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Link unfurling

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Important

The code samples in this section are based on v4.6 and later versions of the Bot Framework SDK. If you're looking for documentation for earlier versions, see the Message Extensions - v3 SDK section in the Resources folder of the documentation.

The document guides you on how to add link unfurling to your app manifest using Developer Portal and manually. With link unfurling, your app can register to receive an invoke activity when URLs with a particular domain are pasted into the compose message area. The invoke contains the full URL that was pasted into the compose message area, and you can respond with a card that the user can unfurl, providing additional information or actions. This works similar to a search command with the URL serving as the search term. You can now add link unfurling to Microsoft Teams without installing the app.

Screenshot shows the link unfurling experience for a Teams app installed or not installed in Teams and other apps.

Note

  • The link unfurling result is cached for 30 minutes.
  • Link unfurling supports Adaptive Cards version 1.3 and earlier.
  • Messaging extension commands aren't required for Link unfurling. However, there must be at least one command in manifest as it is a mandatory property in messaging extensions. For more information, see compose extensions.
  • For mobile client, link unfurling is supported only for links that don't require authentication.

The following image is an example of link unfurling in Teams desktop and mobile clients:

When a link is pasted into the Teams compose message area, the link unfurls into a card with the work item details.

Screenshot of link unfurling example for Azure Dev Ops links pasted in teams compose message area.

See the following video to learn more about link unfurling:


To add link unfurling to your app manifest, add a new messageHandlers array to the composeExtensions section of your app manifest JSON. You can add the array with the help of Developer Portal or manually. Domain listings can include wildcards, for example *.example.com that matches exactly one segment of the domain. If you need to match a.b.example.com, then use *.*.example.com.

Note

Ensure that you don't add domains that aren't in your control, either directly or through wildcards. For example, yourapp.onmicrosoft.com is valid, but *.onmicrosoft.com isn't valid. The top-level domains are prohibited, for example, *.com, *.org.

  1. Open Developer Portal from the Microsoft Teams client and then select the Apps tab.

    Screenshot shows Developer portal with Apps highlighted in red.

    Note

    You must add Developer Portal app, if you don't have it added in your Teams client.

    Screenshot shows Teams with search and Developer portal highlighted in red.

  2. Load your app manifest.

    Screenshot of Developer portal showing the apps information.

  3. Select Messaging Extension under App features and then either choose Select an existing bot or Create a new bot.

    Screenshot of App features with App features and Messaging extension highlighted in red.

    Screenshot of Messaging extension with Select an existing bot highlighted in red.

  4. Select Save.

  5. Select Add a domain under Preview links section and then enter valid domain.

  6. Select Add. The following image explains the process:

    Screenshot of the message handlers section in Developer Portal.

Note

If authentication is added through Microsoft Entra ID, unfurl links in Teams using bot.

First, you must add the messageHandlers array to your app manifest and enable your message extension to interact with links. The following example explains how to add link unfurling manually:

...
{
  "composeExtensions": [
    {
      "botId": "abc123456-ab12-ab12-ab12-abcdef123456",
      "messageHandlers": [
        {
          "type": "link",
          "value": {
            "domains": [
              "*.trackeddomain.com"
            ]
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
...

For a complete manifest example, see manifest reference.

After adding the domain to the app manifest, you must update your web service code to handle the invoke request. Use the received URL to search your service and create a card response. If you respond with more than one card, only the first card response is used.

Note

The response from a bot must include a preview property.

The following card types are supported:

For more information, see Action type invoke.

The following code is an example of the invoke request:

Following is an example of the invoke sent to your bot:

   {
     "type": "invoke",
     "name": "composeExtension/queryLink",
     "value": {
       "url": "https://theurlsubmittedbyyouruser.trackeddomain.com/id/1234"
     }
   }

Example of the response:

{
 "composeExtension":
   {
     "type": "result",
     "attachmentLayout": "list",
     "attachments": 
     [
       {
         "contentType": "application/vnd.microsoft.card.adaptive",
         "preview": 
          {
            "contentType": "application/vnd.microsoft.card.adaptive",
            "content": << Card Payload >>
          },
          "contentType": "application/vnd.microsoft.card.adaptive",
          "content": << Card Payload >>
       }
      ]
   }
}

The most common way to share content in Microsoft Teams is through links. For any link, Teams unfurls a preview of the link into an Adaptive Card with the information such as image, title, and a description.

