💬 Gifted Chat

The most complete chat UI for React Native & Web

Demo Web 🖥

Snack GiftedChat playground

Sponsor

Coding Bootcamp in Paris co-founded by Farid Safi

Click to learn more

Scalable chat API/Server written in Go

API Tour | React Native Gifted tutorial

A complete app engine featuring GiftedChat

Check out our GitHub

Features

🎉 react-native-webable (since 0.10.0) web configuration
Write with TypeScript (since 0.8.0)
Fully customizable components
Composer actions (to attach photos, etc.)
Load earlier messages
Copy messages to clipboard
Touchable links using react-native-parsed-text
Avatar as user's initials
Localized dates
Multi-line TextInput
InputToolbar avoiding keyboard
Redux support
System message
Quick Reply messages (bot)
Typing indicator

Getting started

Installation

Install dependencies

Yarn:

yarn add react-native-gifted-chat react-native-reanimated react-native-safe-area-context

Npm:

npm install --save react-native-gifted-chat react-native-reanimated react-native-safe-area-context

Expo

npx expo install react-native-gifted-chat react-native-reanimated react-native-safe-area-context

Non-expo users

npx pod-install

Setup react-native-safe-area-context

Follow guide: react-native-safe-area-context

react-native-video and expo-av

Both dependencies are removed since 0.11.0.
You still be able to provide a video but you need to provide renderMessageVideo prop.

Testing

TEST_ID is exported as constants that can be used in your testing library of choice

Gifted Chat uses onLayout to determine the height of the chat container. To trigger onLayout during your tests, you can run the following bits of code.

const WIDTH = 200; // or any number
const HEIGHT = 2000; // or any number

const loadingWrapper = getByTestId(TEST_ID.LOADING_WRAPPER)
fireEvent(loadingWrapper, 'layout', {
  nativeEvent: {
    layout: {
      width: WIDTH,
      height: HEIGHT,
    },
  },
})

You have a question?

Please check this readme and may find a response
Please ask on StackOverflow first: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/react-native-gifted-chat
Find response on existing issues
Try to keep issues for issues

Example

import React, { useState, useCallback, useEffect } from 'react'
import { GiftedChat } from 'react-native-gifted-chat'

export function Example() {
  const [messages, setMessages] = useState([])

  useEffect(() => {
    setMessages([
      {
        _id: 1,
        text: 'Hello developer',
        createdAt: new Date(),
        user: {
          _id: 2,
          name: 'React Native',
          avatar: 'https://placeimg.com/140/140/any',
        },
      },
    ])
  }, [])

  const onSend = useCallback((messages = []) => {
    setMessages(previousMessages =>
      GiftedChat.append(previousMessages, messages),
    )
  }, [])

  return (
    <GiftedChat
      messages={messages}
      onSend={messages => onSend(messages)}
      user={{
        _id: 1,
      }}
    />
  )
}

Advanced example

See App.tsx for a working demo!

"Slack" example

See the files in example/example-slack-message for an example of how to override the default UI to make something that looks more like Slack -- with usernames displayed and all messages on the left.

Message object

e.g. Chat Message

export interface IMessage {
  _id: string | number
  text: string
  createdAt: Date | number
  user: User
  image?: string
  video?: string
  audio?: string
  system?: boolean
  sent?: boolean
  received?: boolean
  pending?: boolean
  quickReplies?: QuickReplies
}

{
  _id: 1,
  text: 'My message',
  createdAt: new Date(Date.UTC(2016, 5, 11, 17, 20, 0)),
  user: {
    _id: 2,
    name: 'React Native',
    avatar: 'https://facebook.github.io/react/img/logo_og.png',
  },
  image: 'https://facebook.github.io/react/img/logo_og.png',
  // You can also add a video prop:
  video: 'http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/ElephantsDream.mp4',
  // Mark the message as sent, using one tick
  sent: true,
  // Mark the message as received, using two tick
  received: true,
  // Mark the message as pending with a clock loader
  pending: true,
  // Any additional custom parameters are passed through
}

e.g. System Message

{
  _id: 1,
  text: 'This is a system message',
  createdAt: new Date(Date.UTC(2016, 5, 11, 17, 20, 0)),
  system: true,
  // Any additional custom parameters are passed through
}

e.g. Chat Message with Quick Reply options

See PR #1211

interface Reply {
  title: string
  value: string
  messageId?: number | string
}

interface QuickReplies {
  type: 'radio' | 'checkbox'
  values: Reply[]
  keepIt?: boolean
}

