Conversations
Where Piste answers in Slack, how threads work, who becomes a light member, and who may approve what Piste asks for in a Slack conversation.
In Slack, you talk to Piste in a direct message, by mentioning @Piste in a channel, or by replying in a thread Piste is part of. Each Slack thread is one conversation: Piste replies in the thread, and a new top-level message starts a new conversation, in a DM too.
Where does Piste answer in Slack?
| Where | What Piste answers |
|---|---|
| Your DM with Piste | Every message. |
| A public channel | A mention of @Piste, a reply in a thread Piste is already part of, and a reply under an automation's post, with or without a mention. |
| A private channel you've added Piste to | Every message, with or without a mention. |
| A public channel you asked Piste to listen in | The above, plus at most one unasked answer per thread to a question about a product in your store. |
| A channel shared with another organisation | Nothing, except in an agency room Early access. |
In a public channel, Piste ignores every other message. In a private channel it's in, Piste answers everything people write, not only mentions, so a guest who writes there is told privately each time that Piste is for the workspace's members. Messages from bots, and Slack's own messages such as someone joining, never start a conversation anywhere.
How do threads work?
Piste always replies in the thread of the message it's answering. To carry on the conversation, reply in that thread: you don't need to mention Piste again once it's part of the thread.
A new message at the top of a channel or DM starts a new conversation that doesn't know the earlier ones. Facts Piste should always know, such as how you treat returns, belong in the workspace's memory, which every conversation reads.
When several messages arrive in one thread while Piste is still working, they wait their turn rather than interrupt it. An answer longer than 12,000 characters is posted as a Markdown snippet, with the line "Here's a snippet with the full response."
A question about your store's figures may come with a chart, followed by a card with a Keep me posted button that turns the question into a watch. Only the owner's press sets one up: a teammate's press in a channel asks the owner in the thread.
Replies under an automation's post
When an automation posts in Slack, anyone who's a full member of your Slack workspace can reply under that post without mentioning Piste. The conversation starts knowing that run: what it reported, and the proposals on the post still open, so people can ask about the result or discuss what it proposed.
A guest's reply under an automation's post is ignored without a word, since they may be talking to a colleague rather than to Piste.
Who becomes a light member?
A light member is someone who uses Piste through Slack without a Piste account. Anyone who's a full, active member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed becomes a light member of your Piste workspace the first time they:
- message Piste in a DM, a mention, a thread Piste is part of, a private channel it's in, or a reply under an automation's post;
- press a button on a card under an automation's post;
- use one of Piste's shortcuts or
/piste; - tell Piste "@Piste stop listening" in a channel;
- get an unasked answer in a channel Piste listens in.
Guests, deactivated accounts, bots and people from another organisation never become light members.
There's no invite and nothing to set up: a light member reaches Piste only through Slack, and only the owner signs in on the web. There's also no screen that lists light members or removes one. Piste checks with Slack each time someone other than the owner presses a card's button or uses a shortcut or /piste, so someone deactivated or made a guest since can't do either. Disconnecting Slack forgets every Slack identity in that Slack workspace, light members' included. See Team and roles for the whole picture.
What can a light member do?
| Action | Owner | Light member |
|---|---|---|
| Ask about the store and get answers from its data | Yes | Yes |
| Save something to the workspace's memory in a conversation | Yes | Yes |
| Approve what Piste asks for in a conversation they started | Yes | Yes |
| Decide on a card under an automation's post | Yes | Yes, except the few kinds that are always the owner's |
| Decide on a card raised in a conversation | Yes | No |
| Create, change or pause automations | Yes | No |
| Set quiet hours, team channels or listening | Yes | No |
| Change connections, or hand work to the coder | Yes | No |
Memory is shared across the workspace, so whatever a light member saves, everyone's conversations read.
How do approvals work in a Slack conversation?
When Piste needs a person's go-ahead before it does something, it pauses and posts an approval card in the thread with two buttons, Cancel and Approve. Nothing happens until someone presses one. Once answered, the card shows who answered it.
Only two people may answer:
- the workspace owner;
- the person who started that conversation.
Anyone else's press is refused, and nothing happens.
A conversation belongs to the person who started it. If someone other than the owner asks Piste, in a thread someone else started, for something that needs an approval, Piste refuses and suggests they start a new thread or DM to ask.
Typing "approve" in the thread doesn't approve anything. The decision is the button.
Cards raised in a conversation
Some changes, such as a store edit, come as a proposal card rather than an approval. Piste posts a conversation's cards in its thread after its reply, at most 10 cards to a message. A card raised in a conversation is the owner's alone to decide. Anyone else is told "Only the workspace owner can decide on this change: it was raised in a conversation, not by an automation in this channel."
Cards under an automation's post are different: any full member of your Slack workspace may decide them. Approvals compares the two.
Related
- Channels: automation channels, team channels and listening.
- Shortcuts and /piste: ask Piste about any message.
- Approvals: what Piste asks first, and who decides.