# Messages in builder

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/messages-in-builder/18885>\
**Category:** Builder\
**Created:** [March 6, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/messages-in-builder/18885 "2018-03-06T16:44:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elliott-davis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/elliott-davis/32/2146_2.png) [@elliott-davis](https://discourse.chef.io/u/elliott-davis)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/messages-in-builder/18885/1 "2018-03-06T16:44:08Z")

</div>

Holy messages batman!

I think it would be good to get a wiki page up for what some fields in messages are and what their intended purpose is. For example: requestor\_id or owner\_id. Another issue I find myself bumping into is when to use origin vs origin\_id in a message. If you have any domain knowledge about some of these standard message fields drop a note in here and I’ll curate it into a wiki post.

@salam @raskchanky

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joshb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/joshb/32/2380_2.png) [@joshb](https://discourse.chef.io/u/joshb)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/messages-in-builder/18885/2 "2018-03-06T17:32:41Z")

</div>

Historically, the distinction between `origin` vs `origin_id` has mostly been whatever’s the most convenient for the message you’re writing. Both of them function identically as a route key (resolve to the same shard). I don’t think we’ve had any hard and fast rules around when to use which. It’s just been left up to the discretion of the person writing the code.

Both `requestor_id` and `owner_id` have typically referred to the `account_id` of the logged in user that performed the action, with the distinction being that `owner_id` is used when someone can own something, like an origin or a package. If there’s no ownership involved, then `requestor_id` is used, but again, this distinction is somewhat arbitrary and just left up to people’s discretion.

On the whole, we should be a lot more disciplined around the naming of fields in the messages and at least attempt to follow some conventions.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Salim\_Alam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Salim\_Alam](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Salim_Alam)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/messages-in-builder/18885/3 "2018-03-07T17:55:07Z")

</div>

Yp, one more naming thing that is somewhat confusing is session\_id vs account\_id - they are also both the same thing, at least de-facto.