You can show rich unfurl previews of your links without installing your app in Microsoft Teams. Add the schema.org metadata to your website in the JSON-LD format and use the micro-capability templates that match your product. Teams uses these templates to unfurl rich previews for your links in Microsoft Teams.

If you've already added schema.org to your website, you can view the rich unfurl preview of your link by pasting it in the Teams message compose area.

Screenshot shows an example of rich unfurl preview experience when a link is pasted in the Teams message compose area.

If you've not added schema.org to your website, you can manually check the rich unfurl preview experience by following these steps:

  1. Add the schema.org metadata with the JSON-LD format to your website.

  2. In your website, check for the supported @type attribute and copy the metadata under the script tag application/ld+json.

  3. Open Adaptive Card designer and create a new file.

  4. In the SAMPLE DATA EDITOR, paste the json metadata from your website.

    Screenshot shows an example of website metadata in the sample data editor section of the Adaptive Card Designer.

  5. Check the micro-capability template and add the template code in the CARD PAYLOAD EDITOR.

    Screenshots shows an example of micro-capability template added in the card payload editor in Adaptive Card Designer.

    If required, add new attributes from the template to your website metadata in the SAMPLE DATA EDITOR.

  6. To preview the Adaptive Card unfurl experience, select Preview mode.

For more information, see Micro-capabilities for website links.

Zero install link unfurling helps you unfurl previews for your shared links even before a user discovers or installs your app in Teams. You can anonymously unfurl cards with a new invoke request or create a preauthenticated Adaptive Card preview for users before they install or authenticate your app.

The following image provides a sequential flow to enable and use zero install link unfurling:

Screenshot of the link unfurling code user flow.

To get your app ready for zero install link unfurling, follow these steps:

  1. Set the property supportsAnonymizedPayloads to true in the manifest schema.

  2. Set your app to handle the new invoke request composeExtensions/anonymousQueryLink.

    Example of the new invoke request:

    Screenshot of the `invoke` request `composeExtensions/anonymousQueryLink` declaration in the manifest.

    Example of the invoke request payload:

    {
   "name":"composeExtension/anonymousQueryLink",
   "type":"invoke",
   "timestamp":"2021-12-02T08:12:21.148Z",
   "localTimestamp":"2021-12-02T00:12:21.148-08:00",
   "id":"f:43d59e15-6114-bd53-08c3-b232aa648ec1",
   "channelId":"msteams",
   "serviceUrl":"https://smba.trafficmanager.net/amer/",
   "from":{
      "id":"redacted",
      "name":"redacted"
   },
   "conversation":{
      "isGroup":true,
      "conversationType":"groupChat",
      "tenantId":"redacted",
      "id":" redacted",
      "name":" redacted"
   },
   "recipient":{
      "id":"28:85fa138c-7654-4236-86eb-466160687029",
      "name":"test bot"
   },
   "entities":[
      {
         "locale":"en-US",
         "country":"US",
         "platform":"Mac",
         "timezone":"America/Los_Angeles",
         "type":"clientInfo"
      }
   ],
   "channelData":{
      "tenant":{
         "id":" redacted"
      },
      "source":{
         "name":"compose"
      }
   },
   "value":{
      "url":"https://test.test.com/test"
   },
   "locale":"en-US",
   "localTimezone":"America/Los_Angeles"
}

