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Protocol

Pokémon Showdown's protocol is relatively simple.

Pokémon Showdown is implemented in SockJS. SockJS is a compatibility layer over raw WebSocket, so you can actually connect to Pokémon Showdown directly using WebSocket:

ws://sim.smogon.com:8000/showdown/websocket
  or
wss://sim.smogon.com/showdown/websocket

Client implementations you might want to look at for reference include:

The official client logs protocol messages in the JavaScript console, so opening that (F12 in most browsers) can help tell you what's going on.

Client-to-server messages

Messages from the user to the server are in the form:

ROOMID|TEXT

ROOMID can optionally be left blank if it's the lobby, or if the room is irrelevant (for instance, if TEXT is a command like /join lobby where it doesn't matter what room it's sent from, you can just send |/join lobby.)

TEXT can contain newlines, in which case it'll be treated the same way as if each line were sent to the room separately.

A partial list of available commands can be found with /help.

To log in, look at the documentation for the |challstr| server message.

Server-to-client messages

Messages from the server to the user are in the form:

>ROOMID
MESSAGE
MESSAGE
MESSAGE
...

>ROOMID and the newline after it can be omitted if the room is lobby or global. MESSAGE cannot start with >, so it's unambiguous whether or not >ROOMID has been omitted.

As for the payload: it's made of any number of blocks of data separated by newlines; empty lines should be ignored. In particular, it should be treated the same way whether or not it ends in a newline, and if the payload is empty, the entire message should be ignored.

If MESSAGE doesn't start with |, it should be shown directly in the room's log. Otherwise, it will be in the form:

|TYPE|DATA

For example:

|j| Some dude
|c|@Moderator|hi!
|c| Some dude|you suck and i hate you!
Some dude was banned by Moderator.
|l| Some dude
|b|battle-ou-12| Cool guy|@Moderator

This might be displayed as:

Some dude joined.
@Moderator: hi!
Some dude: you suck and i hate you!
Some dude was banned by Moderator.
Some dude left.
OU battle started between Cool guy and Moderator

For bandwidth reasons, five of the message types - chat, join, leave, name, and battle - are sometimes abbreviated to c, j, l, n, and b respectively. All other message types are written out in full so they should be easy to understand.

Four of these can be uppercase: J, L, N, and B, which are the equivalent of their lowercase versions, but are recommended not to be displayed inline because they happen too often. For instance, the main server gets around 5 joins/leaves a second, and showing that inline with chat would make it near-impossible to chat.

Server-to-client message types

USER = a user, the first character being their rank (users with no rank are represented by a space), and the rest of the string being their username.

Room initialization

|init|ROOMTYPE

The first message received from a room when you join it. ROOMTYPE is one of: chat or battle

|users|USERLIST

USERLIST is a comma-separated list of USERs, sent from chat rooms when they're joined.

Room messages

||MESSAGE or MESSAGE

We received a message MESSAGE, which should be displayed directly in the room's log.

|html|HTML

We received an HTML message, which should be sanitized and displayed directly in the room's log.

|uhtml|NAME|HTML

We recieved an HTML message (NAME) that can change what it's displaying, this is used in things like our Polls system, for example.

|uhtmlchange|NAME|HTML

Changes the HTML display of the |uhtml| message named (NAME).

|join|USER or |j|USER

USER joined the room.

|leave|USER or |l|USER

USER left the room.

|name|USER|OLDID or |n|USER|OLDID

A user changed name to USER, and their previous userid was OLDID.

|chat|USER|MESSAGE or |c|USER|MESSAGE

USER said MESSAGE. Note that MESSAGE can contain | characters, so you can't just split by | and take the fourth string.

|:|TIMESTAMP

|c:|TIMESTAMP|USER|MESSAGE

c: is pretty much the same as c, but also comes with a UNIX timestamp; (the number of seconds since 1970). This is used for accurate timestamps in chat logs.

: is the current time according to the server, so that times can be adjusted and reported in the local time in the case of a discrepancy.

