POST /register: Added max_topic_length and max_message_length, and renamed max_stream_name_length and max_stream_description_length to allow clients to transparently support these values changing in a future server version.

Feature level 52

  • PATCH /realm: Removed unnecessary JSON-encoding of string parameters name, description, default_language, and default_code_block_language.

Feature level 51

  • POST /register: Added a new boolean field can_invite_others_to_realm.

Feature level 50

  • POST /register: Replaced invite_by_admins_only field with an integer field invite_to_realm_policy.

Feature level 49

Feature level 48

Feature level 47

  • POST /register: Added a new giphy_api_key field, which is required to fetch GIFs using the GIPHY API.

Feature level 46

  • GET /messages and GET /events: The topic_links field now contains a list of dictionaries, rather than a list of strings.

Feature level 45

  • GET /events: Removed useless op field from custom_profile_fields events. These events contain the full set of configured custom_profile_fields for the organization regardless of what triggered the change.

Feature level 44

  • POST /register: extended the unread_msgs object to include old_unreads_missing, which indicates whether the server truncated the unread_msgs due to excessive total unread messages.

Feature level 43

Feature level 42

  • PATCH /settings/display: Added a new default_view setting allowing the user to set the default view.

Feature level 41

  • GET /events: Removed name field from update subscription events.

Feature level 40

  • GET /events: Removed email field from update subscription events.

Feature level 39

Feature level 38

  • POST /register: Increased realm_community_topic_editing_limit_seconds time limit value to 259200s (3 days).

Feature level 37

  • Consistently provide subscribers in stream data when clients register for subscriptions with include_subscribers, even if the user can't access subscribers.

Feature level 36

  • POST /users: Restricted access to organization administrators with the can_create_users permission.
  • Error handling: The code key will now be present in errors that are due to rate limits, with a value of "RATE_LIMIT_HIT".

Feature level 35

  • GET /events: The subscription events for peer_add and peer_remove now include user_ids and stream_ids arrays. Previously, these events included singular user_id and stream_id integers.

Feature level 34

  • POST /register: Added a new wildcard_mention_policy setting for controlling who can use wildcard mentions in large streams.

Feature level 33

  • Markdown message formatting: Code blocks now have a data-code-language attribute attached to the outer HTML div element, recording the programming language that was selected for syntax highlighting.

Feature level 32

  • GET /events: Added op field to update_message_flags events, deprecating the operation field (which has the same value). This removes an unintentional anomaly in the format of this event type.

Feature level 31

  • GET /users/me/subscriptions: Added a role field to Subscription objects representing whether the user is a stream administrator.

  • GET /events: Added role field to Subscription objects sent in subscriptions events.

Note that as of this feature level, stream administrators are a partially completed feature. In particular, it is impossible for a user to be a stream administrator at this feature level.

Feature level 30

Feature levels 28 and 29 are reserved for future use in 3.x bug fix releases.

Changes in Zulip 3.1

Feature level 27

  • POST /users: Removed short_name field from display_recipient array objects.

Feature level 26

  • GET /messages, GET /events: The sender_short_name field is no longer included in message objects returned by these endpoints.
  • GET /messages : Removed short_name field from display_recipient array objects.

Changes in Zulip 3.0

Feature level 25

No changes; feature level used for Zulip 3.0 release.

Feature level 24

  • Markdown message formatting: The rarely used !avatar() and !gravatar() markup syntax, which was never documented and had inconsistent syntax, was removed.

Feature level 23

  • GET/PUT/POST /users/me/pointer: Removed. Zulip 3.0 removes the pointer concept from Zulip; this legacy data structure was replaced by tracking unread messages and loading views centered on the first unread message.

Feature level 22

  • GET /attachments: The date when a message using the attachment was sent is now correctly encoded as date_sent, replacing the confusingly named name field. The date_sent and create_time fields of attachment objects are now encoded as integers; (previously the implementation could send floats incorrectly suggesting that microsecond precision is relevant).
  • GET /invites: Now encodes the user ID of the person who created the invitation as invited_by_user_id, replacing the previous ref field (which had that user's Zulip display email address).
  • POST /register: The encoding of an unlimited realm_message_retention_days in the response was changed from null to -1.

Feature level 21

  • PATCH /settings/display: Replaced the night_mode boolean with color_scheme as part of supporting automatic night theme detection.

