Messages

Overview

The messages package models received messages and outbound message payloads. It includes embeds, attachments, mentions, reactions, polls, message references, calls, snapshots, sticker items, components, and message flags. MessageSend is a channel-message payload; interaction callback data belongs to ../interactions/.

Architecture

Message is a broad response model with IDs, author, content, timestamps, mentions, attachments, embeds, reactions, references, threads, components, stickers, polls, calls, and interaction metadata. Its custom unmarshaller decodes component interface values. MessageSend omits zero fields and can carry content, embeds, allowed mentions, a reference, components, stickers, attachments, flags, a nonce, a poll, and the EnforceNonce switch.

EmbedBuilder creates Embed values with title, description, URL, RFC3339 timestamp, color, footer, image, thumbnail, author, and fields. Embed.Validate checks title 256, description 4096, footer 2048, author 256, field count 25, field name 256, field value 1024, and total counted characters 6000. It does not validate every URL or Discord-specific content rule.

MessageSendBuilder provides the same fluent pattern for MessageSend payloads — SetContent, SetEmbeds/AddEmbed, SetComponents/AddComponent, SetFlags/AddFlag, SetAllowedMentions, SetMessageReference, SetNonce, SetEnforceNonce, SetPoll, AddAttachment, SetStickerIDs, and Build. Use it when a struct literal becomes verbose.

Quick Start

package main

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"time"

	"github.com/discord-go/discord.go/messages"
)

func main() {
	embed := messages.NewEmbedBuilder().
		SetTitle("Build report").
		SetDescription("All checks passed").
		SetColor(0x2ecc71).
		SetTimestamp(time.Unix(0, 0)).
		AddField("Status", "ok", true).
		Build()
	if err := embed.Validate(); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	payload := messages.MessageSend{
		Content: "Deployment complete",
		Embeds: []messages.Embed{embed},
		AllowedMentions: &messages.AllowedMentions{},
	}
	data, _ := json.Marshal(payload)
	fmt.Println(string(data))
}

Creating Messages

Use MessageSend for normal channel creation and EditMessageParams from REST for edits. Pointer slices in edit parameters distinguish "leave as is" from "replace with an empty list." MessageReference supports replies and cross-channel references. AllowedMentions can parse everyone, roles, or users, or allow explicit role/user IDs; set RepliedUser deliberately. A parse value is mutually exclusive with its matching ID array: combining parse: ["users"] with a users list is rejected by Discord with 50035. The role and user ID slices in AllowedMentions, like StickerIDs, marshal as string snowflakes automatically.

Using Embeds And Attachments

Embed contains EmbedFooter, EmbedImage, EmbedVideo, EmbedProvider, EmbedAuthor, and EmbedField. Attachment is a received attachment, with the url, proxy_url, size, and content_type fields Discord fills in; AttachmentParams is the request structure for Message Create and Edit (and the webhook and interaction equivalents) with only id, filename, title, description, duration_secs, waveform, and is_spoiler. AttachmentSend is the descriptor for an upload and uses a string file ID. The REST multipart helpers create the actual files[n] parts and rest.AttachmentMetadata builds the matching AttachmentParams entries. For an edit, include every attachment that should remain; a descriptor carrying only an id keeps an existing file.

Using Polls And Reactions

Poll contains question media, answer media, expiry, multiselect, layout, and optional results. PollAnswer, PollMedia, PollResults, and AnswerCount model the nested data. Reaction contains total and burst/normal counts, whether the current user reacted, the emoji, and burst colors.

Common Patterns

Use FlagEphemeral and FlagIsComponentsV2 only where the receiving endpoint supports them. FlagIsComponentsV2 is 1 << 15; setting it does not build a V2 component tree. Use components values in MessageSend.Components and validate embeds before calling REST.

Best Practices

Use explicit allowed mentions for user-controlled content. Keep nonces stable when retrying idempotent sends and use EnforceNonce when supported. Preserve pointer fields in partial edits. Treat received message arrays as snapshots.

Common Mistakes

Embed.Validate checks the documented character and field limits but does not validate every URL or Discord-specific content rule. MessageSend.Attachments alone does not upload bytes. An empty AllowedMentions object is different from omitting it when application defaults are involved.

API Walkthrough

The exported API includes Message, MessageSend, MessageSendBuilder and its setters, MessageType and its constants, MessageReference, MessageActivity, MessageCall and its unmarshaller, MessageSnapshot, InteractionMetadata, Attachment, AttachmentSend, Embed and all nested embed types, EmbedBuilder and its setters, AllowedMentions and its unmarshaller, AllowedMentionType and constants, Reaction, ReactionCountDetails, Poll, PollAnswer, PollMedia, PollResults, AnswerCount, all message flag constants, and Message.UnmarshalJSON.

Examples

The Quick Start program is complete and runnable. Multipart examples are in ../rest/uploads.md, and component examples are in ../components/.

Related APIs

• ../components/
• ../interactions/
• ../rest/