Retrieve Users - CometChat Docs

Quick Reference - Fetch users:

// Get logged-in user
const me = await CometChat.getLoggedinUser();

// Fetch user list
const usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder().setLimit(30).build();
const users = await usersRequest.fetchNext();

// Get specific user
const user = await CometChat.getUser("UID");

Available via: SDK | REST API | UI Kits

Retrieve Logged In User Details

You can get the details of the logged-in user using the getLoggedInUser() method. This method can also be used to check if the user is logged in or not. If the method returns Promise with reject callback, it indicates that the user is not logged in and you need to log the user into CometChat SDK.

JavaScript
TypeScript

var user = CometChat.getLoggedinUser().then(
user => {
  console.log("user details:", { user });
}, error => {
  console.log("error getting details:", { error });
}
);

CometChat.getLoggedinUser().then(
  (user: CometChat.User) => {
      console.log("user details:", { user });
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("error getting details:", { error });
  }
); 

This method will return a User object containing all the information related to the logged-in user.

Retrieve List of Users

In order to fetch the list of users, you can use the UsersRequest class. To use this class i.e to create an object of the UsersRequest class, you need to use the UsersRequestBuilder class. The UsersRequestBuilder class allows you to set the parameters based on which the users are to be fetched. The UsersRequestBuilder class allows you to set the below parameters:

Set Limit

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

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .build();  

let limit: number = 30;
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .build();

Set Search Keyword

This method allows you to set the search string based on which the users are to be fetched.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let searchKeyword = "super";
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .setSearchKeyword(searchKeyword)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let searchKeyword: string = "super";
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .setSearchKeyword(searchKeyword)
  .build();

Search In

This method allows you to define in which user property should the searchKeyword be searched. This method only works in combination with setSearchKeyword(). By default the keyword is searched in both UID & Name.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let searchKeyword = "super";
let searchIn = ["uid", "name"];
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .setSearchKeyword(searchKeyword)
                  .searchIn(searchIn)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let searchKeyword: string = "super";
let searchIn: Array<String> = ["uid", "name"];
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .setSearchKeyword(searchKeyword)
  .searchIn(searchIn)
  .build();

Set Status

The status based on which the users are to be fetched. The status parameter can contain one of the below two values:

CometChat.USER_STATUS.ONLINE - will return the list of only online users.
CometChat.USER_STATUS.OFFLINE - will return the list of only offline users.

If this parameter is not set, will return all the available users.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .setStatus(CometChat.USER_STATUS.ONLINE)
                  .build()

let limit: number = 30;
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .setStatus(CometChat.USER_STATUS.ONLINE)
  .build();

Hide Blocked Users

This method is used to determine if the blocked users should be returned as a part of the user list. If set to true, the user list will not contain the users blocked by the logged in user.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .hideBlockedUsers(true)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .hideBlockedUsers(true)
  .build();

Set Roles

This method allows you to fetch the users based on multiple roles.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let roles = ["default", "dev"];
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .setRoles(roles)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let roles: Array<String> = ["default", "dev"];
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .setRoles(roles)
  .build();

Friends Only

This property when set to true will return only the friends of the logged-in user.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .friendsOnly(true)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .friendsOnly(true)
  .build();

Set Tags

This method accepts a list of tags based on which the list of users is to be fetched. The list fetched will only contain the users that have been tagged with the specified tags.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let tags = ["tag1", "tag2"];
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .setTags(tags)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let tags: Array<String> = ["tag1", "tag2"];
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .setTags(tags)
  .build();

With Tags

This property when set to true will fetch tags data along with the list of users.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .withTags(true)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .withTags(true)
  .build();

Set UIDs

This method accepts a list of UIDs based on which the list of users is fetched. A maximum of 25 users can be fetched.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let UIDs = ["cometchat-uid-1", "cometchat-uid-2"];
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .setUIDs(UIDs)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let UIDs: Array<String> = ["cometchat-uid-1", "cometchat-uid-2"];
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .setUIDs(UIDs)
  .build();

