Chatroom Overview
Chatroom provides a business model with no user limit and supports high-concurrency message processing, suitable for scenarios such as live streaming, communities, gaming, social networking, and interest discussions. Key points of the chatroom business are as follows:
- There is no limit to the number of chatrooms that can be created under an App Key, and there is no limit to the number of members in a single chatroom.
- Chatrooms have an auto-destruction mechanism. By default, all chatrooms will kick out all members and automatically destroy themselves after being inactive (no members joining or leaving and no new messages) for 1 hour. This duration can be extended or configured for scheduled auto-destruction. For details, refer to the server documentation Chatroom Destruction Mechanism.
- Chatrooms have an automatic exit mechanism for offline members. When the default preset conditions are met, the RC server will kick out chatroom members. For details, refer to [Exit Chatroom].
- Local messages in the chatroom will be deleted upon exiting the chatroom. Chat Premium Plan and Chat Ultimate Plan customers can choose to enable the Cloud Storage for Chatroom Messages feature to store messages on the RC server. Specific features and costs are subject to the Billing Instructions document.
- Chatrooms do not support the offline message to push notification feature. Only online chatroom members can receive chatroom messages.
Client UI Framework Reference Design
The chatroom product does not currently provide dedicated UI components for chatroom conversations. You can refer to the following UI framework design to understand the design approach for chatrooms.
- The Chatroom tab in the figure below shows the chatroom message list.
- The Chatroom Management window in the figure below demonstrates some of the capabilities supported by chatrooms, such as muting, banning, and allowlists.
Service Configuration
The client SDK supports chatrooms by default, and no application is required to enable it.
Some basic features and value-added services for chatrooms can be enabled and configured on the Basic features and Chat pricing plans pages in the Console.
Client SDK Usage Notes
Note that Global IM UIKit does not provide out-of-the-box UI components for chatroom conversations.
Chatroom Feature Interfaces
The chatroom session relationship is established and maintained by RC. The SDK provides some chatroom management interfaces such as joining and exiting. More chatroom management features require the use of the Instant Messaging server API. The table below describes the main functional interfaces of RC chatrooms.
| Feature Category | Description | Client API | RC Server API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create and Destroy Chatroom | Manually create or destroy a chatroom. Note: The client SDK does not have a separate API for creating chatrooms. The client does not provide an API for manually destroying chatrooms. | Not provided | Create Room, Destroy Room |
| Join and Exit Chatroom | Join an existing chatroom. Ensure the chatroom ID exists. Only the client provides APIs for joining and exiting chatrooms. Note: The client has deprecated interfaces that support creating a chatroom before joining if it does not exist, but this is no longer recommended. | [Join Chatroom], [Exit Chatroom] | Not provided |
| Query Chatroom and User Information |
| [Query Chatroom Info][get-chatroom-info-client] | [Query Room Info][get-chatroom-info-server] |
| Chatroom Keepalive | Add one or more chatrooms to the chatroom keepalive list. Chatrooms in the keepalive list will not be automatically destroyed by the RC server. | Not provided | Keepalive Room |
| Chatroom Attribute Management | Set custom attributes in a specified chatroom. For example, in a voice live chatroom scenario, use this feature to record the attributes of each mic position; or in card games like Werewolf, record user roles and game states. Chatroom attributes are stored in Key-Value pairs, supporting setting, deleting, and querying attributes, with batch and forced operations supported. | [Chatroom Attributes] | Attribute Management (KV) |
| Ban/Unban Chatroom User | Ban one or more chatroom members. Banned members will be kicked out of the specified chatroom and cannot re-enter the chatroom during the ban period. | Not provided | Member Ban |
| Chatroom User Allowlist | Available after enabling in the General Services section of the Chat pricing plans page. Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan can enable this service. Specific features and costs are subject to the Billing Instructions document. When a user is added to a chatroom's allowlist, their messages will not be discarded even if the chatroom has a high message volume; and the user will not be automatically kicked out of the chatroom by the RC server. | Not provided | Chatroom Allowlist Service |
| Send Chatroom Message | Send chatroom messages. | [Send Message][send-chatroom-msg-client] | [Send Chatroom Message][send-chatroom-msg-server] |
| Recall Chatroom Message | Recall chatroom messages. | [Recall Message][recall-msg-client] | [Message Recall][recall-msg-server] |
| Get Chatroom History Messages | Retrieve chatroom history messages. | [Get Chatroom History Messages][get-chatroom-history-msg-client] | [History Message Log][get-chatroom-history-msg-server] |
| Chatroom Low-Priority Messages | Available after enabling in the General Services section of the Chat pricing plans page. Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan can enable this service. Specific features and costs are subject to the Billing Instructions document. If a message type is in the low-priority message list, all messages of that type are considered low-priority. When the server is under high load, high-priority messages are retained first, while low-priority messages are discarded first. By default, all messages are high-priority. | Not provided | Chatroom Message Priority Service |
| Chatroom Message Allowlist | Available after enabling in the General Services section of the Chat pricing plans page. Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan can enable this service. Specific features and costs are subject to the Billing Instructions document. If a message type is in the chatroom message allowlist, all messages of that type are protected and will not be discarded even if the chatroom has a high message volume. | Not provided | Chatroom Allowlist Service |
| Mute Chatroom Member | Mute one or more members in a specified chatroom. Muted members can receive and view chatroom messages but cannot send messages to the chatroom. | Not provided | Mute a User |
| Mute All Members | Mute all members in a chatroom or cancel the mute status for all members in a specified chatroom. After setting mute for all group members, all members of the chatroom cannot send messages to the group via the client SDK. | Not provided | Mute All |
| Mute Exceptions | Add one or more group members to the chatroom's mute exceptions list. Members added to the allowlist can still send messages to the chatroom via the client SDK even if the chatroom is in a mute-all state. | Not provided | Mute All |
| Global Mute Chatroom Member | Available after enabling in the General Services section of the Chat pricing plans page. Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan can enable this service. Specific features and costs are subject to the Billing Instructions document. Add one or more users to the chatroom global mute list. Users in the list cannot send messages in all chatrooms under the application. | Not provided | Global Mute |
Differences Between Groups and Ultra Groups
You can understand the differences between business types and all features through the following documents: