How to get the messages from the Graph API of the chat between a user and the app?

[jerbob92]

The conversation ID of chats like that start with a:. I can't fetch these messages from the Graph API with this ID.
How do I figure out the Chat ID? Or how do I use this ID to fetch the messages?

[lilyydu]

The a: prefix is a Bot Framework-internal format for personal scope conversations. The correct format is 19:...@thread.v2

To get the chat_id for a personal app, you can query the user's installed apps and then retrieve the messages for that chat. In our SDK, ctx.app_graph gives you a pre-configured Graph client so you don't need to manage tokens manually.

I just tested this with my local bot so it should work :)

async def get_conversation_id(token, user_id: str, app_id: str) -> str | None:
    graph = get_graph_client(token)

    query_params = InstalledAppsRequestBuilder.InstalledAppsRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters(
        expand=["teamsApp"],
    )
    request_config = RequestConfiguration(query_parameters=query_params)

    result = await graph.users.by_user_id(user_id).teamwork.installed_apps.get(
        request_configuration=request_config
    )

    if not result or not result.value:
        return None

    installation = next(
        (
            i for i in result.value
            if i.teams_app and (
                i.teams_app.id.lower() == app_id.lower()
                or (i.teams_app.external_id and i.teams_app.external_id.lower() == app_id.lower())
            )
        ),
        None,
    )
    if not installation:
        return None

    chat = await graph.users.by_user_id(user_id).teamwork.installed_apps.by_user_scope_teams_app_installation_id(installation.id).chat.get()
    return chat.id if chat else None

A few things to note:

• user_id — the AAD object ID of the user (ctx.activity.from_.aad_object_id)
• app_id — your Teams app's ID (os.getenv("TEAMS_APP_ID"))
• This does require the TeamsAppInstallation.ReadForUser and Chat.ReadBasic.All application permissions (configure on Azure)

[jerbob92]

@lilyydu Thanks a lot for the elaborate answer! This is kinda what I feared already, especially the Chat.ReadBasic.All, I can't get this scope added to the application because it's just too broad. It feels a bit odd to me that the application that the chat is with doesn't have direct access to these messages. I think I will just store the DM's serverside then.

[lilyydu]

@jerbob92 That's a fair point! I'll raise it to our product and backend teams and see if its possible to expose an endpoint or thelike. Will reopen this in the future if we're able to make progress in that space