stream-chat

What it is and what it does

stream-chat is the official Python client library for Stream Chat, a backend service for building chat applications. It provides synchronous and asynchronous APIs to manage users, channels, messages, and other chat metadata server-side. The library wraps HTTP requests to Stream's API endpoints and returns typed response objects that inherit from dict, maintaining backward compatibility while exposing rate-limit information, headers, and status codes.

The package depends on requests, aiohttp, aiodns, aiofile, pyjwt, and typing_extensions to handle both sync and async operations. It is currently in maintenance mode—the maintainers recommend new projects use the newer `getstream` SDK instead, though stream-chat remains safe for continued use and will receive critical fixes.

Use it for:

• Build a chat backend that manages user accounts, channels, and permissions through Stream's API.
• Send and retrieve messages programmatically from a server-side application.
• Implement async chat operations in high-concurrency environments using StreamChatAsync.
• Monitor rate limits and API response metadata for production chat systems.
• Migrate existing chat integrations while maintaining backward-compatible dict-like response handling.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Python SDK for server-side integration with Stream Chat, providing APIs to manage users, channels, messages, and chat metadata.

Yes, if you are maintaining an existing stream-chat integration or building a new chat backend with Stream. The package is actively maintained and has no known vulnerabilities. However, if starting a new project, consider the newer `getstream` SDK instead, as stream-chat is in maintenance mode. License terms are unclear and should be verified before use.

Install

stream-chat on PyPI

pip install stream-chat

uv add stream-chat

poetry add stream-chat

Installing stream-chat

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained with recent commits; however, the package is in maintenance mode with the newer `getstream` SDK recommended for new projects.

License in practice

License status is unclear—no SPDX identifier or raw license text is available in the package metadata. Verify the actual license terms before use in proprietary or restricted contexts.

Quickstart

from stream_chat import StreamChat

chat = StreamChat(api_key="STREAM_KEY", api_secret="STREAM_SECRET")
chat.upsert_user({"id": "user1", "name": "User One"})
channel = chat.channel("messaging", "general")
channel.create("user1")

Requires valid Stream Chat API credentials (api_key and api_secret) to instantiate the client.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package's license is compatible with your project's licensing requirements.
• Whether migration to the newer `getstream` SDK is necessary for your use case or timeline.

Package facts

Evidence: stream_chat-4.32.0-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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