githubEdit

Headers

Message headers are used in a variety of JetStream contexts, such de-duplication, auto-purging of messages, metadata from republished messages, and more.

Nats- is a reserved namespace. Please use a different prefix for your own headers. This list may not be complete. Additional headers may be used for API internal messages or messages used for monitoring and control.

Publish

Headers that can be set by a client when a message being published. These headers are recognized by the server.

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Msg-Id

Client-defined unique identifier for a message that will be used by the server apply de-duplication within the configured Duplicate Window.

9f01ccf0-8c34-4789-8688-231a2538a98b

2.2.0

Nats-Expected-Stream

Used to assert the published message is received by some expected stream.

my-stream

2.2.0

Nats-Expected-Last-Msg-Id

Used to apply optimistic concurrency control at the stream-level. The value is the last expected Nats-Msg-Id and the server will reject a publish if the current ID does not match.

9f01ccf0-8c34-4789-8688-231a2538a98b

2.2.0

Nats-Expected-Last-Sequence

Used to apply optimistic concurrency control at the stream-level. The value is the last expected sequence and the server will reject a publish if the current sequence does not match.

328

2.2.0

Nats-Expected-Last-Subject-Sequence

Used to apply optimistic concurrency control at the subject-level. The value is the last expected sequence and the server will reject a publish if the current sequence does not match for the message's subject.

38

2.3.1

Nats-Expected-Last-Subject-Sequence-Subject

A subject which may include wildcards. Used with Nats-Expected-Last-Subject-Sequence. Server will enforce last sequence against the given subject rather than the one being published.

events.orders.1.>

2.11.0

Nats-Rollup

Used to apply a purge of all prior messages in a stream or at the subject-level. The rollup message will stay in the stream. Requires the allow rollups to be set on the stream.

all purges the full stream, sub purges the subject on which this messages was sent. Wildcards subjects are not allowed and will result in undefined behavior.

2.6.2

Nats-TTL

Used to set a per message TTL. Requires the per message ttl flag to be set on the stream.

1h, 10s (go duration string format)

2.11

RePublish or direct get

When messages are being re-published (must be configured in stream settings) from a stream or retrieved with a direct get operation from stream these headers are being set.

Do not set these headers on client published messages.

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Stream

Name of the stream the message was republished from.

Nats-Stream: my-stream

2.8.3

Nats-Subject

The original subject of the message.

events.mouse_clicked

2.8.3

Nats-Sequence

The original sequence of the message.

193

2.8.3

Nats-Last-Sequence

The last sequence of the message having the same subject, otherwise zero if this is the first message for the subject.

190

2.8.3

Nats-Time-Stamp

The original timestamp of the message.

2023-08-23T19:53:05.762416Z

2.10.0

Nats-Num-Pending

Number of messages pending in the multi/batched get response. or details see: ADR-31arrow-up-right

5

2.10.0

Nats-UpTo-Sequence

On the last messages of multi/batched get response. The up-to-seq value of the original request. Helps the client to continue incomplete batch requests. For details see: ADR-31arrow-up-right

2.11.0

Sources

Headers that are implicitly added to messages sourced from other streams.

The format of the header content may change in the future. Please parse conservatively and assume that additional fields may be added or that older nats-server version have fewer fields.

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Stream-Source

Contains space delimited: - Origin stream name (disambiguated with domain hash if cross domain sourced) - The original sequence number - The list of subject filters - The list of destination transforms - The original subject

ORDERS:vSF0ECo6 17 foo.* bar.$1 foo.abc

2.2.0

Tracing

When tracing is activated every subsystem that touches a message will produce Trace Events. These Events are aggregated per server and published to a destination subject.

Note that two variants exist. traceparent as per the trace context standard and ad hoc tracing through Nats-Trace-Dest.

Introduced in version 2.11 - see ADR-41arrow-up-right

Name
Description
Example
Version

traceparent

Triggers tracing as per the https://www.w3.org/TR/trace-context/arrow-up-right standard. Requires the msg-trace section to be configured on the account level.

