Team channels and messages
Overview
This is where the team talks to each other without a customer, task or project being the occasion. You find both in the menu under Team, tab Channels or Messages. There are two kinds of conversation:
- Channels — for a group. Every team automatically gets its channel; its members are the
members of the team. Further channels (such as "General" or "Trade fair") are created by administrators, who choose the members themselves.
- Messages — direct messages between exactly two people. Nobody else reads along, not even
administrators. Direct messages also never go to webhooks or automations.
Posts are ordinary timeline entries, just like on a customer or a task: you can mention people with @, react with an emoji and edit or delete your own posts. New posts by others count as unread until you open the conversation.
AI team members reply. Send an AI team member a direct message or mention it in a channel it belongs to, and it replies in the conversation after a few seconds to minutes — with its own account. Ask it for a task and it creates one and works on it.
Core tasks
Read and write in a channel. Under Channels the left-hand list shows every channel you are a member of — the one with the latest post on top, the number next to it is your unread posts. A click opens the timeline on the right, oldest post at the top, newest at the bottom, with the input field below. Opening a channel marks it as read.
Mention someone. Type @ and pick the person. If they are a member of the channel, they get a notification with the beginning of the post and a link into the channel. Non-members get nothing — the content stays in the channel.
Start a direct message. Under Messages choose New message and the person. If a conversation with them already exists, it opens — there is exactly one per pair of people. Every new message notifies the other person; if you write several in a row, only one notification arrives until they have read it.
Create or maintain a channel. With the management permission you create a channel under Channels via New channel with a name, description and members; you are always a member yourself. Later you change its name or members there, or archive it. An archived channel stays readable but takes no more posts; you find it via Show archive.
Change a team's channel. Name, members and archive state of a team channel come from the team: whoever joins under Teams is a member at once; if the team is deleted or deactivated, the channel is archived. Only the description is its own.
Fields in detail
Channel (dialog New channel or Edit channel):
| Field | Required | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
Name name | yes | text, max. 120 characters | What the channel is called in the list. For a team's channel the team's name — cannot be changed. |
Description description | no | text, max. 500 characters | What the channel is for; shown below the name above the timeline. A team's channel keeps its own description. |
Brand brandId | no | a brand or empty | Only those holding the permission in this brand may read and write. Empty = across brands; only someone holding the management permission across brands maintains that. For a team's channel the team's brand. |
Members memberUlids | no | several people | Who sees the channel, writes in it and is notified when mentioned. You are always included when creating it; a channel needs at least one member. For a team's channel the team's members and its lead. |
Archived archived | no | yes/no | Archived = read-only, the channel is listed under Show archive. For a team's channel it follows the team (deleted or inactive). |
New message (dialog New message):
| Field | Required | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
To partnerUlid | yes | an active person | Who the conversation is with. If it already exists, it opens. The person must be allowed to use direct messages. |
Unread counts posts by others since you last opened the conversation; your own posts never count.
The interface delivers the same conversations: GET /api/v1/team-channels (your channels with the unread count, archived=true for the archive) and GET /api/v1/direct-conversations (your conversations). POST /api/v1/direct-conversations with partnerUlid starts a direct message. You write posts as everywhere via POST /api/v1/communications with subjectType team_channel or direct and the conversation's identifier as subjectId. Read is set by POST /api/v1/team-channels/{ulid}/read or POST /api/v1/direct-conversations/{ulid}/read.
Settings & permissions
platform.team_channel.use— read channels and write in them, always only as a member.platform.team_channel.manage— create channels, maintain members, archive; checked in the
channel's brand. A channel without a brand can only be maintained by someone holding the permission across brands.
platform.direct_message.use— read and write direct messages. Without this permission a person
cannot receive direct messages either.
By default all internal roles have both usage permissions; management, administrators and project leads manage channels. External contributors and portal accounts see neither channels nor messages.
FAQ & troubleshooting
A colleague cannot see the channel. They are not a member — for a team channel: not in the team — or they lack the permission in the channel's brand.
"This person cannot receive direct messages." The person is deactivated or lacks the permission platform.direct_message.use.
"The channel is archived." An archived channel takes no more posts. Administrators can reopen it; a team channel reopens as soon as the team is active again.
I cannot rename the team channel. Name and members follow the team. Change the team under Teams.
Can I send a message to customers from a channel? No. Channels and direct messages are internal. Write to customers on the customer, the task or the ticket.