On this page

Message Persistence API for C# SDK

Message Persistence gives you real-time access to the history of messages published to PubNub. Each message is timestamped to the nearest 10 nanoseconds and stored across multiple availability zones in several geographic locations. You can encrypt stored messages with AES-256 so they are not readable on PubNub’s network. For details, see Message Persistence.

You control how long messages are stored through your account’s retention policy. Options include: 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or Unlimited.

You can retrieve the following:

  • Messages
  • Message reactions
  • Files (using the File Sharing API)
Request execution

Use try/catch when working with the C# SDK.

If a request has invalid parameters (for example, a missing required field), the SDK throws an exception. If the request reaches the server but fails (server error or network issue), the error details are available in the returned status.

1try
2{
3    PNResult<PNPublishResult> publishResponse = await pubnub.Publish()
4        .Message("Why do Java developers wear glasses? Because they can't C#.")
5        .Channel("my_channel")
6        .ExecuteAsync();
7

8    PNStatus status = publishResponse.Status;
9

10    Console.WriteLine("Server status code : " + status.StatusCode.ToString());
11}
12catch (Exception ex)
13{
14    Console.WriteLine($"Request can't be executed due to error: {ex.Message}");
15}

Fetch history​

Requires Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence for your key in the Admin Portal. See how to enable add-on features.

Fetch historical messages from one or more channels. Use IncludeMessageActions to include message actions.

You can control how messages are returned and in what order:

  • If you specify only the start parameter (without end), you receive messages older than the start timetoken.
  • If you specify only the end parameter (without start), you receive messages from that end timetoken and newer.
  • If you specify both start and end, you retrieve messages between those timetokens (inclusive of the end value).

You can receive up to 100 messages for a single channel. For multiple channels (up to 500), you can receive up to 25 messages per channel. If more messages match the time range, make iterative calls and adjust the start timetoken to page through the results.

Method(s)​

Use the following method(s) in the C# SDK:

1pubnub.FetchHistory()
2        .Channels(string[])
3        .IncludeMeta(bool)
4        .IncludeMessageType(bool)
5        .IncludeCustomMessageType(bool)
6        .IncludeUUID(bool)
7        .IncludeMessageActions(bool)
8        .Reverse(bool)
9        .Start(int)
10        .End(int)
11        .MaximumPerChannel(int)
12        .QueryParam(Dictionary<string, object>)
* required
ParameterDescription
Channels *
Type: string[]
Channels to fetch history messages from (up to 500).
IncludeMeta
Type: bool
Whether to include the meta object (if provided at publish time) in the response.
IncludeMessageType
Type: bool
Whether to include message type. Default is true.
IncludeCustomMessageType
Type: bool
Whether to retrieve messages with the custom message type. See Retrieving Messages.
IncludeUUID
Type: bool
Whether to receive the publisher uuid. Default is true.
IncludeMessageActions
Type: bool
Retrieve history messages with message actions. If true, limited to one channel and 25 messages. Default is false.
Reverse
Type: bool
Traverse from oldest to newest when set to true.
Start
Type: long
Timetoken delimiting the start (exclusive) of the time slice.
End
Type: long
Timetoken delimiting the end (inclusive) of the time slice.
MaximumPerChannel
Type: int
Number of historical messages to return. Default and maximum are 100 for a single channel, 25 for multiple channels, and 25 if IncludeMessageActions is true.
QueryParam
Type: Dictionary<string, object>
Pass name/value pairs as query string parameters. Useful for adding custom debug information or additional parameters required by specific PubNub features.
Execute *
Type: PNCallback
PNCallback of type PNFetchHistoryResult.
ExecuteAsync
Type: None
Returns PNResult<PNFetchHistoryResult>.
Truncated response

If truncated, a more property is returned; make iterative calls adjusting parameters.

Sample code​

Reference code
This example is a self-contained code snippet ready to be run. It includes necessary imports and executes methods with console logging. Use it as a reference when working with other examples in this document.

Retrieve the last message on a channel:

Other examples​

Retrieve the last 25 messages on a channel synchronously​

Channel to delete messages from.
Start
Type: long
Timetoken delimiting the start of the time slice (inclusive) to delete messages from.
End
Type: long
Timetoken delimiting the end of the time slice (exclusive) to delete messages from.
QueryParam
Type: Dictionary<string, object>
Pass name/value pairs as query string parameters. Useful for adding custom debug information or additional parameters required by specific PubNub features.
Async
Type: PNCallback
PNCallback of type PNDeleteMessageResult.

This parameter is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Please use the ExecuteAsync parameter instead.
Execute *
Type: PNCallback
PNCallback of type PNDeleteMessageResult.
ExecuteAsync
Type: None
Returns PNResult<PNDeleteMessageResult>.

Sample code​

Channels to fetch the message count for.
ChannelsTimetoken *
Type: long[]
Array of timetokens, in the same order as the channels list. Specify a single timetoken to apply it to all channels; otherwise, lengths must match or the function returns a PNStatus error.
QueryParam
Type: Dictionary<string, object>
Pass name/value pairs as query string parameters. Useful for adding custom debug information or additional parameters required by specific PubNub features.
Async
Type: PNCallback
PNCallback of type PNMessageCountResult.

This parameter is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Please use the ExecuteAsync parameter instead.
Execute *
Type: PNCallback
PNCallback of type PNMessageCountResult.
ExecuteAsync
Type: None
Returns PNResult<PNMessageCountResult>.

Sample code​

Channel to return history messages from.
IncludeMeta
Type: bool
Whether to include the meta object (if provided at publish time) in the response.
Reverse
Type: bool
Traverse from oldest to newest when set to true.
IncludeTimetoken
Type: bool
Whether to include message timetokens in the response.
Start
Type: long
Timetoken delimiting the start (exclusive) of the time slice.
End
Type: long
Timetoken delimiting the end (inclusive) of the time slice.
Count
Type: int
Number of historical messages to return.
QueryParam
Type: Dictionary<string, object>
Pass name/value pairs as query string parameters. Useful for adding custom debug information or additional parameters required by specific PubNub features.
Async
Type: PNCallback
PNCallback of type PNHistoryResult.

This parameter is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Please use the ExecuteAsync parameter instead.
Execute *
Type: PNCallback
PNCallback of type PNHistoryResult.
ExecuteAsync
Type: None
Returns PNResult<PNHistoryResult>.
Using the reverse parameter

Messages are always returned sorted in ascending time direction from history regardless of Reverse. The Reverse direction matters when you have more than 100 (or Count, if it's set) messages in the time interval, in which case Reverse determines the end of the time interval from which it should start retrieving the messages.

Sample code (deprecated)​

Retrieve the last 100 messages on a channel:

Use history() to retrieve messages newer than a given timetoken by paging from oldest message to newest message starting at a single point in time (exclusive) (deprecated)​
Use history() to retrieve messages until a given timetoken by paging from newest message to oldest message until a specific end point in time (inclusive) (deprecated)​
History paging example (deprecated)​
Usage

You can call the method by passing 0 or a valid timetoken as the argument.

Sep 3, 2025
On this page