Skip to main content
The Message endpoints connect a Hi Doctor patient with the medical team in a private conversation thread. They start or fetch the thread, list and send messages with text and file attachments, download attachments and mark the thread read or unread. Sending a message accepts an Idempotency-Key, so a retry never posts it twice. Last reviewed: 2026-11-04

​
Prerequisites

  • A patient bearer token and X-Brand-Slug: hi-doctor.

​
Operations

​
Boundaries and side effects

  • Messages are paginated with {count, next, previous, results}, maximum limit 200, ordering -created_at (default) or created_at. Listing messages does not mark them read.
  • Sending a message can notify the medical team. Send an Idempotency-Key so a retry cannot post a duplicate; without one, re-read the thread first. Starting a conversation and sending its first message are two operations and need two keys.
  • A message needs content, file or both; neither returns 400.
  • Attachment downloads can return 404, 410 or 503.
Messages are not an emergency channel. For severe or sudden symptoms, contact local emergency services. See Safety.