messaging.startChat
Start a new chat with one or more members.
Prerequisites
- A Curviate API key, passed as
apiKeywhen you construct the client. Authentication and accounts shows how to create one. - A connected LinkedIn account. This resource is account-scoped: the
account_idis injected automatically by the account-scoped accessor, so you pass it once tocurviate.account(...)and every call below inherits it. Authentication and accounts covers connecting one, and accounts.list returns theaccount_idof each account already connected.
Signature
startChat(body: StartChatBody): Promise<StartChatResult>Example
import { Curviate } from "@curviate/sdk";
const curviate = new Curviate({
apiKey: "cvt_live_...",
baseUrl: "https://api.curviate.com",
});
const result = await curviate.account("acc_YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID").messaging.startChat({ attendees_ids: ["YOUR_PROFILE_ID"], text: "Thanks for reaching out, happy to help." });
console.log(result.chat_id);Parameters
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
attendees_ids | array | Yes | LinkedIn member provider IDs for the chat recipients (>= 1, e.g. ACo...). |
text | string | Yes | Opening message text (1-8000 chars). |
subject | string | No | Optional conversation name / subject line (<= 200 chars). |
attachments | array | No | Optional file attachments (base64-encoded). |
topic | string | No | Mandatory when starting a conversation with a company. One of: service_request, request_demo, support, careers, other. |
applicant_id | string | No | Required when messaging a job applicant. |
invitation_id | string | No | Required when messaging a member whose invitation is pending. |
inmail | boolean | No | When true, starts the conversation as an InMail instead of a standard message. |
Returns
Resolves to StartChatResult. Top-level fields: object, chat_id, message_id.
Error codes
| Code | What it means, and what to do |
|---|---|
UNAUTHORIZED | The API key is missing, malformed, or revoked. Check the key you passed to the client. |
INVALID_REQUEST | A parameter failed validation. The message names the offending field; fix the request rather than retrying it. |
RATE_LIMIT_ACCOUNT | This account's own quota is exhausted. Wait for the window in the Retry-After header, then retry. |
RATE_LIMIT_TENANT | The tenant-wide quota is exhausted across all accounts. Slow the whole workload, not just this call. |
PLATFORM_RATE_LIMIT | LinkedIn is throttling this account. Back off well beyond the hinted delay; sustained pressure risks the account. |
PLATFORM_ERROR | A transient upstream failure. Retry once with backoff before treating it as a real error. |
ACCOUNT_NOT_FOUND | No connected account with that id belongs to this tenant. List your accounts to get a current id. |
PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE | The body exceeds the size cap. Base64 encoding inflates a file by about a third, so budget for that. |
RECIPIENT_UNREACHABLE | The recipient cannot receive this message, typically because you are not connected and have no InMail credit. |
RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND | The id in the path does not exist, or is not visible to this account. Re-read it from the list endpoint that produced it. |
UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE | The request was not sent as JSON. Every endpoint takes application/json, including file attachments, which travel base64-encoded. |
Every code above is a stable CurviateError.code you can branch on. The full list, the response envelope, and retry semantics are in the Error codes reference.
Next steps
messaging.listChats: List paginated chats for the account.messaging.listMessages: List messages in a chat, cursor-paginated.messaging.searchChats: Free-text search the account's own inbox; matches participant names and message content.- SDK Quick Start: installation, the client, account scoping, and pagination.