Sort By

This method allows you to sort the User List by a specific property of User. By default the User List is sorted by status => name => UID . If name is pass to the sortBy() method the user list will be sorted by name => UID.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let UIDs = ["cometchat-uid-1", "cometchat-uid-2"];
let sortBy = "name";
let usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
                  .setLimit(limit)
                  .sortBy(sortBy)
                  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let sortBy: string = "name";
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .sortBy(sortBy)
  .build();

Sort By Order

This method allows you to sort the User List in a specific order. By default the user list is sorted in ascending order.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let limit = 30;
let sortByOrder = "desc";
let usersReques = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .sortByOrder(sortOrder)
  .build();

let limit: number = 30;
let sortOrder: string = "desc";
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .sortOrder(sortOrder)
  .build();

Finally, once all the parameters are set to the builder class, you need to call the build() method to get the object of the UsersRequest class. Once you have the object of the UsersRequest class, you need to call the fetchNext() method. Calling this method will return a list of User objects containing n number of users where n is the limit set in the builder class.

JavaScript
TypeScript

var limit = 30;
var usersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  										.setLimit(limit)
  										.build();

usersRequest.fetchNext().then(
userList => {
  console.log("User list received:", userList);
}, error => {
  console.log("User list fetching failed with error:", error);
}
);

let limit: number = 30;
let usersRequest: CometChat.UsersRequest = new CometChat.UsersRequestBuilder()
  .setLimit(limit)
  .build();

usersRequest.fetchNext().then(
  (userList: CometChat.User[]) => {
      console.log("User list received:", userList);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("User list fetching failed with error:", error);
  }
);

Retrieve Particular User Details

To get the information of a user, you can use the getUser() method.

JavaScript
TypeScript

let UID = "UID";
CometChat.getUser(UID).then(
user => {
  console.log("User details fetched for user:", user);
}, error => {
  console.log("User details fetching failed with error:", error);
}
);

let UID: string = "UID";
CometChat.getUser(UID).then(
  (user: CometChat.User) => {
      console.log("User details fetched for user:", user);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("User details fetching failed with error:", error);
  }
);

The getUser() method takes the following parameters:

Parameter	Description
UID	The UID of the user for whom the details are to be fetched

It returns the User object containing the details of the user.

Get online user count

To get the total count of online users for your app, you can use the getOnlineUserCount() method.

JavaScript
TypeScript

CometChat.getOnlineUserCount().then(
userCount => {
  console.log("Total online user count:", userCount);
}, error => {
  console.log("Online user count fetching failed with error:", error);
}
);

CometChat.getOnlineUserCount().then(
  (userCount: number) => {
      console.log("Total online user count:", userCount);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("Online user count fetching failed with error:", error);
  }
); 

This method returns the total online user count for your app.

Best Practices

Use pagination for large user lists

Always use fetchNext() with a reasonable setLimit() value (e.g., 20-30) rather than fetching all users at once. This improves performance and reduces memory usage.

Reuse the same UsersRequest instance for pagination

The UsersRequest object maintains an internal cursor. Creating a new instance resets the cursor, causing the same page to be fetched repeatedly. Reuse the same instance across fetchNext() calls.

Filter server-side, not client-side

Use the builder’s filter methods (setSearchKeyword, setStatus, setRoles, setTags) to narrow results at the API level rather than fetching all users and filtering in your app.

Troubleshooting

fetchNext returns empty list

Verify the logged-in user session is active. Also check if filters like setRoles, setTags, or setStatus are too restrictive. Try removing filters to confirm users exist.

getUser returns error

Ensure the UID exists in your CometChat app. UIDs are case-sensitive — double-check the exact UID string.

Blocked users still appearing in list

By default, blocked users are included in the user list. Use hideBlockedUsers(true) in the UsersRequestBuilder to exclude them.

Next Steps

User Management

Create, update, and delete users in CometChat

Block Users

Block and unblock users, retrieve blocked user lists

User Presence

Track online/offline status of users in real time

Retrieve Conversations

Fetch conversation lists with last message and unread counts

​Retrieve Logged In User Details

​Retrieve List of Users

​Set Limit

​Set Search Keyword

​Search In

​Set Status

​Hide Blocked Users

​Set Roles

​Friends Only

​Set Tags

​With Tags

​Set UIDs

​Sort By

​Sort By Order

​Retrieve Particular User Details

​Get online user count

​Best Practices

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps