diff --git a/lib/pleroma/web/common_api/common_api.ex b/lib/pleroma/web/common_api/common_api.ex
index 636cf3301..39e15adbf 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/web/common_api/common_api.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/web/common_api/common_api.ex
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.CommonAPI do
   alias Pleroma.Conversation.Participation
   alias Pleroma.FollowingRelationship
   alias Pleroma.Object
+  alias Pleroma.Repo
   alias Pleroma.ThreadMute
   alias Pleroma.User
   alias Pleroma.UserRelationship
@@ -23,6 +24,28 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.CommonAPI do
   require Pleroma.Constants
   require Logger
 
+  def post_chat_message(user, recipient, content) do
+    transaction =
+      Repo.transaction(fn ->
+        with {_, {:ok, chat_message_data, _meta}} <-
+               {:build_object, Builder.chat_message(user, recipient.ap_id, content)},
+             {_, {:ok, chat_message_object}} <-
+               {:create_object, Object.create(chat_message_data)},
+             {_, {:ok, create_activity_data, _meta}} <-
+               {:build_create_activity,
+                Builder.create(user, chat_message_object.data["id"], [recipient.ap_id])},
+             {_, {:ok, %Activity{} = activity, _meta}} <-
+               {:common_pipeline, Pipeline.common_pipeline(create_activity_data, local: true)} do
+          {:ok, activity}
+        end
+      end)
+
+    case transaction do
+      {:ok, value} -> value
+      error -> error
+    end
+  end
+
   def follow(follower, followed) do
     timeout = Pleroma.Config.get([:activitypub, :follow_handshake_timeout])
 
diff --git a/test/web/common_api/common_api_test.exs b/test/web/common_api/common_api_test.exs
index f46ad0272..1aea06d24 100644
--- a/test/web/common_api/common_api_test.exs
+++ b/test/web/common_api/common_api_test.exs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 defmodule Pleroma.Web.CommonAPITest do
   use Pleroma.DataCase
   alias Pleroma.Activity
+  alias Pleroma.Chat
   alias Pleroma.Conversation.Participation
   alias Pleroma.Object
   alias Pleroma.User
@@ -21,6 +22,26 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.CommonAPITest do
   setup do: clear_config([:instance, :limit])
   setup do: clear_config([:instance, :max_pinned_statuses])
 
+  describe "posting chat messages" do
+    test "it posts a chat message" do
+      author = insert(:user)
+      recipient = insert(:user)
+
+      {:ok, activity} = CommonAPI.post_chat_message(author, recipient, "a test message")
+
+      assert activity.data["type"] == "Create"
+      assert activity.local
+      object = Object.normalize(activity)
+
+      assert object.data["type"] == "ChatMessage"
+      assert object.data["to"] == [recipient.ap_id]
+      assert object.data["content"] == "a test message"
+
+      assert Chat.get(author.id, recipient.ap_id)
+      assert Chat.get(recipient.id, author.ap_id)
+    end
+  end
+
   test "when replying to a conversation / participation, it will set the correct context id even if no explicit reply_to is given" do
     user = insert(:user)
     {:ok, activity} = CommonAPI.post(user, %{"status" => ".", "visibility" => "direct"})