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iNaturalist Messages API

Create, fetch, delete

iNaturalist Messages API is one of 21 APIs that iNaturalist publishes on the APIs.io network, described by a machine-readable OpenAPI specification.

Tagged areas include Messages. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes an OpenAPI specification, API documentation, and rate-limit docs.

This API exposes 5 operations across 3 paths, and defines 6 schemas. It is described by OpenAPI 2.0, at version 1.3.0.

Requests are made against the base URL https://api.inaturalist.org/v1.

5 operations 3 paths 6 schemas 1 DELETE3 GET1 POST

Metadata

The identity and technical contract details declared by the specification.

Specification
OpenAPI 2.0
API Version
1.3.0
Base URL
https://api.inaturalist.org/v1
Authentication
API Key
Resource Areas
1

Authentication & Security 1

iNaturalist Messages API declares 1 security scheme for authenticating requests. An API key is passed in the header as Authorization (api_token).

Paths & Operations 5

Across 3 paths, the API surfaces 5 operations — 1 DELETE, 3 GET, 1 POST. Each is listed below with its method, path, parameters, and response codes.

Messages 5

Create, fetch, delete

GET
/messages
Retrieve messages for the authenticated user. This does not mark them as read.
5 params → 200default
POST
/messages
Create a new message
1 param → 200default
GET
/messages/{id}
Retrieve messages in a thread
1 param → 200default
DELETE
/messages/{id}
Delete a message / thread
1 param → 200404default
GET
/messages/unread
Gets a count of messages the authenticated user has not read
→ 200default

Schemas 6

The contract defines 6 schemas that model the data the API accepts and returns. The most detailed are User (15 properties), Message (9 properties), BaseResponse (3 properties), Error (2 properties). Each schema is shown below with its type and property counts.

Error
object
2 properties
MessagesResponse
Message
object
9 properties
BaseResponse
object
3 properties
User
object
15 properties
PostMessage
object
1 property

Specification

The full machine-readable OpenAPI contract behind this narrative.

Source

inaturalist-messages-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑

Other APIs iNaturalist publishes across the network.

iNaturalist API v2
iNaturalist Annotations API
iNaturalist Comments API
iNaturalist Controlled Terms API
iNaturalist Flags API
iNaturalist Identifications API
iNaturalist Observation Field Values API
iNaturalist Observation Photos API
iNaturalist Observation Tiles API
iNaturalist Observations API
iNaturalist Photos API
iNaturalist Places API