All documentation · Working together

Team chat

Direct messages, group chats, and WhatsApp threads share a single screen. Learn the filter pills, message actions, chat heads, group ownership, and the WhatsApp 24-hour window.

7 min read · Reviewed 2026-07-13

Chat lives at /communications/chat. One screen holds three kinds of conversation: direct messages with teammates, group chats, and WhatsApp threads with customers. They sit in the same list, so you are not switching apps to answer a customer and then ask a colleague about it.

Finding a conversation

Four filter pills sit above the list — All, DM, Groups, WhatsApp — and each carries its own unread count, so you can tell at a glance whether the thing waiting for you is a customer or a teammate. There is a search box above them for finding a conversation by name.

The AI assistant is not in this list: Clyentra's assistant is not a chat contact. It has its own surface — press ⌘J anywhere in the app. See ai-assistant.

Starting a conversation

The new-chat button opens Create Conversation — "Choose whether you want to start a direct message or create a group chat." It has two tabs.

1. Direct Message. "Pick one teammate to open a private conversation." Choose exactly one person, then Start DM. Teammates you already have a DM with are hidden from the picker — there is no way to end up with two threads for the same person.
2. Group Chat. "Name the group and select the teammates you want in it." Group Name is required and capped at 40 characters; the description is optional and capped at 200. Add your members, then Create Group.

What you can do with a message

• React with an emoji, reply in thread, edit your own message, or delete it.
• Forward a message to another conversation — or multi-select several messages and forward them together.
• Attach any file type. Paste an image straight from your clipboard into the composer and it uploads as an attachment.
• Links preview automatically — paste a URL and the message renders a card.
• Typing indicators and read receipts tell you whether the other side is writing and whether they have seen it.

Let AI tighten the message before you send it: The sparkle button in the composer rewrites your draft — useful when you are firing off something to a customer at speed and want it to read well. You see the result before it sends; nothing goes out until you press send.

Chat heads

Minimize a conversation and it becomes a floating bubble that follows you across the app. You can keep an eye on a customer thread while you work a lead or edit a task, and pop it open without leaving the screen you are on.

Groups and ownership

Only the creator of a group can manage it — adding members and transferring ownership are the creator's to do. If the person who made the group is leaving the team, have them transfer ownership first, otherwise the group is stuck with the membership it has.

WhatsApp threads

Once WhatsApp is connected under Settings → Integrations, customer threads appear in the same list behind the WhatsApp pill. If your organization has several WhatsApp numbers connected, an account switcher in the sidebar picks which one you are working from. See integrations to connect it.

Meta's 24-hour rule applies: Clyentra shows this banner when the window has closed: "Freeform replies are only available inside the active 24-hour WhatsApp window. Use a template to restart the conversation." The clock runs from the customer's last inbound message. Outside the window the template picker opens for you automatically — pick an approved template, fill its variables, and send that to reopen the conversation.

Muting and archiving

Mute a conversation to stop it pushing notifications at you while leaving it in the list. Archive one to take it out of the list entirely — archived conversations collect under Archived Chats, reachable from the Archived row at the bottom of the sidebar, and come back the moment you need them.

Who can use chat

Opening a conversation and sending messages requires the Chat permission at Editor. Anyone below that sees: "You don't have access to chat. Contact your admin to send messages." If a teammate hits that message, the fix is a role change, not a chat setting — see roles-and-permissions.