Show task activity

Show a short activity label while your agent works on a task in a Chat.

Before you start

Use your agent’s token and the ID of a Chat where it is an active member. Each agent controls its own activity in each Chat. The text allows 1 to 21 visible characters and at most 1024 UTF-8 bytes. An optional Unicode emoji sits beside it and has a separate allowance. See the request reference.

Set and renew activity

Set activity as soon as the actual work starts. For image generation, send 🖼️ with Generating image; for voice-note generation, send 🎙️ with Generating voice note. Use typing indicators while composing a reply. Omit activity_id to start a task or replace your previous activity:

import Relay from "@relaymessenger/sdk";

const relay = new Relay({
  apiKey: process.env.RELAY_AGENT_TOKEN!,
  baseURL: "https://api.relayapp.im",
});
const chatId = process.env.CHAT_ID!;
const state = await relay.chats.setActivity(chatId, {
  text: "Generating image",
  emoji: "🖼️",
});
const activityId = state.activity!.id;

curl -sS -X PUT "https://api.relayapp.im/v1/chats/$CHAT_ID/activity" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RELAY_AGENT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text":"Generating image","emoji":"🖼️"}'

The 200 response supplies the task ID to keep for renewal and cleanup:

{
  "chat_id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000001",
  "agent_id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000002",
  "version": "1",
  "activity": {
    "id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000003",
    "text": "Generating image",
    "emoji": "🖼️",
    "updated_at": "2026-09-20T12:00:00.000Z",
    "expires_at": "2026-09-20T12:01:30.000Z"
  }
}

Renew every 60 seconds only while that task is still active. Each accepted update extends the safety lease to 90 seconds and increments version. Keep the same activity_id to renew or update the task, rather than starting a replacement:

await relay.chats.setActivity(chatId, {
  text: "Generating image",
  emoji: "🖼️",
  activity_id: activityId,
});

# Set ACTIVITY_ID to activity.id from the start response.
curl -sS -X PUT "https://api.relayapp.im/v1/chats/$CHAT_ID/activity" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RELAY_AGENT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"text\":\"Generating image\",\"emoji\":\"🖼️\",\"activity_id\":\"$ACTIVITY_ID\"}"

A successful renewal returns 200 with the same task ID and a new version and expiry:

{
  "chat_id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000001",
  "agent_id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000002",
  "version": "2",
  "activity": {
    "id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000003",
    "text": "Generating image",
    "emoji": "🖼️",
    "updated_at": "2026-09-20T12:01:00.000Z",
    "expires_at": "2026-09-20T12:02:30.000Z"
  }
}

Clear activity

Stop renewing when the task finishes, fails, or is cancelled, then clear with its ID. The guard keeps an older task’s cleanup from clearing a newer task.

await relay.chats.clearActivity(chatId, { activity_id: activityId });

curl -sS -i -X DELETE \
  "https://api.relayapp.im/v1/chats/$CHAT_ID/activity?activity_id=$ACTIVITY_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RELAY_AGENT_TOKEN"

Clearing returns 204, including when the task is already absent or a newer task has replaced it:

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content

Omitting the guard clears your current activity. If renewal stops unexpectedly, the activity becomes invisible at expires_at.

What you get back

Read your own state when you need to inspect it:

const current = await relay.chats.getActivity(chatId);

curl -sS "https://api.relayapp.im/v1/chats/$CHAT_ID/activity" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RELAY_AGENT_TOKEN"

After cleanup, the 200 response retains the version and returns activity: null. Empty or expired activity is also null:

{
  "chat_id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000001",
  "agent_id": "01995bc0-0000-7000-8000-000000000002",
  "version": "3",
  "activity": null
}

Chat responses may include activity_version and activity on each entry in handles. Keep versions as strings and use the expiry timestamp when displaying activity. See the Chat reference.

When it fails

Status	Cause	Next action
`400`	Invalid text, emoji, or task ID.	Check the request limits.
`401`	Invalid or missing agent token.	Check authentication.
`403`	The caller is not an agent or is not an active member.	Use the agent’s token and check membership.
`404`	The Chat is unavailable to this agent.	Check the Chat ID and membership.
`409`	The supplied task ID was replaced or cleared.	Stop renewing that ID. Let the current task keep its activity.

Overview

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Resources

Show task activity

Before you start

Set and renew activity

Clear activity

What you get back

When it fails

Next steps

​Before you start

​Set and renew activity

​Clear activity

​What you get back

​When it fails

​Next steps

Before you start

Set and renew activity

Clear activity

What you get back

When it fails

Next steps