  3. Respond to the composeExtensions/anonymousQueryLink payload.

    1. For non-auth scenarios: You must send back a response with the type as result and a card. Use the following template:

      {
  "composeExtension": {
    "type": "result",
    "attachmentLayout": "list",
    "attachments": [
      {
        "contentType": "application/vnd.microsoft.teams.card.o365connector",
        "content": {
          "sections": [
            {
              "activityTitle": "[85069]: Create a cool app",
              "activityImage": "https://placekitten.com/200/200"
            },
            {
              "title": "Details",
              "facts": [
                {
              "name": "Assigned to:",
              "value": "[Larry Brown](mailto:larryb@example.com)"
                },
                {
              "name": "State:",
              "value": "Active"
                }
              ]
            }
           ]
         }
      }
    ]
  }
}

    2. For auth scenarios: You must send back a response with the type as auth with an optional preauth card in the attachments. Use the following template:

      {
   "composeExtension": {
      "type": "auth",
      "attachmentLayout": "list",
      "attachments": [
         {
           "$schema": "http://adaptivecards.io/schemas/adaptive-card.json",
           "type": "AdaptiveCard",
           "version": "1.5",
           "actions": [],
           "body": [
             {
               "type": "TextBlock",
               "size": "medium",
               "weight": "bolder",
               "text": "Zero-install test app"
            },
            {
               "type": "TextBlock",
               "text": "Link your account with this app for a full experience",
               "wrap": true
            }
           ]
         }
      ]
   }
}

  4. Preauth card (for auth only): Create a card preview to unfurl your links for users who don't have your app installed. You can either create a pre-templated card or add relevant placeholder fields for the users to update. Users can learn about the app even before installing it.

    You can create a customized card and add relevant fields. The users can fill in the required information as per the fields. The following image illustrates a customized card preview:

    Screenshot of the customized card with fields for user to update.

    The following image illustrates a default preview card:

    Screenshot of the link unfurling code default preview card.

    Note

    After the link is pasted in the message compose area, Teams unfurls the link into a card and prompts the user to sign in to the app. If the user doesn't sign in to the app, the link isn't posted as a card in the chat.

  5. Advantages and limitations:

    Zero install link unfurling helps you provide enhanced experience to the users, such as:

    • Unfurl previews for your links that users share in Teams even before they've installed your app.
    • Create a welcome card for your app to show a preview with the placeholder fields.

When you test the zero install link unfurling, don’t install the app as a personal app. Instead, upload the app to Teams.

Note

Don’t run the test app directly from the Microsoft Visual Studio debugger.

To test zero install link unfurling, follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to Teams admin center.

  2. From the left pane, select Teams apps > Manage apps.

    Screenshot of Teams admin center and section for custom app upload in Teams.

  3. Select + Upload new app.

    Screenshot of Teams admin center and where to upload custom apps

  4. Select Upload.

  5. Select Open to upload the zip file for your test application.

  6. After app upload is successful, go to Teams > Apps > Built for your org.

    Screenshot of Teams client with org uploaded Teams app

  7. You can test the composeExtensions/anonymousQueryLink invoke request by setting up a breakpoint in the method that implements the anonymousQueryLink request in your application.

When a user shares a link in a meeting, the Teams app unfurls the link to an Adaptive Card. The link unfurling result is cached in Teams for 30 minutes. You can update your app to set a cache policy and remove cache for the app. This action helps you to show different content in an Adaptive Card when the app's link is shared in a different context in Teams.

To remove link unfurling cache, update your bot with the type as setcachepolicy under the suggestedActions property. Teams doesn't cache the results for the app links with the "type": "setCachePolicy".

The following JSON payload example for suggestedActions property:

"suggestedActions": {
            "actions": [
                {
                    "type": "setCachePolicy",
                    "value": "{\"type\":\"no-cache\"}"
                }
            ]
        },

Step-by-step guide

Follow the step-by-step guide to unfurl links in Teams using bot.

Code sample

Sample name Description .NET Node.js Manifest
Zero install link unfurling. This sample shows how to use Search-based Messaging Extension with a configuration page. This sample also features zero install link unfurling. View View View

See also