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Text Channels

Status: Complete

Text channels are the primary way to communicate within a Group. Each text channel has a persistent message history, supports rich formatting, and provides features like reactions, threads, pins, and file sharing.

Creating a Text Channel

To create a new text channel inside a Group:

  1. Expand the Group in the sidebar by clicking its name.
  2. Click the + button next to the Group name.
  3. Enter a channel name and select Text as the channel type.
  4. Optionally provide a topic (description).
  5. Click Create.

Permission: Only Group owners and admins can create channels.

Channel Name Format

  • Channel names can be 1 to 64 characters long.
  • Names are displayed as-is in the sidebar (lowercase with hyphens is conventional but not enforced).
  • Names must be unique within a Group.

Message History

When you open a text channel, the most recent 50 messages are loaded automatically. As you scroll upward, older messages are fetched in batches of 50 (infinite scroll).

  • Scroll position is preserved per channel -- switching away and back restores your position.
  • A scroll-to-bottom button appears when you are scrolled up from the latest messages.
  • Unread separators mark where new messages begin when you return to a channel with unread messages.

Channel Topic

Each channel can have an optional topic that appears in the channel header. Topics can be up to 512 characters.

To edit the topic:

  1. Click the topic text in the channel header (or click the pencil icon).
  2. Type the new topic.
  3. Press Enter to save or Escape to cancel.

Permission: Only Group owners and admins can edit channel topics.

Read-Only Mode

Admins can set a channel to read-only, which prevents regular members from sending messages. Admins and owners are exempt from this restriction and can still post.

Slow Mode

Slow mode limits how often non-privileged members can send messages. Available intervals:

Setting Cooldown
Off No limit
5s 5 seconds between messages
10s 10 seconds
30s 30 seconds
1m 1 minute
5m 5 minutes
10m 10 minutes

A countdown timer appears in the message input area when slow mode is active.

Permission: Admins and owners are exempt from slow mode.

Archived Channels

Channels can be archived to prevent any new messages. Archived channels remain visible in the sidebar but cannot receive new content from any user, including admins.

Message TTL (Auto-Delete)

Admins can configure a message TTL (Time To Live) on a channel. Messages older than the TTL are automatically deleted by the server. The TTL can be set from 0 (disabled) up to 2,592,000 seconds (30 days).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+K Open Quick Switcher to jump to any channel or DM
Ctrl+F Search messages in the current channel
Ctrl+T Focus the message input box
End Scroll to the latest message
Home Scroll to the top of loaded messages
Shift+Esc Mark all channels as read
Esc Close the current panel or modal