Service Design Specification
airbnb-messaging-service documentation
Version: 1.0.5
Scope
This document provides a structured architectural overview of the messaging microservice, detailing its configuration, data model, authorization logic, business rules, and API design. It has been automatically generated based on the service definition within Mindbricks, ensuring that the information reflects the source of truth used during code generation and deployment.
The document is intended to serve multiple audiences:
- Service architects can use it to validate design decisions and ensure alignment with broader architectural goals.
- Developers and maintainers will find it useful for understanding the structure and behavior of the service, facilitating easier debugging, feature extension, and integration with other systems.
- Stakeholders and reviewers can use it to gain a clear understanding of the service’s capabilities and domain logic.
Note for Frontend Developers: While this document is valuable for understanding business logic and data interactions, please refer to the Service API Documentation for endpoint-level specifications and integration details.
Note for Backend Developers: Since the code for this service is automatically generated by Mindbricks, you typically won’t need to implement or modify it manually. However, this document is especially valuable when you’re building other services—whether within Mindbricks or externally—that need to interact with or depend on this service. It provides a clear reference to the service’s data contracts, business rules, and API structure, helping ensure compatibility and correct integration.
Messaging Service Settings
Enables secure in-app messaging between guests and hosts. Handles threads, messages (with text/media/system types), abuse flagging, and admin moderation for resolution…
Service Overview
This service is configured to listen for HTTP requests on port 3003,
serving both the main API interface and default administrative endpoints.
The following routes are available by default:
- API Test Interface (API Face):
/ - Swagger Documentation:
/swagger - Postman Collection Download:
/getPostmanCollection - Health Checks:
/healthand/admin/health - Current Session Info:
/currentuser - Favicon:
/favicon.ico
The service uses a PostgreSQL database for data storage, with the database name set to airbnb-messaging-service.
This service is accessible via the following environment-specific URLs:
- Preview:
https://airbnb3.prw.mindbricks.com/messaging-api - Staging:
https://airbnb3-stage.mindbricks.co/messaging-api - Production:
https://airbnb3.mindbricks.co/messaging-api
Authentication & Security
- Login Required: Yes
This service requires user authentication for access. It supports both JWT and RSA-based authentication mechanisms, ensuring secure user sessions and data integrity. If a crud route also is configured to require login, it will check a valid JWT token in the request query/header/bearer/cookie. If the token is valid, it will extract the user information from the token and make the fetched session data available in the request context.
Service Data Objects
The service uses a PostgreSQL database for data storage, with the database name set to airbnb-messaging-service.
Data deletion is managed using a soft delete strategy. Instead of removing records from the database, they are flagged as inactive by setting the isActive field to false.
| Object Name | Description | Public Access |
|---|---|---|
messageThread |
Thread/conversation between guest and host, optionally linked to a listing/reservation. Tracks participants, context, state, and stats. | accessPrivate |
messageReport |
Report/in-app abuse complaint filed for a message by a user. Tracks status, admin handling, and resolution notes. Only visible to involved parties and admins. | accessPrivate |
message |
Single message within a thread (text/media/system). Includes metadata for flagging/moderation. Linked to sender, thread, and content type. | accessProtected |
messageThread Data Object
Object Overview
Description: Thread/conversation between guest and host, optionally linked to a listing/reservation. Tracks participants, context, state, and stats.
This object represents a core data structure within the service and acts as the blueprint for database interaction, API generation, and business logic enforcement.
It is defined using the ObjectSettings pattern, which governs its behavior, access control, caching strategy, and integration points with other systems such as Stripe and Redis.
Core Configuration
- Soft Delete: Enabled — Determines whether records are marked inactive (
isActive = false) instead of being physically deleted. - Public Access: accessPrivate — If enabled, anonymous users may access this object’s data depending on API-level rules.
Composite Indexes
- uniqThreadParticipantsListingRes: [guestId, hostId, listingId, reservationId] This composite index is defined to optimize query performance for complex queries involving multiple fields.
The index also defines a conflict resolution strategy for duplicate key violations.
When a new record would violate this composite index, the following action will be taken:
On Duplicate: throwError
An error will be thrown, preventing the insertion of conflicting data.
Properties Schema
| Property | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
messageCount |
Integer | Yes | - |
isOpen |
Boolean | Yes | - |
guestId |
ID | Yes | - |
lastMessageAt |
Date | Yes | - |
listingId |
ID | No | - |
hostId |
ID | Yes | - |
reservationId |
ID | No | - |
- Required properties are mandatory for creating objects and must be provided in the request body if no default value is set.
Default Values
Default values are automatically assigned to properties when a new object is created, if no value is provided in the request body. Since default values are applied on db level, they should be literal values, not expressions.If you want to use expressions, you can use transposed parameters in any business API to set default values dynamically.
- isOpen: true
- guestId: ‘00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000’
- lastMessageAt: new Date()
- hostId: ‘00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000’
Constant Properties
guestId hostId
Constant properties are defined to be immutable after creation, meaning they cannot be updated or changed once set. They are typically used for properties that should remain constant throughout the object’s lifecycle.
