> [!NOTE] > **Note:** To poll for live chat messages, use the [`liveChatMessages.streamList`](https://developers.google.com/youtube/data/live/reference/rest/v3/liveChatMessages/streamList.md.txt) method. The `streamList` method pushes new messages to the client as they become available, which reduces the need for constant polling and helps to avoid exceeding your quota. Lists live chat messages for a specific chat. When you make your first request to retrieve chat messages, the API returns some or all of the chat history, depending on the length of that history. Messages in the response are ordered from oldest to newest. - The `nextPageToken` in the response provides a token that, in your next request, will identify the next set of results that your API client should retrieve. - The `pollingIntervalMillis` property indicates how long your API client should wait before requesting additional results. When you request additional results, you set the `pageToken` parameter to the `nextPageToken` value and the API server returns additional chat messages, if available. Again, within that result set, messages are ordered from oldest to newest. **Quota impact:** A call to this method has a [quota cost](https://developers.google.com/youtube/data/getting-started.md.txt#quota) of 5 units. ## Common use cases ## Request ### HTTP request ``` GET https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/liveChat/messages ``` ### Parameters The following table lists the parameters that this query supports. All of the parameters listed are query parameters. | Parameters || |---|---|---| | **Required parameters** ||| | `liveChatId` | `string` The `liveChatId` parameter specifies the ID of the chat whose messages will be returned. The live chat ID associated with a broadcast is returned in the `liveBroadcast` resource's `snippet.liveChatId` property. | | `part` | `string` The `part` parameter specifies the `liveChatMessage` resource parts that the API response will include. Supported values are `id`, `snippet`, and `authorDetails`. | | **Optional parameters** ||| | `hl` | `string` The `hl` parameter instructs the API to retrieve a localized currency display string for a specific [application language that the YouTube website supports](https://developers.google.com/youtube/data/reference/rest/v3/i18nLanguages.md.txt). For example, in English, currency would be displayed as `$1.50`, but in French, it would be displayed as `1,50$`. The parameter value must be a language code included in the list returned by the `i18nLanguages.list` method. | | `maxResults` | `unsigned integer` The `maxResults` parameter specifies the maximum number of messages that should be returned in the result set. Acceptable values are `200` to `2000`, inclusive. The default value is `500`. The initial request made without a continuation token will only contain the most recent messages. This may be smaller than `maxResults`, if it is provided. The API doesn't retrieve messages that are older than those returned by initial the request made without a continuation token. | | `pageToken` | `string` The `pageToken` parameter identifies a specific page in the result set that should be returned. In an API response, the `nextPageToken` property identify other pages that could be retrieved. | | `profileImageSize` | `unsigned integer` The `profileImageSize` parameter specifies the size of the [user profile pictures](https://developers.google.com/youtube/data/live/reference/rest/v3/liveChatMessages.md.txt#authorDetails.profileImageUrl) that should be returned in the result set. The images are square. The default value is `88`, meaning pictures will be 88px by 88px. Acceptable values are in the range `16` to `720`, inclusive. | ### Request body Don't provide a request body when calling this method. ## Response If successful, this method returns a response body with the following structure: ``` { "kind": "youtube#liveChatMessageListResponse", "etag": etag, "nextPageToken": string, "pollingIntervalMillis": unsigned integer, "offlineAt": datetime, "pageInfo": { "totalResults": integer, "resultsPerPage": integer }, "items": [ liveChatMessage Resource ], "activePollItem": liveChatMessage Resource } ``` ### Properties The following table defines the properties that appear in this resource: | Properties || |---|---| | `kind` | `string` Identifies the API resource's type. The value will be `youtube#liveChatMessageListResponse`. | | `etag` | `etag` The Etag of this resource. | | `nextPageToken` | `string` The token that can be used as the value of the `pageToken` parameter to retrieve the next page in the result set. | | `pollingIntervalMillis` | `unsigned integer` The amount of time, in milliseconds, that the client should wait before polling again for new live chat messages. | | `offlineAt` | `datetime` The date and time when the underlying livestream went offline. This property is only present if the stream is already offline. The value is specified in [ISO 8601](https://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime) (`YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sZ`) format. | | `pageInfo` | `object` The `pageInfo` object encapsulates paging information for the result set. | | `pageInfo.totalResults` | `integer` The total number of results in the result set. | | `pageInfo.resultsPerPage` | `integer` The number of results included in the API response. | | `items[]` | `list` A list of messages. Each item in the list is a `liveChatMessage` resource. | | `activePollItem` | `object` The poll data in the message. Each poll is a `liveChatMessage` resource with the type `pollEvent`, which represents an active poll. There can only be one poll per chat. | ## Errors The following table identifies error messages that the API could return in response to a call to this method. See the [error message](https://developers.google.com/youtube/data/live/reference/rest/v3/errors.md.txt) documentation for more detail. | Error type | Error detail | Description | |---|---|---| | `forbidden (403)` | `forbidden` | You don't have the permissions required to retrieve messages for the specified live chat. | | `forbidden (403)` | `liveChatDisabled` | Live chat is not enabled for the specified broadcast. | | `forbidden (403)` | `liveChatEnded` | The specified live chat is no longer live. | | `notFound (404)` | `liveChatNotFound` | The live chat that you are trying to retrieve cannot be found. Check the value of the request's `liveChatId` parameter to ensure that it is correct. | | `rateLimitExceeded` | `rateLimitExceeded` | The request was sent too quickly after the previous request. This error occurs when API requests to retrieve messages are being sent more frequently than YouTube's refresh rates, which unnecessarily wastes bandwidth. | ## Try it! Use the APIs Explorer to call this API and see the API request and response.