Chat Message Endpoint

Last updated: January 26, 2026

Route

POST /wp-json/extrachill/v1/chat/message

Purpose

Sends a user’s message to the ExtraChill AI assistant, saves the updated conversation, and returns both the AI response and any tool calls requested by the chat engine.

Authentication

Requires a logged-in WordPress session. Anonymous requests fail (permission_callback checks is_user_logged_in()).

Request Body

Field	Type	Required	Notes
`message`	string	Yes	Sanitized with `sanitize_textarea_field( wp_unslash( $value ) )`. Must contain non-empty text after trimming.

Processing Flow

Validates the message body via REST arg schema.
Checks extrachill-chat helpers exist: ec_chat_get_or_create_chat(), ec_chat_send_ai_message(), and ec_chat_save_conversation(). Missing helpers trigger 500 function_missing errors.
Retrieves/creates the user’s chat post to store conversation history.
Sends the sanitized message to ec_chat_send_ai_message( $message, $chat_post_id ), which returns:
- content: AI reply text.
- tool_calls: Optional structured tool invocations.
- messages: Full conversation stack to persist.
Saves conversation history via ec_chat_save_conversation() when provided.
Responds with:

{
  "message": "AI response text",
  "tool_calls": [ ... ],
  "timestamp": "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS"
}

Error Handling

Code	Status	Description
`function_missing`	500	extrachill-chat helper not loaded.
`chat_history_error`	500	Failed to fetch/create the chat post.
`ai_error`	500	AI provider returned an error.
Validation errors	400	Empty or missing message field.

Client Guidance

Always include REST nonces/cookies when calling from the WordPress UI.
Display the returned tool_calls output when present; downstream components may need to render tool results inline.
Use the timestamp to show when the assistant responded relative to the site timezone.
Log or surface ai_error messages to help users retry when the upstream AI provider is unavailable.