Channels history

Use the ably channels history command to retrieve message history for an Ably Pub/Sub channel.

Synopsis

ably channels history <channel-name> [options]

Arguments

channel-name

Required

The name of the channel to retrieve history for.

Options

--cipher

A decryption key to use for decrypting messages in the history.

--direction

The direction to retrieve messages in. Options are backwards or forwards. Defaults to backwards.

--start

The start of the time range to retrieve messages from. Accepts ISO 8601, Unix milliseconds, or relative time formats.

--end

The end of the time range to retrieve messages from. Accepts ISO 8601, Unix milliseconds, or relative time formats.

--limit

The maximum number of messages to retrieve. Defaults to 50.

--json

Output results as compact JSON. Mutually exclusive with --pretty-json.

--pretty-json

Output results in formatted JSON. Mutually exclusive with --json.

--verbose | -v

Enable verbose logging. Can be combined with --json or --pretty-json.

Examples

Retrieve message history for a channel:

ably channels history my-channel

Retrieve history within a time range:

ably channels history my-channel --start "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z" --end "2025-01-02T00:00:00Z"

Retrieve a limited number of messages:

ably channels history my-channel --limit 10

Retrieve history in forwards direction:

ably channels history my-channel --direction forwards

Retrieve history from the last hour using relative time:

ably channels history my-channel --start 1h

Retrieve message history in JSON format:

ably channels history my-channel --json

Retrieve message history in formatted JSON output:

ably channels history my-channel --pretty-json

See also

• Channels — Explore all ably channels commands.
• CLI reference — Full list of available commands.