lark-event

by larksuite

Lark/Feishu real-time event listening / subscribing / consuming: stream events as NDJSON via lark-cli event consume (covers IM messages/reactions/chat changes, VC meeting ended, Minutes generated, etc.). Use for Lark bots, real-time message processing, long-running subscribers, streaming webhook/push handlers. Supports --max-events / --timeout bounded runs and a stderr ready-marker contract — designed for AI agents running as subprocesses. npx skills add https://github.com/larksuite/cli --skill lark-event Download ZIPGitHub15.1k

Lark Events

Prerequisite: Read ../lark-shared/SKILL.md first for authentication, --as user/bot switching, Permission denied handling, and safety rules.

Core commands

Command Purpose lark-cli event list [--json] List all subscribable EventKeys lark-cli event schema <EventKey> [--json] Show an EventKey's params and output schema lark-cli event consume <EventKey> [flags] Blocking consume; events → stdout NDJSON lark-cli event status [--json] [--fail-on-orphan] Inspect the local bus daemon status lark-cli event stop [--all] [--force] Stop the bus daemon

Common flags

Flag Description --param key=value / -p Business params (repeatable; comma-separated for multi-value). Unknown keys fail with valid names listed inline --jq <expr> jq expression to filter / transform each event; empty output skips the event --max-events N Exit after N events. Default 0 = unlimited --timeout D Exit after duration D (e.g. 30s, 2m). Default 0 = no timeout. Whichever of --max-events / --timeout fires first wins --output-dir <dir> Write each event as a file (relative paths only; prevents traversal) --quiet Suppress stderr diagnostics. AI should not use this — it silences the ready marker --as user|bot|auto Identity for the session (see lark-shared)

Examples

# Default: stream every event for the key (no filter, no projection)
lark-cli event consume im.message.receive_v1 --as bot

# Grab one sample event to inspect payload shape
lark-cli event consume im.message.receive_v1 --max-events 1 --timeout 30s --as bot

# Run for 10 minutes then auto-exit
lark-cli event consume im.message.receive_v1 --timeout 10m --as bot

# Consume multiple EventKeys concurrently (one shape per process, no dispatcher)
lark-cli event consume im.message.receive_v1 --as bot > receive.ndjson &
lark-cli event consume im.message.reaction.created_v1 --as bot > reaction.ndjson &
wait

Call flow

• lark-cli event list --json → pick a legal key

• lark-cli event schema <key> --json → read resolved_output_schema + jq_root_path to determine field paths

• lark-cli event consume <key> [--jq '<expr>'] → consume

Subprocess contract

Ready marker

event consume's stderr emits a fixed line [event] ready event_key=<key>. Parent processes should block on stderr until this line appears, then start reading stdout. Do not fall back to sleep.

stdin EOF = graceful exit

event consume treats stdin close as a shutdown signal (wired for AI subprocess callers). Bounded runs are exempt: when --max-events or --timeout is set (> 0), stdin EOF is ignored and the run exits only via its own bound, timeout, or SIGTERM. For unbounded runs, < /dev/null / nohup / systemd's default StandardInput=null will cause an immediate graceful exit (stderr reason: signal). To keep an unbounded run alive:

• Feed stdin a source that never EOFs: < <(tail -f /dev/null)

• Or run bounded: --max-events N / --timeout D

Exit codes & reason

On exit, the last stderr line is [event] exited — received N event(s) in Xs (reason: ...).

exit code reason Trigger 0 reason: limit --max-events reached 0 reason: timeout --timeout reached 0 reason: signal Ctrl+C / SIGTERM / stdin EOF (stdin EOF applies to unbounded runs only) 1 JSON error envelope on stderr Lark API business failure during pre-consume setup (for example subscription create/delete) 2 JSON error envelope on stderr (no exited line) Validation failure (unknown EventKey, bad --param / --jq, another bus already connected) 3 JSON error envelope on stderr Auth failure (missing token, missing scopes) 4 / 5 JSON error envelope on stderr Network / internal failure (bus startup, handshake, file I/O)

Startup and runtime failures emit a structured JSON envelope on stderr: {"ok":false,"error":{"type","subtype","param","message","hint",...}} (the envelope may also carry top-level identity / _notice siblings). Parse error.type / error.subtype to branch (e.g. missing_scope carries a missing_scopes list), error.param to find the offending flag, and error.hint for the recovery action — do not regex-match message text.