  {
    _id: 1,
    text: 'This is a quick reply. Do you love Gifted Chat? (radio) KEEP IT',
    createdAt: new Date(),
    quickReplies: {
      type: 'radio', // or 'checkbox',
      keepIt: true,
      values: [
        {
          title: '😋 Yes',
          value: 'yes',
        },
        {
          title: '📷 Yes, let me show you with a picture!',
          value: 'yes_picture',
        },
        {
          title: '😞 Nope. What?',
          value: 'no',
        },
      ],
    },
    user: {
      _id: 2,
      name: 'React Native',
    },
  },
  {
    _id: 2,
    text: 'This is a quick reply. Do you love Gifted Chat? (checkbox)',
    createdAt: new Date(),
    quickReplies: {
      type: 'checkbox', // or 'radio',
      values: [
        {
          title: 'Yes',
          value: 'yes',
        },
        {
          title: 'Yes, let me show you with a picture!',
          value: 'yes_picture',
        },
        {
          title: 'Nope. What?',
          value: 'no',
        },
      ],
    },
    user: {
      _id: 2,
      name: 'React Native',
    },
  }

Props

messageContainerRef (FlatList ref) - Ref to the flatlist
textInputRef (TextInput ref) - Ref to the text input
messages (Array) - Messages to display
isTyping (Bool) - Typing Indicator state; default false. If you userenderFooter it will override this.
text (String) - Input text; default is undefined, but if specified, it will override GiftedChat's internal state (e.g. for redux; see notes below)
placeholder (String) - Placeholder when text is empty; default is 'Type a message...'
messageIdGenerator (Function) - Generate an id for new messages. Defaults to UUID v4, generated by uuid
user (Object) - User sending the messages: { _id, name, avatar }
onSend (Function) - Callback when sending a message
alwaysShowSend (Bool) - Always show send button in input text composer; default false, show only when text input is not empty
locale (String) - Locale to localize the dates. You need first to import the locale you need (ie. require('dayjs/locale/de') or import 'dayjs/locale/fr')
timeFormat (String) - Format to use for rendering times; default is 'LT' (see Day.js Format)
dateFormat (String) - Format to use for rendering dates; default is 'll' (see Day.js Format)
loadEarlier (Bool) - Enables the "load earlier messages" button, required for infiniteScroll
onLoadEarlier (Function) - Callback when loading earlier messages
isLoadingEarlier (Bool) - Display an ActivityIndicator when loading earlier messages
renderLoading (Function) - Render a loading view when initializing
renderLoadEarlier (Function) - Custom "Load earlier messages" button
renderAvatar (Function) - Custom message avatar; set to null to not render any avatar for the message
showUserAvatar (Bool) - Whether to render an avatar for the current user; default is false, only show avatars for other users
showAvatarForEveryMessage (Bool) - When false, avatars will only be displayed when a consecutive message is from the same user on the same day; default is false
onPressAvatar (Function(user)) - Callback when a message avatar is tapped
onLongPressAvatar (Function(user)) - Callback when a message avatar is long-pressed
renderAvatarOnTop (Bool) - Render the message avatar at the top of consecutive messages, rather than the bottom; default is false
renderBubble (Function) - Custom message bubble
renderTicks (Function(message)) - Custom ticks indicator to display message status
renderSystemMessage (Function) - Custom system message
onPress (Function(context, message)) - Callback when a message bubble is pressed
onLongPress (Function(context, message)) - Callback when a message bubble is long-pressed (see example using showActionSheetWithOptions())
inverted (Bool) - Reverses display order of messages; default is true
renderUsernameOnMessage (Bool) - Indicate whether to show the user's username inside the message bubble; default is false
renderUsername (Function) - Custom Username container
renderMessage (Function) - Custom message container
renderMessageText (Function) - Custom message text
renderMessageImage (Function) - Custom message image
