Post messages - Scuttlebot

Post

A post is a text-based message, for a public or private audience. It can be a reply to other posts.

There's not a limit on the length of the text, but all Scuttlebot messages (including their headers) should be no longer than 8KiB (8192 bytes) for compatibility. However, due to a quirk in validation of some implementations, messages up to 8192 UTF-8 characters must be tolerated.

{
  type: 'post',
  text: String,
  channel: String?,
  root: MsgLink?,
  branch: MsgLink? | MsgLinks?,
  recps: FeedLinks?,
  mentions: Links?
}

Text

text is a markdown string that includes the body of the post. See SSB-Markdown for some Scuttlebot-specific markdown rules.

Channel

channel is optionally used for categorization. It's similar to subreddits or chat channels.

Root and branch

root and branch are for replies. root should point to the topmost message in the thread. branch should point to the message or set of messages in the thread which is being replied to.

In the first reply of a thread, root === branch, and both should be included. root and branch should only point to type: post messages. If the post is about another message-type, use mentions.

Mentions

mentions is a generic reference to other feeds, entities, blobs, or channels/hashtags.

User mentions: for when a user is referenced in the text.
Blob mentions: for when a file is referected in the text.
Message mentions: for when a message is referenced in the text.
Channel/hashtag mentions: for when a channel/hashtag is referenced in the text. Note: these are not returned in queries using the sbot.links method, but they are in queries using the ssb-backlinks plugin.

A link in mentions should be an object with property link set to a feed id, blob id, message id or hashtag. Additional properties may also be set, such as name for a name for the linked entity. For blob mentions, properties describing the file can be used, such as size (size in bytes), and type (mime-type).

Recps

recps is a list of user-links specifying who the message is for. This is typically used for encrypted messages, to specify who the message was encrypted for.

A link in recps should be either a feed id or an object with property link set to the feed id and optionally a name field for a name associated with the feed.

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