N/A

2.11

Nats-Trace-Dest

The subject that will receive the Trace messages

trace.receiver.all

2.11

Nats-Trace-Only

Optional. Defaults to false. Set to true to skip message delivery. If true only traces will be produced, but the messages is not sent to a subscribing client or stored in JetStream.

true

2.11

Accept-Encoding

Optional. Enables compression of the payload of the trace messages.

gzip, snappy

2.11

Nats-Trace-Hop

Internal. Do not set. Set by the server to count hops.

<hop count>

2.11

Nats-Trace-Origin-Account

Internal. Do not set. Set by the server when an account boundary is crossed

<account name>

2.11

Scheduler

Message scheduling in streams. Needs to be enabled on the stream with "allow schedules" flag.

Introduced in version 2.11 - see ADR-51arrow-up-right

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Schedule

When the message will be sent to the target subject. Several formats are suppported: A timestamp for sending a messages once. Crontab format for repeated messages and simple alias for common crontab formats.

0 30 14 * * *, @hourly, daily, @at 2009-11-10T23:00:00Z (RFC3339 format)

2.11

Nats-Schedule-TTL

Optional. The TTL to be set on the final message on the target subject.

1h, 10s (valid go duration string)

2.11

Nats-Schedule-Target

The target subject the final message will be sent to. Note that this must be distinct from the scheduling subject the message arrived in.

orders

2.11

Nats-Schedule-Source

Optional. Instructs the schedule to read the last message on the given subject and publish it. If the Subject is empty, nothing is published, wildcards are not supported.

orders.customer_acme

2.11

Nats-Schedule-Time-Zone

Optional. The time zone used for the Cron schedule. If not specified, the Cron schedule will be in UTC. Not allowed to be used if the schedule is not a Cron schedule.

CET

2.11

The final scheduled message will contain the following headers.

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Scheduler

The subject holding the schedule

orders.schedule.1234

2.11

Nats-Schedule-Next

Timestamp for next invocation for cron schedule messages or purge for delayed messages

2009-11-10T23:00:00Z

2.11

Nats-TTL

The TTL value when Nats-Schedule-TTL was set

1h, 10s

2.11

Batch send

Introduced in version 2.12 with optimizations in 2.14 - see ADR-50arrow-up-right

Atomic batch sends will use the following headers. Batches are atomic on send only, but a client may reconstruct a batch using the headers below.

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Batch-Id

Unique identifier for the batch.

<uuid> (<=64 characters)

2.6.2

Nats-Batch-Sequence

Monotonously increasing id, starting with 1

1, 2

2.6.2

Nats-Batch-Commit

Only on last message. 1 commit the batch including this message. eob commit the batch excluding this message. Any other value will terminate the batch.

1, eob

2.6.2

Internal

Headers used internally by API clients and the server. Should not be set by user.

This is list is not exhaustive. Headers used in error replies may not be documented.

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Required-Api-Level

Optional. The required API level for the JetStream request. Servers from version 2.11 will return an error if larger than the support API level.

2 (Integer value)

2.11

Nats-Request-Info

When messages cross account boundaries a header with origin information (account, user etc) may be added.

2.2.0

Nats-Marker-Reason

When messages are removed from a KV where subject delete markers are supported, a delete marker will be placed. And notifications are sent to interested watchers. The message payload is empty and the removal reason is indicated through this header. See ADR-48arrow-up-right

MaxAge, Remove, Purge

2.12

Nats-Incr

Used in KV stores to atomically increment counter. Any valid integer (including 0) starting with a sign.. See ADR-49arrow-up-right

+1, +42, -1, +0

2.12

Nats-Counter-Sources

Tracking Nats-Incr when messages are sourced. For details see: ADR-49arrow-up-right

2.12

Nats-Counter-Sources

Mirror

Headers used for internal flow-control messages for a mirror.

This is for information only and may change without notice.

Name
Description
Example
Version

Nats-Last-Consumer

2.2.1

Nats-Last-Stream

2.2.1

Nats-Consumer-Stalled

2.4.0

Nats-Response-Type

2.6.4

Last updated

Was this helpful?