The exact fate of this command is uncertain - it may or may not be replaced with a more generalized way to transmit timestamps at some point.

|battle|ROOMID|USER1|USER2 or |b|ROOMID|USER1|USER2

A battle started between USER1 and USER2, and the battle room has ID ROOMID.

Global messages

|popup|MESSAGE

Show the user a popup containing MESSAGE. || denotes a newline in the popup.

|pm|SENDER|RECEIVER|MESSAGE

A PM was sent from SENDER to RECEIVER containing the message MESSAGE.

|usercount|USERCOUNT

USERCOUNT is the number of users on the server.

|nametaken|USERNAME|MESSAGE

You tried to change your username to USERNAME but it failed for the reason described in MESSAGE.

|challstr|CHALLSTR

You just connected to the server, and we're giving you some information you'll need to log in.

If you're already logged in and have session cookies, you can make an HTTP GET request to http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/action.php?act=upkeep&challstr=CHALLSTR

Otherwise, you'll need to make an HTTP POST request to http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/action.php with the data act=login&name=USERNAME&pass=PASSWORD&challstr=CHALLSTR

USERNAME is your username and PASSWORD is your password, and CHALLSTR is the value you got from |challstr|. Note that CHALLSTR contains | characters. (Also feel free to make the request to https:// if your client supports it.)

Either way, the response will start with ] and be followed by a JSON object which we'll call data.

Finish logging in (or renaming) by sending: /trn USERNAME,0,ASSERTION where USERNAME is your desired username and ASSERTION is data.assertion.

|updateuser|USERNAME|NAMED|AVATAR

Your name or avatar was successfully changed. Your username is now USERNAME. NAMED will be 0 if you are a guest or 1 otherwise. And your avatar is now AVATAR.

|formats|FORMATSLIST

This server supports the formats specified in FORMATSLIST. FORMATSLIST is a |-separated list of FORMATs. FORMAT is a format name with one or more of these suffixes: ,# if the format uses random teams, ,, if the format is only available for searching, and , if the format is only available for challenging. Sections are separated by two vertical bars with the number of the column of that section prefixed by , in it. After that follows the name of the section and another vertical bar.

|updatesearch|JSON

JSON is a JSON object representing the current state of what battles the user is currently searching for.

|updatechallenges|JSON

JSON is a JSON object representing the current state of who the user is challenging and who is challenging the user.

|queryresponse|QUERYTYPE|JSON

JSON is a JSON object representing containing the data that was requested with /query QUERYTYPE or /query QUERYTYPE DETAILS.

Possible queries include /query roomlist and /query userdetails USERNAME.

Battle messages

In addition to room messages, battles have their own messages.

Battle initialization

|player|PLAYER|USERNAME|AVATAR

Appears when you join a battle room. PLAYER denotes which player it is (p1 or p2) and USERNAME is the username. AVATAR is the player's avatar identifier (usually a number, but other values can be used for custom avatars).

|gametype|GAMETYPE
|gen|GENNUM
|tier|TIERNAME
|rated
|rule|RULE: DESCRIPTION

Additional details when you join a battle room. GAMETYPE is one of singles, doubles, or triples; GENNUM denotes the generation of Pokémon being played; tier is the format; and rule appears multiple times, once for each clause in effect. rated only appears if the battle is rated.

|clearpoke
|poke|PLAYER|DETAILS|ITEM
|poke|PLAYER|DETAILS|ITEM
...
|teampreview

These messages appear if you're playing a format that uses team previews. PLAYER is the player ID (see |player|) and DETAILS describes the pokemon. |teampreview commonly appears after |rule tags instead of immediately after the pokemon list.

The format for DETAILS is described in |switch|, although not everything may be revealed. In particular, forme is sometimes not specified (so Arceus would appear as Arceus-* since it's impossible to identify Arceus forme in Team Preview).

|start

Indicates that the game has started.

Battle progress

|request|REQUEST

Gives a JSON object containing a request for a choice (to move or switch). To assist in your decision, REQUEST.active has information about your active Pokémon, and REQUEST.side has information about your your team as a whole.

|inactive|MESSAGE or |inactiveoff|MESSAGE

A message related to the battle timer has been sent. The official client displays these messages in red.

inactive means that the timer is on at the time the message was sent, while inactiveoff means that the timer is off.

|turn|NUMBER

It is now turn NUMBER.

|win|USER

USER has won the battle.

|tie

The battle has ended in a tie.