renderMessageVideo (Function) - Custom message video
imageProps (Object) - Extra props to be passed to the <Image> component created by the default renderMessageImage
videoProps (Object) - Extra props to be passed to the video component created by the required renderMessageVideo
lightboxProps (Object) - Extra props to be passed to the MessageImage's Lightbox
isCustomViewBottom (Bool) - Determine whether renderCustomView is displayed before or after the text, image and video views; default is false
renderCustomView (Function) - Custom view inside the bubble
renderDay (Function) - Custom day above a message
renderTime (Function) - Custom time inside a message
renderFooter (Function) - Custom footer component on the ListView, e.g. 'User is typing...'; see App.tsx for an example. Overrides default typing indicator that triggers when isTyping is true.
renderChatEmpty (Function) - Custom component to render in the ListView when messages are empty
renderChatFooter (Function) - Custom component to render below the MessageContainer (separate from the ListView)
renderInputToolbar (Function) - Custom message composer container
renderComposer (Function) - Custom text input message composer
renderActions (Function) - Custom action button on the left of the message composer
renderSend (Function) - Custom send button; you can pass children to the original Send component quite easily, for example, to use a custom icon (example)
renderAccessory (Function) - Custom second line of actions below the message composer
onPressActionButton (Function) - Callback when the Action button is pressed (if set, the default actionSheet will not be used)
minInputToolbarHeight (Integer) - Minimum height of the input toolbar; default is 44
listViewProps (Object) - Extra props to be passed to the messages <ListView>; some props can't be overridden, see the code in MessageContainer.render() for details
textInputProps (Object) - Extra props to be passed to the <TextInput>
textInputStyle (Object) - Custom style to be passed to the <TextInput>
multiline (Bool) - Indicates whether to allow the <TextInput> to be multiple lines or not; default true.
keyboardShouldPersistTaps (Enum) - Determines whether the keyboard should stay visible after a tap; see <ScrollView> docs
onInputTextChanged (Function) - Callback when the input text changes
maxInputLength (Integer) - Max message composer TextInput length
parsePatterns (Function) - Custom parse patterns for react-native-parsed-text used to linking message content (like URLs and phone numbers), e.g.:

 <GiftedChat
   parsePatterns={(linkStyle) => [
     { type: 'phone', style: linkStyle, onPress: this.onPressPhoneNumber },
     { pattern: /#(\w+)/, style: { ...linkStyle, styles.hashtag }, onPress: this.onPressHashtag },
   ]}
 />

extraData (Object) - Extra props for re-rendering FlatList on demand. This will be useful for rendering footer etc.
minComposerHeight (Object) - Custom min-height of the composer.
maxComposerHeight (Object) - Custom max height of the composer.

scrollToBottom (Bool) - Enables the scroll to bottom Component (Default is false)
scrollToBottomComponent (Function) - Custom Scroll To Bottom Component container
scrollToBottomOffset (Integer) - Custom Height Offset upon which to begin showing Scroll To Bottom Component (Default is 200)
scrollToBottomStyle (Object) - Custom style for Bottom Component container
alignTop (Boolean) Controls whether or not the message bubbles appear at the top of the chat (Default is false - bubbles align to bottom)
onQuickReply (Function) - Callback when sending a quick reply (to backend server)
renderQuickReplies (Function) - Custom all quick reply view
quickReplyStyle (StyleProp) - Custom quick reply view style
renderQuickReplySend (Function) - Custom quick reply send view
shouldUpdateMessage (Function) - Lets the message component know when to update outside of normal cases.
infiniteScroll (Bool) - infinite scroll up when reach the top of messages container, automatically call onLoadEarlier function if exist (not yet supported for the web). You need to add loadEarlier prop too.

