Start a conversation
- Open Chat and select New conversation.
- Search for one or more accessible participants.
- Add an optional group-thread title where the UI requests it.
- Send the first message or attach files.
Work with messages
From a message action menu you can, when authorized:- reply while preserving the referenced message;
- edit your message;
- add or remove an emoji reaction;
- mark the timeline from a selected message as unread;
- soft-delete and restore a message;
- remove an attachment from a message.
Thread state is personal
- Mute suppresses attention signals for the current participant without stopping durable delivery.
- Archive removes the thread from the participant’s active list without deleting it for others.
- Mark unread creates a personal follow-up boundary.
- Delete is a shared soft-delete lifecycle and should not be used as a personal inbox filter.
Attachments
Chat attachments are stored in RevoEngine Storage. The UI uses idempotent direct-upload batches so several selected files can be tracked as one composer operation.Files in notification emails
Eligible notification emails include download cards for attached Storage files, with the file type, size, expiration time and a download action. Choose a link validity from one to seven days. Email links expire independently of the file’s retention policy. Treat a download link as sensitive access information and avoid forwarding it beyond the intended recipients. System messages, unread Chat digests and Job notifications share the same header, workspace actions and preference footer, with different content for each message type. If an attachment link cannot be created, the delivery is retried before sending instead of silently removing its card. Chat persistence, provider acceptance and confirmed email delivery are separate states. If the provider outcome is uncertain, reconcile it before retrying a send to avoid duplicates.Search and mentions
Search returns accessible message matches with the owning thread and an excerpt. A hit with no text can use its attachment summary. Open the result to restore the exact conversation context rather than acting on an excerpt alone. Unread message and mention counts belong to each participant. Muting changes notification behavior, not searchability or authorization.Email preferences and unread digests
In Settings → Notifications, the chat and system-message email preference controls email for these conversations. It is enabled by default and can be turned off independently of the administrator’s job-failure notification choices. System messages can produce an immediate email. Ordinary unread Chat messages can be collected into a digest; read messages and muted or archived conversations are excluded. Each unread receipt can enter at most one digest, and eligibility is checked again before sending. Reading a message in the app does not retract an email already accepted by the mail provider. Job-failure email is controlled separately by the per-instance administrator settings. A job alert sent to the system conversation does not produce an extra system-message email on top of the dedicated job email. Transactional email is also separate from the chat preference. Delivery is tracked persistently and transient failures can be retried. Provider acceptance means the provider accepted the request; it does not confirm inbox delivery.Realtime and reconnect
Connected clients receive thread, message, reaction, receipt, attachment, and presence updates. Realtime frames improve latency; persisted Chat APIs remain authoritative. After reconnecting, the client reloads thread and message state. A missed WebSocket frame must not cause permanent message loss or invent a local-only read state.Operational patterns
Incident room
Create a group conversation for the incident, pin operation or Trace identifiers in the opening message, and attach exported evidence. Use replies for decision lineage. Keep remediation in governed platform resources rather than executable snippets copied from chat.System notification inbox
Use a system thread for durable notifications that operators must be able to search later. A system message supplements—rather than replaces—the underlying Job, Event, Webhook, or Trace evidence.Chat, Assistant, and Agents
Chat messages do not become Assistant context or Agent memory unless an explicit governed workflow connects them.
Failure and recovery
- If an attachment fails, discard or retry the upload batch before sending the message.
- If Realtime disconnects, reload persisted state rather than replaying local mutations blindly.
- If a message send outcome is ambiguous, reconcile by the client draft/idempotency identity before sending again.
- Deleting a thread or message does not delete unrelated Storage objects or external copies.
- Archiving and muting are per-user and do not signal resolution to other participants.
Good collaboration hygiene
- Include the resource, Job, Event, or operation ID in operational discussions.
- Use replies for decision and evidence lineage.
- Keep secrets in Secrets.
- Archive resolved conversations; do not delete them to clear a personal inbox.
- Treat system notifications as pointers to authoritative evidence.