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
}