Orchestrators should treat reason: limit/timeout/signal (all exit 0) as "business completion" and non-zero as "failure".

Never kill -9

Avoid kill -9 on consume processes: for EventKeys with a PreConsume hook (those that register server-side subscriptions via OAPI), kill -9 skips the OAPI unsubscribe and leaks server-side subscriptions (symptoms: "subscription already exists" on restart, duplicate event delivery). Prefer SIGTERM or closing stdin.

One consume, one EventKey (multi-key = multi-shell)

The command takes exactly one positional argument; k1,k2 and wildcards are unsupported. Listening to N keys means N subprocesses — this is intentional:

• One shape per process stdout; no dispatcher logic required in the AI

• Fault isolation (one key failing doesn't affect others)

• Independent --as / --jq / --max-events / --timeout per key

All N consumers share a single bus daemon (UDS local IPC), so the overhead is small

Writing jq via schema

event schema <key> --json is the source of truth for writing --jq. Four things to look at:

(1) Where fields start — see jq_root_path

• Value "." → fields are at the top level, write .chat_id

• Value ".event" → fields are inside a V2 envelope, write .event.chat_id

(2) Field list and types — see resolved_output_schema.properties.<name>

Each field carries type / description, and some also have format. Snippet (from event schema im.message.receive_v1 --json):

{
 "chat_id": {"type":"string", "format":"chat_id", "description":"Chat ID, prefixed with oc_"},
 "sender_id": {"type":"string", "format":"open_id", "description":"Sender open_id, prefixed with ou_"},
 "create_time": {"type":"string", "format":"timestamp_ms", "description":"Send time as ms-epoch string"}
}

(3) Field semantics — see the format tag

Lark-defined semantic tags (not JSON Schema's standard format). Common values: open_id / chat_id / message_id / timestamp_ms / email. Purpose: distinguish "same string type, different meanings" fields so you can reverse-lookup via API or convert formats.

(4) Decoded state — read the field's description

event consume runs Process hooks that may pre-decode some payload fields (flattening V2 envelopes, rendering .content to plain text, etc.) — behavior differs from raw OAPI. Always read the field's description before writing jq, especially for generic field names like content / data / body / payload.

Why it matters: blindly applying fromjson to an already-decoded text field makes jq error on every event and silently drop it — the consumer looks alive but emits nothing, with only a single WARN line buried on stderr. (This is the general behavior: any jq runtime error skips the event with a one-line WARN; the loop does not abort.)

Don't shortcut the schema: when projecting event schema --json with jq, do not strip .description from properties — that's the field that tells you whether a field is already decoded. Dump the full property objects, not just keys.

Aside: --param's valid parameters also live in the schema — the params section lists name / type / required / enum / default / description; section missing = this key accepts no --param.

Topic index

Topic Reference Coverage IM references/lark-event-im.md Catalog of 12 IM EventKeys + shape notes (flat vs V2 envelope) + im.message.receive_v1 field gotchas (sender_id is open_id only; .content is plain text except for interactive cards) + common jq recipes (filter by chat_type / message_type / sender); for card.action.trigger see also ../lark-im/references/lark-im-card-action-reply.md Task references/lark-event-task.md Catalog of 1 Task EventKey (task.task.update_user_access_v2) + Native V2 envelope shape + task commit types + user/bot subscription notes VC references/lark-event-vc.md Catalog of 4 VC EventKeys (vc.meeting.participant_meeting_started_v1, vc.meeting.participant_meeting_joined_v1, vc.meeting.participant_meeting_ended_v1, vc.note.generated_v1) + field reference + source type semantics (meeting only) Minutes references/lark-event-minutes.md Catalog of 1 Minutes EventKey (minutes.minute.generated_v1) + field reference + source type semantics (meeting only) Whiteboard references/lark-event-whiteboard.md Catalog of 1 Board EventKey (board.whiteboard.updated_v1) + per-whiteboard subscription model (requires -p whiteboard_id=<token>) + payload field reference (whiteboard_id / operator_ids triple-id)