Identifying Pokémon

Pokémon can be identified either by a Pokémon ID (generally labeled POKEMON in this document), or a details string (generally labeled DETAILS).

A Pokémon ID is in the form POSITION: NAME. POSITION is the spot that the Pokémon is in: it consists of the PLAYER of the player (see |player|), followed by a letter indicating the given Pokémon's position, counting from a.

An inactive Pokémon will not have a position letter.

In doubles and triples battles, a will refer to the leftmost Pokémon on one team and the rightmost Pokémon on the other (so p1a faces p2c, etc). NAME is the nickname of the Pokémon performing the action.

For example: p1a: Sparky could be a Charizard named Sparky. p1: Dragonite could be an inactive Dragonite being healed by Heal Bell.

DETAILS is a comma-separated list of all information about a pokemon visible on the battle screen: species, shininess, gender, and level. So it starts with SPECIES, adding , shiny if it's shiny, , M if it's male, , F if it's female, , L## if it's not level 100.

So, for instance, Deoxys-Speed is a level 100 non-shiny genderless Deoxys (Speed forme). Sawsbuck, shiny, F, L50 is a level 50 shiny female Sawsbuck (Spring form).

In Team Preview, DETAILS will not include information not available in Team Preview (in particular, level and shininess will be left off), and for Pokémon whose forme isn't revealed in Team Preview, it will be given as -*. So, for instance, an Arceus in Team Preview would have the details string Arceus-*.

For most commands, you can just use the position information in the Pokémon ID to identify the Pokémon. Only a few commands actually change the Pokémon in that position (|switch| switching, |replace| illusion dropping, |drag| phazing, and |detailschange| permanent forme changes), and these all specify DETAILS for you to perform updates with.

Major actions

In battle, most Pokémon actions come in the form |ACTION|POKEMON|DETAILS followed by a few messages detailing what happens after the action occurs.

Battle actions (especially minor actions) often come with tags such as |[from] EFFECT|[of] SOURCE. EFFECT will be an effect (move, ability, item, status, etc), and SOURCE will be a Pokémon. These can affect the message or animation displayed, but do not affect anything else. Other tags include |[still] (suppress animation) and |[silent] (suppress message).

|move|POKEMON|MOVE|TARGET

The specified Pokémon has used move MOVE at TARGET. If a move has multiple targets or no target, TARGET should be ignored. If a move targets a side, TARGET will be a (possibly fainted) Pokémon on that side.

If |[miss] is present, the move missed.

|[anim] MOVE2 tells the client to use the animation of MOVE2 instead of MOVE when displaying to the client.

|switch|POKEMON|DETAILS|HP STATUS or |drag|POKEMON|DETAILS|HP STATUS

A Pokémon identified by POKEMON has switched in (if there was an old Pokémon in that position, it is switched out).

For the DETAILS format, see "Identifying Pokémon" above.

POKEMON|DETAILS represents all the information that can be used to tell Pokémon apart. If two pokemon have the same POKEMON|DETAILS (which will never happen in any format with Species Clause), you usually won't be able to tell if the same pokemon switched in or a different pokemon switched in.

The switched Pokémon has HP HP, and status STATUS. HP is specified as a fraction; if it is your own Pokémon then it will be CURRENT/MAX, if not, it will be /100 if HP Percentage Mod is in effect and /48 otherwise. STATUS can be left blank, or it can be slp, par, etc.

switch means it was intentional, while drag means it was unintentional (forced by Whirlwind, Roar, etc).

|detailschange|POKEMON|DETAILS|HP STATUS or |-formechange|POKEMON|SPECIES|HP STATUS

The specified Pokémon has changed formes (via Mega Evolution, ability, etc.) to SPECIES. If the forme change is permanent (Mega Evolution or a Shaymin-Sky that is frozen), then detailschange will appear; otherwise, the client will send -formechange.

