Build, integrate, and answer how-to questions for Stream Chat in Unreal Engine games and apps. Use for Unreal Engine / UE5 / C++ / Blueprint / UMG project work - plugin install per engine version, StreamChatClientComponent wiring on the HUD, ConnectUser and tokens, channels and messages, the shipped WBP_* chat widgets, theming, cooking, and iOS / Android / desktop packaging. Triggers on unreal, unreal engine, ue5, ue 5.7, ue 5.8, .uproject, .uplugin, Build.cs, umg, blueprint, widget blueprint, StreamChat plugin, UStreamChatClientComponent, UChatChannel, FChannelProperties, WBP_TeamChat, in-game chat, game chat. Chat only - there is no Stream Video or Feeds SDK for Unreal.
Build, integrate, and answer how-to questions for Stream Chat in Unreal Engine games and apps. Use for Unreal Engine / UE5 / C++ / Blueprint / UMG project work - plugin install per engine version, StreamChatClientComponent wiring on the HUD, ConnectUser and tokens, channels and messages, the shipped WBP_* chat widgets, theming, cooking, and iOS / Android / desktop packaging. Triggers on unreal, unreal engine, ue5, ue 5.7, ue 5.8, .uproject, .uplugin, Build.cs, umg, blueprint, widget blueprint, StreamChat plugin, UStreamChatClientComponent, UChatChannel, FChannelProperties, WBP_TeamChat, in-game chat, game chat. Chat only - there is no Stream Video or Feeds SDK for Unreal.
license
See LICENSE in repository root
compatibility
Requires an Unreal Engine 5.7 or 5.8 project (C++ or Blueprint) and a local engine install for build/verify work. Docs lookups need only network access. The `getstream` CLI is the default path for credentials (API key + user token); optional if the user pastes them.
Stream Unreal - docs orchestrator for Unreal Engine
Chat only. There is no Stream Video or Stream Feeds SDK for Unreal (/video/docs/unreal and the Feeds Unreal index both 404). If the user asks for calling or feeds in Unreal, say so up front and offer the alternatives (a platform SDK on a companion mobile app, or the REST/server API) rather than inventing an API.
The SDK is in beta.IsBetaVersion: true in the .uplugin; the surface can change between releases, and C++ and Blueprint coverage differ per operation. State this whenever the user pins a version or plans an upgrade.
This skill orchestrates: it gates the request against engine support and feature support, routes to the exact docs page, fetches it live, and applies it - while carrying the curated Unreal-specific knowledge the docs do not have (the ApiKey/BeginPlay ordering trap, the UMG widget layer, cooking, and the per-platform config that decides whether a packaged build is usable).
Rules (read once per session):RULES.md - non-negotiable rules + Unreal pitfalls. Read before writing any code.
Step 0: Three gates, before any code
Resolve all three from the user's words plus a read-only probe. Each one can change the answer from "here is the code" to "that is not possible" - so none of them is optional, and none of them belongs in a compile error later.
Gate 1: engine version (picks the release asset, or stops the task)
Target engine
What to do
5.7 or 5.8
Supported. Download the matching release asset - see setup.md 2.
4.27 / 5.0 / 5.1
Only v1.3.0 (Dec 2022) covers these. Say so: the API predates v2.0.0, BlockUser/UnblockUser/GetBlockedUsers do not exist, and none of this skill's v2 guidance is guaranteed to apply.
5.2 through 5.6
Hard stop - no release supports these. Say it immediately. The options are: upgrade the project to 5.7/5.8, or build the plugin from source against an unsupported engine (unverified, not recommended). Do not download an asset and hope.
Detect the version from the .uproject rather than asking:
There is one release archive per engine version (StreamChat-5.7.zip, StreamChat-5.8.zip) and picking the wrong one is a silent mismatch, not a clean error. Resolve the version first, then download.
Gate 2: feature support (say no in the plan, not in a compile error)
Not implemented in the Unreal SDK as of v2.0.0. If the request needs one of these, say so before writing code:
Implemented: messaging (send / edit / fetch / full-text search / soft delete, hard delete from C++, C++ pagination both directions), channels (query / watch / create / update / truncate / hide+show / freeze / members), reactions (score + enforce-unique, remove, C++ pagination), read state and unread counts, typing indicators, moderation (ban, shadow ban, mute users, mute channels, block and unblock users, flag messages and users, query banned users), slow mode, push device registration, presence + watchers + own-capabilities, real-time events, and preview UI widgets.
The docs contradict the SDK here. The Unreal introduction page still lists "User blocking" as not implemented, but BlockUser, UnblockUser, and GetBlockedUsers all ship on UStreamChatClientComponent in v2.0.0. Trust the SDK. The repo README feature list is the accurate one.
Gate 3: C++ or Blueprint
Ask only if genuinely unclear; otherwise infer (a Source/ dir with a .Build.cs means C++ is available).
C++ is the full surface. Callback-based (TFunction<void(...)>), TOptional<> parameters, and all pagination.
Blueprint covers the common operations as latent nodes, with ...BP-suffixed variants where the C++ signature takes TOptional (SendMessageBP, BanUserBP, ShadowBanUserBP, MuteUserBP, BanMemberBP).