Notes for Redux

The messages prop should work out-of-the-box with Redux. In most cases, this is all you need.

If you decide to specify a text prop, GiftedChat will no longer manage its own internal text state and will defer entirely to your prop. This is great for using a tool like Redux, but there's one extra step you'll need to take: simply implement onInputTextChanged to receive typing events and reset events (e.g. to clear the text onSend):

<GiftedChat
  text={customText}
  onInputTextChanged={text => this.setCustomText(text)}
  /* ... */
/>

Notes for Android

If you are using Create React Native App / Expo, no Android specific installation steps are required -- you can skip this section. Otherwise, we recommend modifying your project configuration as follows.

Make sure you have android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize" in your AndroidManifest.xml:

<activity
  android:name=".MainActivity"
  android:label="@string/app_name"
  android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize"
  android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize">

For Expo, there are at least 2 solutions to fix it:
- Append KeyboardAvoidingView after GiftedChat. This should only be done for Android, as KeyboardAvoidingView may conflict with the iOS keyboard avoidance already built into GiftedChat, e.g.:

<View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
   <GiftedChat />
   {
      Platform.OS === 'android' && <KeyboardAvoidingView behavior="padding" />
   }
</View>

If you use React Navigation, additional handling may be required to account for navigation headers and tabs. KeyboardAvoidingView's keyboardVerticalOffset property can be set to the height of the navigation header and tabBarOptions.keyboardHidesTabBar can be set to keep the tab bar from being shown when the keyboard is up. Due to a bug with calculating height on Android phones with notches, KeyboardAvoidingView is recommended over other solutions that involve calculating the height of the window.

adding an opaque background status bar on app.json (even though android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize" is set internally on Expo's Android apps, the translucent status bar causes it not to work): https://docs.expo.io/versions/latest/guides/configuration.html#androidstatusbar
If you plan to use GiftedChat inside a Modal, see #200.

Notes for local development

Native

Install yarn global add expo-cli
Install dependenciesyarn install
expo start

react-native-web

With expo

Install yarn global add expo-cli
Install dependenciesyarn install
expo start -w

Upgrade snack version

With create-react-app

yarn add -D react-app-rewired
touch config-overrides.js

module.exports = function override(config, env) {
  config.module.rules.push({
    test: /\.js$/,
    exclude: /node_modules[/\\](?!react-native-gifted-chat|react-native-lightbox|react-native-parsed-text)/,
    use: {
      loader: 'babel-loader',
      options: {
        babelrc: false,
        configFile: false,
        presets: [
          ['@babel/preset-env', { useBuiltIns: 'usage' }],
          '@babel/preset-react',
        ],
        plugins: ['@babel/plugin-proposal-class-properties'],
      },
    },
  })

  return config
}

You will find an example and a web demo here: xcarpentier/gifted-chat-web-demo

Another example with Gatsby : xcarpentier/clean-archi-boilerplate

Questions

License

Author

Feel free to ask me questions on Twitter @FaridSafi! or @xcapetir!

Contributors

Kevin Cooper cooperka
Kfir Golan kfiroo
Bruno Cascio brunocascio
Xavier Carpentier xcarpentier
Kesha Antonov kesha-antonov
more

Hire an expert!

Looking for a ReactNative freelance expert with more than 14 years of experience? Contact Xavier from his website!

@hatkom/react-native-gifted-chat

💬 Gifted Chat

Sponsor

Features

Getting started

Installation

Install dependencies

Non-expo users

Setup react-native-safe-area-context

react-native-video and expo-av

Testing

You have a question?

Example

Advanced example

"Slack" example

Message object

Props

Notes for Redux

Notes for Android

Notes for local development

Native

react-native-web

With expo

With create-react-app

Questions

License

Author

Contributors

Hire an expert!

Readme

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