Syntax is the same as |switch| above.

|replace|POKEMON|DETAILS|HP STATUS

Illusion has ended for the specified Pokémon. Syntax is the same as |switch| above, but remember that everything you thought you knew about the previous Pokémon is now wrong.

POKEMON will be the NEW Pokémon ID - i.e. it will have the nickname of the Zoroark (or other Illusion user).

|swap|POKEMON|POSITION

Moves already active POKEMON to active field POSITION where the leftmost position is 0 and each position to the right counts up by 1.

|cant|POKEMON|REASON or |cant|POKEMON|REASON|MOVE

The Pokémon POKEMON could not perform a move because of the indicated REASON (such as paralysis, Disable, etc). Sometimes, the move it was trying to use is given.

|faint|POKEMON

The Pokémon POKEMON has fainted.

Minor actions

Minor actions are less important than major actions. In the official client, they're usually displayed in small font if they have a message. Pretty much anything that happens in a battle other than a switch or the fact that a move was used is a minor action. So yes, the effects of a move such as damage or stat boosts are minor actions.

|-fail|POKEMON|ACTION

The specified ACTION has failed against the POKEMON targetted. The ACTION in question can be a move that fails, or a stat drop blocked by an ability like Hyper Cutter, in which case ACTION will be unboost|STAT, where STAT indicates where the ability prevents stat drops. (For abilities that block all stat drops, like Clear Body, |STAT does not appear.)

|-damage|POKEMON|HP STATUS

The specified Pokémon POKEMON has taken damage, and is now at HP STATUS (see |switch| for details).

If HP is 0, STATUS should be ignored. The current behavior is for STATUS to be fnt, but this may change and should not be relied upon.

|-heal|POKEMON|HP STATUS

Same as -damage, but the Pokémon has healed damage instead.

|-status|POKEMON|STATUS

The Pokémon POKEMON has been inflicted with STATUS.

|-curestatus|POKEMON|STATUS

The Pokémon POKEMON has recovered from STATUS.

|-cureteam|POKEMON

The Pokémon POKEMON has used a move that cures its team of status effects, like Heal Bell.

|-boost|POKEMON|STAT|AMOUNT

The specified Pokémon POKEMON has gained AMOUNT in STAT, using the standard rules for Pokémon stat changes in-battle. STAT is a standard three-letter abbreviation fot the stat in question, so Speed will be spe, Special Defense will be spd, etc.

|-unboost|POKEMON|STAT|AMOUNT

Same as -boost, but for negative stat changes instead.

|-weather|WEATHER

Indicates the weather that is currently in effect. If |[upkeep] is present, it means that WEATHER was active previously and is still in effect that turn. Otherwise, it means that the weather has changed due to a move or ability, or has expired, in which case WEATHER will be none.

|-fieldstart|CONDITION

The field condition CONDITION has started. Field conditions are all effects that affect the entire field and aren't a weather. (For example: Trick Room, Grassy Terrain)

|-fieldend|CONDITION

Indicates that the field condition CONDITION has ended.

|-sidestart|SIDE|CONDITION

A side condition CONDITION has started on SIDE. Side conditions are all effects that affect one side of the field. (For example: Tailwind, Stealth Rock, Reflect)

|-sideend|SIDE|CONDITION

Indicates that the side condition CONDITION ended for the given SIDE.

|-crit|POKEMON

A move has dealt a critical hit against the POKEMON.

|-supereffective|POKEMON

A move was super effective against the POKEMON.

|-resisted|POKEMON

A move was not very effective against the POKEMON.

|-immune|POKEMON

The POKEMON was immune to a move.

|-item|POKEMON|ITEM

The ITEM held by the POKEMON has been changed or revealed due to a move or ability. In addition, Air Balloon reveals itself when the Pokémon holding it switches in, so it will also cause this message to appear.

|-enditem|POKEMON|ITEM

The ITEM held by POKEMON has been destroyed, and it now holds no item. This can be because of an item's own effects (consumed Berries, Air Balloon), or by a move or ability, like Knock Off. If a berry is consumed, it also has an additional modifier |[eat] to indicate that it was consumed. This message does not appear if the item's ownership was changed (with a move or ability like Thief or Trick), even if the move or ability would result in a Pokémon without an item.

|-ability|POKEMON|ABILITY

The ABILITY of the POKEMON has been changed due to a move/ability, or it has activated in a way that could not be better described by one of the other minor messages. For example, Clear Body sends -fail when it blocks stat drops, while Mold Breaker sends this message to reveal itself upon switch-in.

