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CometChat allows you to integrate your own moderation logic using a Custom API. With this feature, you can define a webhook URL in the List Configuration, where CometChat will send messages for moderation along with relevant context from the conversation (if provided in settings).

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How It Works

  1. When a user sends a message, CometChat retrieves the webhook URL from the configured List.
  2. The message, along with previous conversation messages (if a context window is set in settings), is sent to the webhook.
  3. The webhook (your external API) processes the data using your custom moderation logic.
  4. The webhook responds with a structured decision containing details about the moderation outcome.
  5. CometChat processes the response and applies the moderation decision in real-time.
This approach gives you complete control over moderation, allowing you to implement custom filtering, AI-based analysis, or any other logic on your own servers.

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Integration

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Step 1: Configure Custom API Settings

  1. Login to the CometChat Dashboard
  2. Navigate to Moderation Settings
    • Go to Moderation → Settings in the left-hand menu.
  3. Open Custom API Settings Tab
    • Click on the Custom API tab within the Moderation Settings.
  4. Fill in the Custom API Configuration
    • Set Action on API Error
      • Define how the system should respond if the Custom API is unavailable (e.g., “Allow message” or “Block message”).
    • Set Context Window
      • Specify the number of previous messages in a conversation that will be used for context.
  5. Click Save Settings

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Step 2: Enable Custom API Moderation

  1. Navigate to Moderation → Rules.
  2. Click “Create New Rule”.
  3. Select Custom API as the moderation type.
  4. The rule you create should be of type “Text Contains” or “Image Contains”.
  5. Save the rule.

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Payload Sent to Webhook

When a message is sent, CometChat invokes your webhook with a payload that includes:
  • he latest message (the one just sent) — provided in full detail (entire message object)
  • The previous messages — provided as plain text only, for context (based on the context window setting)
This structure allows you to apply moderation logic to the current message while considering its surrounding context. 
{  "contextMessages": [  {  "cometchat-uid-1": "Hello there!"  },  {  "cometchat-uid-2": "Hey, how are you?"  },  {  "cometchat-uid-1": "Let's team up."  },  {  "cometchat-uid-2": {  "id": "30431",  "muid": "_r49ocm6oj",  "conversationId": "cometchat-uid-1_user_cometchat-uid-2",  "sender": "cometchat-uid-1",  "receiverType": "user",  "receiver": "cometchat-uid-2",  "category": "message",  "type": "text",  "data": {  "text": "ok",  "resource": "WEB-4_0_10-04aecbad-8354-4fc8-98df-d0119e1a9539-1747717193939",  "entities": {  "sender": {  "entity": {  "uid": "cometchat-uid-1",  "name": "Andrew Joseph",  "avatar": "https://data-us.cometchat-staging.com/assets/images/avatars/andrewjoseph.png",  "status": "available",  "role": "default",  "lastActiveAt": 1747717203  },  "entityType": "user"  },  "receiver": {  "entity": {  "uid": "cometchat-uid-2",  "name": "George Alan",  "avatar": "https://data-us.cometchat-staging.com/assets/images/avatars/georgealan.png",  "status": "offline",  "role": "default",  "lastActiveAt": 1721138868,  "conversationId": "cometchat-uid-1_user_cometchat-uid-2"  },  "entityType": "user"  }  },  "moderation": {  "status": "pending"  }  },  "sentAt": 1747717214,  "updatedAt": 1747717214,  }  }  ] }

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Webhook Response Format

The webhook should return a response in the following format: 
 {  isMatchingCondition: true, // True if the message violates the rule  confidence: 0.95, // Confidence score of the decision  reason: "Contains hate speech" // Reason for flagging }