Pagination and the lower-level APIs are C++ only. If the user wants a Blueprint-only integration, say up front which parts will need C++ - and note the naming trap: BanUserBP(User, FTimespan, FString, bool) takes required args where BanUser(User, TOptional<FTimespan>, TOptional<FString>, bool) takes optional ones. A zero FTimespan means "unlimited", not "already expired".
The docs convention - and the coverage caveat that matters here
Every Stream docs page has a Markdown twin: take the page URL, drop the trailing /, add .md.
Always fetch the .md variant - clean Markdown, verbatim code, no page chrome. The live index that lists every Unreal page: https://getstream.io/cli/docs/chat-unreal.md.
Now the caveat, and it is the single most important thing about this docs tree. The /chat/docs/unreal/ tree is largely the shared cross-SDK prose. Only about 26 of its 61 pages carry an Unreal code tab; the rest show JavaScript, Node, Kotlin - even a C#/Unity sample on the rate-limits page. Several pages document features the Unreal SDK does not have at all (file-uploads, threads, pinned-messages, polls-api, drafts, message-reminders, location-sharing, archiving-channels, pinning-channels) with working JavaScript and no per-page warning. And some pages for features the SDK does have carry no Unreal code (send-reaction, moderation, search, message-delivery-and-read-status, freezing-channels).
So:
Never translate a JavaScript snippet into C++.channel.sendReaction(...) does not tell you the shape of UChatChannel::SendReaction. A JS-only page is a page whose concepts apply and whose code does not.
When the page has no Unreal tab, get the API from the source of truth ladder below instead, and say where you got it.
docs-map.md marks per-page Unreal coverage. Use it - it saves a wasted fetch and a wrong signature.
Source-of-truth ladder
Walk it in order. Stop at the first rung that answers the question, and cite which rung you used.
Rung
Source
Use for
1
The page's Unreal code tab (docs-map.md says which pages have one)
Anything covered. Copy verbatim.
2
Plugin headers - Plugins/StreamChat/Source/StreamChat*/Public/**.h in the user's project, else raw.githubusercontent.com/GetStream/stream-chat-unreal/<tag>/...
Exact signatures, defaults, UFUNCTION metadata, Blueprint availability. The final authority.
Browsing the class surface when you do not know the header name.
4
The sample project - the repo root is the sample: Source/StreamChatSample/, Source/DocsSamples/
Real wiring end to end. StreamChatSampleHud.cpp is a working connect + query + show-UI in 40 lines.
Read the headers from the version the project actually vendors (the plugin is copied into Plugins/, so it is right there - prefer it over GitHub main).
URL grounding: only fetch a page URL you got from docs-map.md or from a live index fetch in this conversation. Do not invent doc paths from memory.
Step 1: Classify the request
With the gates passed, pick the mode:
How-to / reference ("how do I query channels?", "what does EChannelFlags::Watch do?") -> go straight to Docs lookup. No setup, no credentials.
Integrate ("add chat to my game", "wire Stream into this project") -> run setup.md, then Docs lookup per feature.
New project ("build me an Unreal chat app") -> setup.md then Docs lookup, scoped to the requested screens. If there is no Unreal project, tell the user to create it in the Epic launcher / Unreal Editor first - do not try to scaffold a .uproject by hand.
Chat UI ("show a channel list", "put chat on the HUD", "style the message bubbles") -> run widgets.md. This layer has no official documentation at all, so the runbook is the source: the WBP_* inventory, the LoadClass-by-path pattern, the Setup()-before-AddToViewport() rule, the context-ancestor model, theming, and the cook directive that path-loading requires.
Package / ship / run on device ("build for iOS", "why is it frozen on my phone?", "package for Android") -> run platforms.md. The per-platform config there is load-bearing, not polish: without it a packaged mobile build is variously unreadably small, frozen a few frames in, or deaf to touch.
If the user asks for a chat UI and has not said which, prefer the shipped WBP_* widgets over hand-built UMG for a first integration - they carry the safe-area handling, theming, and list pagination that is tedious to reproduce.
Step 2: Docs lookup (every request ends here)
Open docs-map.md. Find the row for the feature; it gives the exact .md URL and whether that page has Unreal code.
If the feature is not in the map, fetch the live index (https://getstream.io/cli/docs/chat-unreal.md) and pick from it.
Fetch the .md page(s) with WebFetch. At most 3 per request; beyond that, hand the user the index URL.
If the page has an Unreal tab, use its code verbatim, adapting only to the project's actor/lifecycle shape. If it does not, drop to rung 2 of the ladder and read the header.
Cite what you used:Source: [Title](https://getstream.io/...), or Source: Plugins/StreamChat/Source/StreamChat/Public/Channel/ChatChannel.h for a header. Never answer SDK specifics from training data - if you did not read it this conversation, read it now or say you could not find it.
Apply best practices - one QueryChannels with a filter, then Watch plus WebSocket events; no per-tick queries; connect once. See RULES.md "Mindful API usage".
What this skill carries
The official docs cover the low-level client well where they have Unreal tabs, so this skill does not restate them. The curated, non-doc content is:
