> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.talqui.chat/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Read message by external ID > Resolves a single message by its provider-side id, for rendering the target of a reply quote or a reaction. The conversation view pages backwards through a session, so a referenced message is often not in memory — it may belong to an older session, or sit further back than the operator has scrolled. This endpoint is the fallback that keeps the quote from rendering as a dangling reference. ## OpenAPI ````yaml /api/services-api.yaml get /v1/tenants/{tenantID}/messages/lookup openapi: 3.0.3 info: description: >- Talqui is an omnichannel customer service platform that unifies conversations from WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, and many other channels into a single attendant panel, alongside a broader ecosystem of plugins and integrations. This API gives developers programmatic access to Talqui's services layer, exposing the operations needed to read and manage tenants, conversations, plugins, and related resources that power that platform. Authentication is available on behalf of an Operator (the default for this API), a Plugin Connection, or a Plugin — see the [Talqui authentication guide](https://docs.talqui.chat/guides/introduction/authentication/) for how each token is obtained and when to use it. Need help or have questions not covered here? Reach out to support@talqui.com. license: name: ISC url: https://opensource.org/license/isc-license-txt title: Talqui - Services API version: 0.69.1 servers: - description: Production url: https://services-api.talqui.chat security: [] tags: - name: Tenants - name: Settings - name: Analytics/Reports - name: Analytics - name: Campaigns - name: Campaigns/Models - name: Contacts - name: Contacts/Imports - name: Handoff links - name: Inboxes - name: Messages - name: Notifications - name: Sessions - name: Operators/Shortcuts - name: Operators - name: Plugins - name: Setup - name: Uploads paths: /v1/tenants/{tenantID}/messages/lookup: get: tags: - Messages summary: Read message by external ID description: >- Resolves a single message by its provider-side id, for rendering the target of a reply quote or a reaction. The conversation view pages backwards through a session, so a referenced message is often not in memory — it may belong to an older session, or sit further back than the operator has scrolled. This endpoint is the fallback that keeps the quote from rendering as a dangling reference. operationId: ReadMessageByExternalIDController parameters: - in: path name: tenantID required: true schema: description: The tenant the message belongs to. format: uuid pattern: >- ^([0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[1-8][0-9a-fA-F]{3}-[89abAB][0-9a-fA-F]{3}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}|00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000|ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff)$ type: string - in: query name: messageExternalID required: true schema: description: Provider-side identifier of the message to resolve. maxLength: 512 minLength: 1 type: string responses: '200': content: application/json: schema: additionalProperties: false properties: message: additionalProperties: false description: The referenced message. properties: contactID: description: The contact this message belongs to. type: string createdAt: description: When this message was created. format: date-time type: string messageDirection: description: Whether this message is inbound or outbound. type: string messageExternalID: description: Provider-side identifier this message was resolved by. type: string messageID: description: Unique identifier for this message. type: string messageKey: description: >- The message content type, deciding how the quote renders. type: string messageValue: description: >- Message content; a string for text, an object for media. operatorFirstname: description: >- First name of the sending operator, for the quote header. nullable: true type: string operatorID: description: The operator who sent this message, if any. nullable: true type: string sessionID: description: The session this message belongs to. type: string required: - messageID - sessionID - contactID - messageExternalID - messageKey - messageDirection - messageValue - createdAt - operatorID - operatorFirstname type: object required: - message type: object description: Response for status 200. '400': content: application/json: schema: properties: errors: items: oneOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/MissingTenantIDError' - $ref: '#/components/schemas/MissingMessageExternalIDError' - $ref: '#/components/schemas/RequestValidationError' maxItems: 1 minItems: 1 type: array required: - errors type: object description: >- MissingTenantIDError (error_code 1001): tenantID absent from the URL. | MissingMessageExternalIDError (error_code 1070): messageExternalID absent from the query string. | RequestValidationError (error_code 1002): params or query fail format validation. '401': content: application/json: schema: properties: errors: items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UnauthorizedError' maxItems: 1 minItems: 1 type: array required: - errors type: object description: 'UnauthorizedError (error_code 1003): missing/invalid operator token.' '403': content: application/json: schema: properties: errors: items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ForbiddenError' maxItems: 1 minItems: 1 type: array required: - errors type: object description: 'ForbiddenError (error_code 1004): operator token rejected upstream.' '404': content: application/json: schema: properties: errors: items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MessageNotFoundError' maxItems: 1 minItems: 1 type: array required: - errors type: object description: >- MessageNotFoundError (error_code 1068): no message matches the given externalID for this tenant. '500': content: application/json: schema: properties: errors: items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UnknownError' maxItems: 1 minItems: 1 type: array required: - errors type: object description: >- UnknownError (error_code 5999): Unexpected internal error not otherwise documented for this endpoint. security: - operatorAuth: [] components: schemas: MissingTenantIDError: additionalProperties: false properties: error: enum: - MissingTenantIDError type: string error_code: enum: - 1001 type: number message: example: tenantID is required. type: string statusCode: enum: - 400 type: number required: - statusCode - error - error_code - message type: object MissingMessageExternalIDError: additionalProperties: false properties: error: enum: - MissingMessageExternalIDError type: string error_code: enum: - 1070 type: number message: example: messageExternalID is required. type: string statusCode: enum: - 400 type: number required: - statusCode - error - error_code - message type: object RequestValidationError: additionalProperties: false properties: error: enum: - RequestValidationError type: string error_code: enum: - 1002 type: number fields: items: additionalProperties: false properties: allowed: type: string field: type: string received: type: string required: - field - received - allowed type: object type: array message: example: Invalid request data. type: string statusCode: enum: - 400 type: number required: - statusCode - error - error_code - message - fields type: object UnauthorizedError: additionalProperties: false properties: error: enum: - UnauthorizedError type: string error_code: enum: - 1003 type: number message: example: You are not authorized to perform this request. type: string statusCode: enum: - 401 type: number required: - statusCode - error - error_code - message type: object ForbiddenError: additionalProperties: false properties: error: enum: - ForbiddenError type: string error_code: enum: - 1004 type: number message: example: You do not have access to this resource. type: string statusCode: enum: - 403 type: number required: - statusCode - error - error_code - message type: object MessageNotFoundError: additionalProperties: false properties: error: enum: - MessageNotFoundError type: string error_code: enum: - 1068 type: number message: example: Message not found. type: string statusCode: enum: - 404 type: number required: - statusCode - error - error_code - message type: object UnknownError: additionalProperties: false properties: error: enum: - UnknownError type: string error_code: enum: - 5999 type: number message: example: For some unknown reason your request has not succeeded. type: string statusCode: enum: - 500 type: number required: - statusCode - error - error_code - message type: object securitySchemes: operatorAuth: bearerFormat: JWT description: >- Behalf of an Operator (default). A JWT issued by Talqui Core when an operator signs in, scoped to every tenant that operator belongs to. Send as `Authorization: Bearer `. scheme: bearer type: http ```` This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.