Feature level 20

  • Added support for inviting users as organization owners to the invitation endpoints.

Feature level 19

  • GET /events: The subscription events for peer_add and peer_remove now identify the modified stream by the stream_id field, replacing the old name field.

Feature level 18

  • POST /register: Added user_avatar_url_field_optional to supported client_capabilities.

Feature level 17

Feature level 16

  • GET /users/me: Removed pointer from the response, as the "pointer" concept is being removed in Zulip.
  • Changed the rendered HTML markup for mentioning a time to use the <time> HTML tag. It is OK for clients to ignore the previous time mention markup, as the feature was not advertised before this change.

Feature level 15

Feature level 14

  • GET /users/me/subscriptions: Removed the is_old_stream field from Stream objects. This field was always equivalent to stream_weekly_traffic != null on the same object.

Feature level 13

  • POST /register: Added bulk_message_deletion to supported client_capabilities.
  • GET /events: delete_message events have new behavior. The sender and sender_id fields were removed, and the message_id field was replaced by a message_ids list for clients with the bulk_message_deletion client capability. All clients should upgrade; we expect bulk_message_deletion to be required in the future.

Feature level 12

Feature level 11

  • POST /register: Added realm_community_topic_editing_limit_seconds to the response, the time limit before community topic editing is forbidden. A null value means no limit. This was previously hard-coded in the server as 86400 seconds (1 day).
  • POST /register: The response now contains an is_owner boolean field, which is similar to the existing is_admin and is_guest fields.
  • POST /typing: Removed legacy support for sending email addresses in the to parameter, rather than user IDs, to encode direct message recipients.

Feature level 10

  • GET /users/me: Added avatar_version, is_guest, is_active, timezone, and date_joined fields to the User objects.
  • GET /users/me: Removed client_id and short_name from the response to this endpoint. These fields had no purpose and were inconsistent with other API responses describing users.

Feature level 9

Feature level 8

Feature level 7

  • GET /events: realm_user and realm_bot events no longer contain an email field to identify the user; use the user_id field instead. Previously, some (but not all) events of these types contained an email key in addition to to user_id) for identifying the modified user.
  • PATCH /users/{user_id}: The is_admin and is_guest parameters were removed in favor of the more general role parameter for specifying a change in user role.
  • GET /events: realm_user events sent when a user's role changes now include role property, instead of the previous is_guest or is_admin booleans.
  • GET /realm/emoji: The user who uploaded a given custom emoji is now indicated by an author_id field, replacing a previous author object that had unnecessary additional data.

Feature level 6

  • GET /events: realm_user events to update a user's avatar now include the avatar_version field, which is important for correctly refetching medium-size avatar images when the user's avatar changes.
  • GET /users and GET /users/{user_id}: User objects now contain the avatar_version field as well.

Feature level 5

  • GET /events: realm_bot events, sent when changes are made to bot users, now contain an integer-format owner_id field, replacing the owner field (which was an email address).

Feature level 4

  • jitsi_server_url, development_environment, server_generation, password_min_length, password_min_guesses, max_file_upload_size_mib, max_avatar_file_size_mib, server_inline_image_preview, server_inline_url_embed_preview, server_avatar_changes_disabled and server_name_changes_disabled fields are now available via POST /register to make them accessible to all the clients; they were only internally available to Zulip's web app prior to this.

Feature level 3

  • POST /register: zulip_version and zulip_feature_level are always returned in the endpoint response. Previously, they were only present if event_types included zulip_version.
  • Added new presence_enabled user notification setting; previously presence was always enabled.

Feature level 2

  • POST /messages/{message_id}/reactions: The reaction_type parameter is optional; the server will guess the reaction_type if it is not specified (checking custom emoji, then Unicode emoji for any with the provided name).
  • reactions objects returned by the API (both in GET /messages and in GET /events) now include the user who reacted in a top-level user_id field. The legacy user dictionary (which had inconsistent format between those two endpoints) is deprecated.