Note that Skill Swap does not send this message despite it changing abilities, because it does not reveal abilities when used between allies in a Double or Triple Battle.

|-endability|POKEMON

The POKEMON has had its ability surpressed, either by a move like Gastro Acid, or by the effects of Mummy.

|-transform|POKEMON|SPECIES

The Pokémon POKEMON has transformed into SPECIES by the effect of Transform or the ability Imposter.

|-mega|POKEMON|MEGASTONE

The Pokémon POKEMON used MEGASTONE to Mega Evolve.

|-activate|EFFECT

A miscellaneous effect has activated. This is triggered whenever an effect could not be better described by one of the other minor messages: for example, healing abilities like Water Absorb simply use -heal, and items that are consumed upon use have the -enditem message instead.

|-hint|MESSAGE

Displays a message in parentheses to the client. Hint messages appear to explain and clarify why certain actions, such as Fake Out and Mat Block failing, have occurred,
when there would normally be no in-game messages.

|-center

Appears in Triple Battles when only one Pokémon remains on each side, to indicate that the Pokémon have been automatically centered.

|-message|MESSAGE

Displays a miscellaneous message to the client. These messages are primarily used for messages from game mods that aren't supported by the client, like rule clauses such as Sleep Clause, or other metagames with custom messages for specific scenarios.

I'll document all the message types eventually, but for now this should be enough to get you started. You can watch the data sent and received from the server on a regular connection, or look at the client source code for a full list of message types.

Action requests

These are how the client sends the player's decisions to the server. All requests except /undo can be sent with |RQID at the end. RQID is REQUEST.rqid from |request|. Each RQID is a unique number used to identify which action the request was intended for and is used to protect against race conditions involving /undo (the cancel button).

If an invalid request is sent, the game will replace the missing or erroneous request with a valid choice, which is usually the first usable move.

|/team ORDER

Chooses the team order. Numbers not listed are displaced to the back by swapping them with the number that took their place. For example /team 25 sets the team order from default to 253416.

|/move NUMBER TARGET

Uses your active Pokémon's NUMBERth move on TARGET Pokémon. NUMBER is usually a number ranging from 1 to 4 (although it can range up to 24 in Custom Games where Pokémon can have that many moves).

TARGET is optional and only needs to be specified for single target moves in doubles/triples formats. Moves with TARGET specify which position they are trying to use the move on as a number wherein the opposing Pokémon are positive integers counting up from 1 starting on the right. Ally Pokémon targets are negative integers counting down from -1 starting on the left.

If mega is added as a final parameter, the Pokémon will Mega Evolve if possible.

|/switch NUMBER

Switches the active Pokémon with the NUMBERth Pokémon on the team. In cases where a Pokémon is KOed, their replacement is also chosen with /switch. This should correspond to a non-active, non-fainted Pokémon, which means NUMBER should be between 2 and 6.

|/choose ACTION,ACTION,ACTION

For doubles/triples formats, decisions are sent for all team positions in the same line separated by commas. ACTION can be any of the following: move, switch, shift, pass.

move and switch use the same syntax as their respective commands explained above except without the /. In triples, /choose shift requests to |swap| the current outside Pokémon to the middle team position. pass is used to indicate that the Pokémon in that slot is not performing an action, for instance, because the Pokémon is fainted and you have no non-fainted Pokémon to replace it with, or because the Pokémon is not fainted while you are switching in replacements for fainted Pokémon. For example, /choose move 1 2,move 4 -1,pass will have the leftmost Pokémon attack the opponent's middle Pokémon with its first move, the middle Pokémon will attack its ally to the left with its fourth move, and the third team slot is empty.

|/undo

Attempts to cancel the last request so a new one can be made.