> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cometchat-22654f5b-feature-card-builder.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Retrieve Conversations

> Retrieve Conversations — CometChat documentation.

Conversations provide the last messages for every one-on-one and group conversation the logged-in user is a part of. This makes it easy for you to build a **Recent Chats** list.

## Retrieve List of Conversations

*In other words, as a logged-in user, how do I retrieve the latest conversations that I've been a part of?*

In order to fetch the list of conversations, you can use the `ConversationsRequest` class. To use this class i.e to create an object of the `ConversationsRequest` class, you need to use the `ConversationsRequestBuilder` class. The `ConversationsRequestBuilder` class allows you to set the parameters based on which the conversations are to be fetched.

The `ConversationsRequestBuilder` class allows you to set the below parameters:

### Set Limit

This method sets the limit i.e. the number of conversations that should be fetched in a single iteration.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Set Limit">
    ```javascript theme={null}
    let limit = 30;
    let conversationRequest = new CometChat.ConversationsRequestBuilder()
      													.setLimit(limit)
      													.build();    
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### Set Conversation Type

This method can be used to fetch user or group conversations specifically. The `conversationType` variable can hold one of the below two values:

* user - Only fetches user conversation.
* group - Only fetches group conversations.

If none is set, the list of conversations will include both user and group conversations.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Set Conversation Type">
    ```javascript theme={null}
    let limit = 30;
    let conversationType = "group";
    let conversationRequest = new CometChat.ConversationsRequestBuilder()
      													.setLimit(limit)
      													.setConversationType(conversationType)
      													.build();
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

Finally, once all the parameters are set to the builder class, you need to call the `build()` method to get the object of the `ConversationsRequest` class.

Once you have the object of the `ConversationsRequest` class, you need to call the `fetchNext()` method. Calling this method will return a list of `Conversation` objects containing X number of users depending on the limit set.

A Maximum of only 50 Conversations can be fetched at once.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Conversations Request">
    ```javascript theme={null}
    let limit = 30;
    let conversationsRequest = new CometChat.ConversationsRequestBuilder()
      													.setLimit(limit)
      													.build();

    conversationsRequest.fetchNext().then(
    conversationList => {
      console.log("Conversations list received:", conversationList);
    }, error => {
      console.log("Conversations list fetching failed with error:", error);
    }
    );
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

The `Conversation` Object consists of the below fields:

| Field              | Information                                                       |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| conversationId     | ID of the conversation.                                           |
| conversationType   | Type of conversation. (user/group)                                |
| lastMessage        | Last message the conversation.                                    |
| conversationWith   | User or Group object containing the details of the user or group. |
| unreadMessageCount | Unread message count for the conversation.                        |

## Retrieve Single Conversation

*In other words, as a logged-in user, how do I retrieve a specific conversation?*

In order to fetch a specific conversation, you can use the `getConversation` method. The `getConversation` method accepts two parameters.

1. `conversationWith`: UID/GUID of the user/group whose conversation you want to fetch.
2. `conversationType`: The `conversationType` variable can hold one of the below two values:

* user - Only fetches user conversation.
* group - Only fetches group conversations.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Get Conversation">
    ```javascript theme={null}
    CometChat.getConversation('conversationWith', 'conversationType').then(
      conversation => {
          console.log('conversation', conversation);
      }, error => {
          console.log('error while fetching a conversation', error);
      }
    );
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Convert Messages to Conversations

As per our [receive messages](/sdk/javascript/2.0/messaging-receive-message) guide, for real-time messages, you will always receive `Message` objects and not `Conversation` objects. Thus, you will need a mechanism to convert the Message object to `Conversation` object. You can use the `getConversationFromMessage(BaseMessage message)` of the `CometChatHelper` class.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Convert Message to Conversation">
    ```javascript theme={null}
    CometChat.CometChatHelper.getConversationFromMessage(message).then(
    conversation => {
      console.log("Conversation Object", conversation);
    }, error => {
      console.log("Error while converting message object", error);
    }
    );
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Warning>
  While converting `Message` object to `Conversation` object, the `unreadMessageCount` will not be available in the `Conversation` object. As this is for the real-time events, the unread message count needs to be managed in your client-side code.
</Warning>