Feature level 1

  • PATCH /messages/{message_id}: Added the stream_id parameter to support moving messages between streams.
  • GET /messages, GET /events: Added prev_stream as a potential property of the edit_history object within message objects to indicate when a message was moved to another stream.
  • GET /messages/{message_id}/history: prev_stream is present in snapshot objects within message_history object when a message was moved to another stream.
  • GET /server_settings: Added zulip_feature_level, which can be used by clients to detect which of the features described in this changelog are supported.
  • POST /register: Added zulip_feature_level to the response if zulip_version is among the requested event_types.
  • GET /users: User objects for bots now contain a bot_owner_id, replacing the previous bot_owner field (which had the email address of the bot owner).
  • GET /users/{user_id}: New endpoint added to get a single user's details by the user's ID.
  • GET /messages: Add support for string-format values for the anchor parameter, deprecating and replacing the use_first_unread_anchor parameter.
  • GET /messages, GET /events: Message objects now use topic_links rather than subject_links to indicate links either present in the topic or generated by linkifiers applied to the topic.
  • GET /streams, POST /users/me/subscriptions, PATCH /streams/{stream_id}: Stream objects now have stream_post_policy enum for specifying who can post to the stream, deprecating and replacing the is_announcement_only boolean.
  • GET /user_uploads/{realm_id_str}/{filename}: New endpoint added for requesting a temporary URL for an uploaded file that does not require authentication to access (e.g., for passing from a Zulip desktop, mobile, or terminal app to the user's default browser).
  • POST /register, GET /events, PATCH /realm: Nobody added as an option for the realm setting email_address_visibility.
  • POST /register, GET /events, PATCH /realm: Added realm setting private_message_policy.
  • POST /register, GET /events: muted_topics array objects now are 3-item tuples that include the stream name, the topic name, and the time when the topic was muted. Previously, they were 2-item tuples and did not include the time when the topic was muted.
  • GET /server_settings: Added gitlab boolean to deprecated authentication_methods object.
  • POST /register, GET /events, PATCH /realm: None added as an option for the realm setting video_chat_provider to disable video call UI.

Changes in Zulip 2.1

  • POST /register: Added realm_default_external_accounts to endpoint response.
  • GET /messages: Added support for search/narrow options that use stream/user IDs to specify a message's sender, its stream, and/or its recipient(s).
  • GET /users: Added include_custom_profile_fields to request custom profile field data.
  • GET /users/me: Added avatar_url field, containing the user's avatar URL, to the response.
  • GET /users/me/subscriptions: Added include_subscribers parameter controlling whether data on the other subscribers is included. Previous behavior was to always send subscriber data.
  • GET /users/me/subscriptions: Stream-level notification settings like push_notifications were changed to be nullable boolean fields (true/false/null), with null meaning that the stream inherits the organization-level default. Previously, the only values were true/false. A client communicates support for this feature using client_capabilities.
  • GET /users/me/subscriptions: Added wildcard_mentions_notify notification setting, with the same global-plus-stream-level-override model as other notification settings.
  • GET /server_settings: Added external_authentication_methods structure, used to display login buttons nicely in the mobile apps.
  • Added first_message_id field to Stream objects. This is helpful for determining whether the stream has any messages older than a window cached in a client.
  • Added is_web_public field to Stream objects. This field is intended to support web-public streams.
  • GET /export/realm: Added endpoint for fetching public data exports. POST /export/realm: Added endpoint for triggering a public data export.
  • PATCH /realm: Added invite_to_stream_policy, create_stream_policy, digest_emails_enabled, digest_weekday, user_group_edit_policy, and avatar_changes_disabled organization settings.
  • Added fluid_layout_width, desktop_icon_count_display, and demote_inactive_streams display settings.
  • enable_stream_sounds was renamed to enable_stream_audible_notifications.
  • POST /users/me/subscriptions/properties: Deprecated in_home_view, replacing it with the more readable is_muted (with the opposite meaning).
  • Custom profile fields: Added EXTERNAL_ACCOUNT field type.

Changes in Zulip 2.0

  • PATCH /users/me/subscriptions/muted_topics: Added support for using stream IDs to specify the stream in which to mute/unmute a topic.
  • POST /messages: Added support for using user IDs and stream IDs for specifying the recipients of a message.
  • POST /messages, POST /messages/{message_id}: Added support for encoding topics using the topic parameter name. The previous subject parameter name was deprecated but is still supported for backwards-compatibility.
  • POST /typing: Added support for specifying the recipients with user IDs, deprecating the original API of specifying them using email addresses.

Changes not yet stabilized

  • POST /register: Added slim_presence parameter. Changes the format of presence events, but is still being changed and should not be used by clients.

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