# Chat History Design Guidelines

## Style recommendations

Chat history is a highly requested **optional** feature that helps players pick up conversations where they left off—whether they're returning to a lobby or jumping back into a linked channel.

We recommend showing **timestamps** to give players better context about when messages were sent and seen.

![Badge when online elsewhere](../img/images/social-sdk/design-guidelines/ChatHistory-02.webp)

## Display logic

If one player is messaging from a game lobby or linked channel, then chat history is preserved, even if the other player is messaging from Discord.

When players return to a lobby or open a linked channel, we recommend surfacing **10 to 15** of the most recent messages to provide meaningful context. This isn't a hard limit—older messages can be revealed through scroll or loading more content, depending on your UI constraints.

![Message styling](../img/images/social-sdk/design-guidelines/ChatHistory-03.webp)

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## Resources

- [Development Guide: Creating and Managing Lobbies](/guides/lobbies-voice-development-guides-managing-lobbies)

## Change Log

| Date          | Changes         |
| ------------- | --------------- |
| July 02, 2025 | initial release |

## Related pages

- [API Reference](./api-reference-index.md)
- [App Fundamentals](./app-fundamentals-index.md)
- [Best Practices](./best-practices-index.md)
- [Bots & Companion Apps](./bots-companion-apps-index.md)
- [Building Games](./building-games-index.md)
- [Building on Discord](./building-on-discord-index.md)
- [Change Log](./change-log-index.md)
- [Communities & Servers](./communities-servers-index.md)
- [Components](./components-index.md)
- [Core Concepts](./core-concepts-index.md)

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