A property is set to be constant if the Allow Update option is set to false.
Auto Update Properties
messageCount isOpen guestId lastMessageAt listingId hostId reservationId
An update crud API created with the option Auto Params enabled will automatically update these properties with the provided values in the request body.
If you want to update any property in your own business logic not by user input, you can set the Allow Auto Update option to false.
These properties will be added to the update API’s body parameters and can be updated by the user if any value is provided in the request body.
Elastic Search Indexing
isOpen guestId lastMessageAt listingId hostId reservationId
Properties that are indexed in Elastic Search will be searchable via the Elastic Search API. While all properties are stored in the elastic search index of the data object, only those marked for Elastic Search indexing will be available for search queries.
Database Indexing
guestId lastMessageAt listingId hostId reservationId
Properties that are indexed in the database will be optimized for query performance, allowing for faster data retrieval. Make a property indexed in the database if you want to use it frequently in query filters or sorting.
Relation Properties
guestId listingId hostId reservationId
Mindbricks supports relations between data objects, allowing you to define how objects are linked together. You can define relations in the data object properties, which will be used to create foreign key constraints in the database. For complex joins operations, Mindbricks supportsa BFF pattern, where you can view dynamic and static views based on Elastic Search Indexes. Use db level relations for simple one-to-one or one-to-many relationships, and use BFF views for complex joins that require multiple data objects to be joined together.
- guestId: ID
Relation to
user.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: Yes
- listingId: ID
Relation to
listing.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: No
- hostId: ID
Relation to
user.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: Yes
- reservationId: ID
Relation to
reservation.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: No
messageReport Data Object
Object Overview
Description: Report/in-app abuse complaint filed for a message by a user. Tracks status, admin handling, and resolution notes. Only visible to involved parties and admins.
This object represents a core data structure within the service and acts as the blueprint for database interaction, API generation, and business logic enforcement.
It is defined using the ObjectSettings pattern, which governs its behavior, access control, caching strategy, and integration points with other systems such as Stripe and Redis.
Core Configuration
- Soft Delete: Enabled — Determines whether records are marked inactive (
isActive = false) instead of being physically deleted. - Public Access: accessPrivate — If enabled, anonymous users may access this object’s data depending on API-level rules.
Composite Indexes
- messageReportCompositeIdx: [messageId, reportedBy] This composite index is defined to optimize query performance for complex queries involving multiple fields.
The index also defines a conflict resolution strategy for duplicate key violations.
When a new record would violate this composite index, the following action will be taken:
On Duplicate: doInsert
The new record will be inserted without checking for duplicates. This means that the composite index is designed for search purposes only.
Properties Schema
| Property | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
reportedBy |
ID | Yes | - |
reportReason |
String | Yes | - |
moderationStatus |
Enum | Yes | - |
messageId |
ID | Yes | - |
adminId |
ID | No | - |
reportedAt |
Date | Yes | - |
resolutionNotes |
Text | No | - |
- Required properties are mandatory for creating objects and must be provided in the request body if no default value is set.
Default Values
Default values are automatically assigned to properties when a new object is created, if no value is provided in the request body. Since default values are applied on db level, they should be literal values, not expressions.If you want to use expressions, you can use transposed parameters in any business API to set default values dynamically.
- reportedBy: ‘00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000’
- reportReason: ‘default’
- moderationStatus: pending
- messageId: ‘00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000’
- reportedAt: new Date()
Constant Properties
reportedBy messageId reportedAt
Constant properties are defined to be immutable after creation, meaning they cannot be updated or changed once set. They are typically used for properties that should remain constant throughout the object’s lifecycle.
A property is set to be constant if the Allow Update option is set to false.
Auto Update Properties
moderationStatus adminId resolutionNotes
An update crud API created with the option Auto Params enabled will automatically update these properties with the provided values in the request body.
If you want to update any property in your own business logic not by user input, you can set the Allow Auto Update option to false.
These properties will be added to the update API’s body parameters and can be updated by the user if any value is provided in the request body.
Enum Properties
Enum properties are defined with a set of allowed values, ensuring that only valid options can be assigned to them. The enum options value will be stored as strings in the database, but when a data object is created an addtional property with the same name plus an idx suffix will be created, which will hold the index of the selected enum option. You can use the index property to sort by the enum value or when your enum options represent a sequence of values.
- moderationStatus: [pending, reviewed, closed]
Elastic Search Indexing
reportedBy reportReason moderationStatus messageId reportedAt
Properties that are indexed in Elastic Search will be searchable via the Elastic Search API. While all properties are stored in the elastic search index of the data object, only those marked for Elastic Search indexing will be available for search queries.
Database Indexing
reportedBy moderationStatus messageId reportedAt
Properties that are indexed in the database will be optimized for query performance, allowing for faster data retrieval. Make a property indexed in the database if you want to use it frequently in query filters or sorting.
Relation Properties
reportedBy messageId adminId
Mindbricks supports relations between data objects, allowing you to define how objects are linked together. You can define relations in the data object properties, which will be used to create foreign key constraints in the database. For complex joins operations, Mindbricks supportsa BFF pattern, where you can view dynamic and static views based on Elastic Search Indexes. Use db level relations for simple one-to-one or one-to-many relationships, and use BFF views for complex joins that require multiple data objects to be joined together.
- reportedBy: ID
Relation to
user.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: Yes
- messageId: ID
Relation to
message.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: Yes
- adminId: ID
Relation to
user.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: No
message Data Object
Object Overview
Description: Single message within a thread (text/media/system). Includes metadata for flagging/moderation. Linked to sender, thread, and content type.
This object represents a core data structure within the service and acts as the blueprint for database interaction, API generation, and business logic enforcement.
It is defined using the ObjectSettings pattern, which governs its behavior, access control, caching strategy, and integration points with other systems such as Stripe and Redis.
Core Configuration
- Soft Delete: Enabled — Determines whether records are marked inactive (
isActive = false) instead of being physically deleted. - Public Access: accessProtected — If enabled, anonymous users may access this object’s data depending on API-level rules.
Composite Indexes
- threadMessageIndex: [threadId, sentAt] This composite index is defined to optimize query performance for complex queries involving multiple fields.
The index also defines a conflict resolution strategy for duplicate key violations.
When a new record would violate this composite index, the following action will be taken:
On Duplicate: doInsert
The new record will be inserted without checking for duplicates. This means that the composite index is designed for search purposes only.
Properties Schema
| Property | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
threadId |
ID | Yes | - |
content |
Text | Yes | - |
senderId |
ID | Yes | - |
sentAt |
Date | Yes | - |
messageType |
Enum | Yes | - |
mediaUrl |
String | No | - |
isModerated |
Boolean | Yes | - |
isFlagged |
Boolean | Yes | - |
flaggedBy |
ID | No | - |
flagReason |
String | No | - |
isRead |
Boolean | Yes | - |
- Required properties are mandatory for creating objects and must be provided in the request body if no default value is set.
Default Values
Default values are automatically assigned to properties when a new object is created, if no value is provided in the request body. Since default values are applied on db level, they should be literal values, not expressions.If you want to use expressions, you can use transposed parameters in any business API to set default values dynamically.
- threadId: ‘00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000’
- content: ‘text’
- senderId: ‘00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000’
- sentAt: new Date()
- messageType: text
- isRead: false
Always Create with Default Values
Some of the default values are set to be always used when creating a new object, even if the property value is provided in the request body. It ensures that the property is always initialized with a default value when the object is created.
- isRead: Will be created with value
false
Constant Properties
threadId senderId sentAt messageType
Constant properties are defined to be immutable after creation, meaning they cannot be updated or changed once set. They are typically used for properties that should remain constant throughout the object’s lifecycle.
A property is set to be constant if the Allow Update option is set to false.
Auto Update Properties
threadId content senderId messageType mediaUrl isModerated isFlagged flaggedBy flagReason isRead
An update crud API created with the option Auto Params enabled will automatically update these properties with the provided values in the request body.
If you want to update any property in your own business logic not by user input, you can set the Allow Auto Update option to false.
These properties will be added to the update API’s body parameters and can be updated by the user if any value is provided in the request body.
Enum Properties
Enum properties are defined with a set of allowed values, ensuring that only valid options can be assigned to them. The enum options value will be stored as strings in the database, but when a data object is created an addtional property with the same name plus an idx suffix will be created, which will hold the index of the selected enum option. You can use the index property to sort by the enum value or when your enum options represent a sequence of values.
- messageType: [text, media, system]
Elastic Search Indexing
threadId senderId sentAt messageType isModerated isFlagged isRead
Properties that are indexed in Elastic Search will be searchable via the Elastic Search API. While all properties are stored in the elastic search index of the data object, only those marked for Elastic Search indexing will be available for search queries.
Database Indexing
threadId senderId
Properties that are indexed in the database will be optimized for query performance, allowing for faster data retrieval. Make a property indexed in the database if you want to use it frequently in query filters or sorting.
Relation Properties
threadId senderId flaggedBy
Mindbricks supports relations between data objects, allowing you to define how objects are linked together. You can define relations in the data object properties, which will be used to create foreign key constraints in the database. For complex joins operations, Mindbricks supportsa BFF pattern, where you can view dynamic and static views based on Elastic Search Indexes. Use db level relations for simple one-to-one or one-to-many relationships, and use BFF views for complex joins that require multiple data objects to be joined together.
- threadId: ID
Relation to
messagethread.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: Yes
- senderId: ID
Relation to
user.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: Yes
- flaggedBy: ID
Relation to
user.id
The target object is a parent object, meaning that the relation is a one-to-many relationship from target to this object.
On Delete: Set Null Required: No
Business Logic
messaging has got 15 Business APIs to manage its internal and crud logic. For the details of each business API refer to its chapter.
This document was generated from the service architecture definition and should be kept in sync with implementation changes.