> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://gowa-docs.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Request older chat history from the phone > Asks the phone for older messages of a chat on demand (what WhatsApp Web does when you scroll up / "load older messages"). The request is anchored at the oldest message currently stored locally for that chat, so the chat must already have at least one stored message. The phone answers asynchronously with a history sync event that gets persisted into chat storage; this endpoint only confirms the request was sent, it does not return the older messages directly. ## OpenAPI ````yaml /openapi.yml post /chat/{chat_jid}/history openapi: 3.0.0 info: title: WhatsApp API MultiDevice version: 9.7.0 description: | This API is used for sending whatsapp via API. The web dashboard is a separate project (gowa-ui); the server downloads its latest release asset and serves it at `/` (or returns a JSON banner when APP_UI_ENABLED=false). Device scoping: - Send `X-Device-Id` on all device-scoped REST calls. - WebSocket: connect to `/ws?device_id=`. - WebSocket auth (when basic auth is enabled): browsers cannot set an Authorization header on WebSocket connections, so also pass `&authorization=` in the query string. Use TLS in production since the credential is visible in the URL. servers: - url: http://localhost:3000 security: - basicAuth: [] tags: - name: app description: Initial Connection to Whatsapp server - name: device description: Device management for multi-device support - name: user description: Getting information - name: send description: Send Message (Text/Image/File/Video). - name: message description: Message manipulation (revoke/react/update). - name: call description: Call management (reject incoming calls) - name: chat description: Chat conversations and messaging - name: group description: Group setting - name: newsletter description: newsletter setting - name: chatwoot description: Chatwoot integration for customer support paths: /chat/{chat_jid}/history: post: tags: - chat summary: Request older chat history from the phone description: >- Asks the phone for older messages of a chat on demand (what WhatsApp Web does when you scroll up / "load older messages"). The request is anchored at the oldest message currently stored locally for that chat, so the chat must already have at least one stored message. The phone answers asynchronously with a history sync event that gets persisted into chat storage; this endpoint only confirms the request was sent, it does not return the older messages directly. operationId: requestChatHistory parameters: - $ref: '#/components/parameters/DeviceIdHeader' - in: path name: chat_jid schema: type: string required: true description: >- Chat JID (e.g., phone@s.whatsapp.net for individual or groupid@g.us for group). Percent-encoded values (e.g., groupid%40g.us) are accepted. example: 6289685028129@s.whatsapp.net requestBody: content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: count: type: integer default: 50 minimum: 0 maximum: 500 example: 50 description: >- Number of older messages to request from the phone. Omit it, or send 0, to use the default of 50. responses: '200': description: OK content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/RequestChatHistoryResponse' '400': description: >- Bad Request (e.g. missing chat_jid, count out of range, or chat has no stored messages to anchor on) content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorBadRequest' '401': description: Unauthorized content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorUnauthorized' '500': description: Internal Server Error content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorInternalServer' components: parameters: DeviceIdHeader: name: X-Device-Id in: header required: false description: > Device identifier for multi-device support. Required when multiple devices are registered. If only one device is registered, it will be used as the default. Can also be provided as `device_id` query parameter. schema: type: string example: my-device-id schemas: RequestChatHistoryResponse: type: object properties: status: type: integer example: 200 code: type: string example: SUCCESS message: type: string example: History sync requested successfully results: type: object properties: status: type: string example: requested chat_jid: type: string example: 6289685028129@s.whatsapp.net requested_count: type: integer example: 50 anchor_message_id: type: string example: 3EB0C767D82B0A0D1234 anchor_timestamp: type: string format: date-time example: '2026-05-16T08:00:00Z' ErrorBadRequest: type: object properties: code: type: string example: 400 description: HTTP Status Code message: type: string example: field cannot be blank description: Detail error message results: type: object example: null description: additional data ErrorUnauthorized: type: object properties: code: type: string example: 401 description: HTTP Status Code message: type: string example: Unauthorized access description: Detail error message results: type: object example: null description: additional data ErrorInternalServer: type: object properties: code: type: string example: INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR description: SYSTEM_CODE_ERROR message: type: string example: you are not loggin description: Detail error message results: type: object example: null description: additional data securitySchemes: basicAuth: type: http scheme: basic ```` This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.