Reconnect to a conversation in Direct Line API 3.0

APPLIES TO: SDK v3

If a client is using the WebSocket interface to receive messages but loses its connection, it may need to reconnect. In this scenario, the client must generate a new WebSocket stream URL that it can use to reconnect to the conversation.

Generate a new WebSocket stream URL

To generate a new WebSocket stream URL that can be used to reconnect to an existing conversation, issue this request:

GET https://directline.botframework.com/v3/directline/conversations/{conversationId}?watermark={watermark_value}
Authorization: Bearer SECRET_OR_TOKEN

In this request URI, replace {conversationId} with the conversation ID and replace {watermark_value} with the watermark value (if the watermark parameter is available). The watermark parameter is optional. If the watermark parameter is specified in the request URI, the conversation replays from the watermark, guaranteeing that no messages are lost. If the watermark parameter is omitted from the request URI, only messages received after the reconnection request are replayed.

The following snippets provide an example of the Reconnect request and response.

Request

GET https://directline.botframework.com/v3/directline/conversations/abc123?watermark=0000a-42
Authorization: Bearer RCurR_XV9ZA.cwA.BKA.iaJrC8xpy8qbOF5xnR2vtCX7CZj0LdjAPGfiCpg4Fv0y8qbOF5xPGfiCpg4Fv0y8qqbOF5x8qbOF5xn

Response

If the request is successful, the response will contain an ID for the conversation, a token, and a new WebSocket stream URL.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
[other headers]
{
  "conversationId": "abc123",
  "token": "RCurR_XV9ZA.cwA.BKA.iaJrC8xpy8qbOF5xnR2vtCX7CZj0LdjAPGfiCpg4Fv0y8qbOF5xPGfiCpg4Fv0y8qqbOF5x8qbOF5xn",
  "streamUrl": "https://directline.botframework.com/v3/directline/conversations/abc123/stream?watermark=000a-4&t=RCurR_XV9ZA.cwA..."
}

Reconnect to the conversation

The client must use the new WebSocket stream URL to reconnect to the conversation within 60 seconds. If the connection cannot be established during this time, the client must issue another Reconnect request to generate a new stream URL.

If you have "Enhanced authentication option" enabled in the Direct Line settings, you might get a 400 "MissingProperty" error if you don't have a correctly configured token attached to the request.

Additional resources