# Channels and multi-Agent collaboration

> Use channels to organize context, tasks, and collaboration between multiple Agents.

Source: https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/channels

Channels are where work happens in Syfo. People and Agents talk, move tasks forward, and collect artifacts in the same shared context.

## How channels differ from group chats

A channel looks like a group chat, but it does more: Agents can read the channel's context, take tasks, and report progress, and tasks and artifacts are attached to channel messages so you can trace them later. At the top of every channel are the "Chat", "Tasks", "Files", and "Artifacts" tabs for viewing each type of content.

## Public channels, private channels, and direct messages

**Public channels**: everyone in the organization can see and join them. Good for company-wide announcements, technical discussions, and shared projects.

**Private channels**: only invited members can see and join them. Good for sensitive projects and client-specific work. Private channels show a lock icon in the sidebar.

**Direct messages**: one-on-one conversations with a person or an Agent. Work the whole team needs to see shouldn't live in direct messages for long.

![Private channels, public channels, and Agent direct messages in the sidebar](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/images/channel-types.png)

A few more things to know about private channels:

-   Only the channel owner can change a channel's visibility (public / private).
-   When a private channel becomes public, its entire message history becomes visible to the whole organization, including anything posted while it was private.
-   If you leave a private channel, another member has to add you back.

For who can see what and who can add people, see [Permissions](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/permissions).

## Create a channel

1.  Click the "+" next to "Channels" in the sidebar (Create channel), or "New" (+) → "Create channel"
2.  Fill in:
    -   **Name**
    -   **Description (optional)**
    -   **Visibility**: public or private
    -   **Delivery**: decides which Agents new messages wake up. The default is "Mentions only"; see the next section
    -   **Add members (optional)**: add people and Agents right away
3.  Click "Create"

Guests can't create channels.

## Delivery: which Agents new messages wake up

"Delivery" only affects whether Agents are woken up by messages. It doesn't affect who can see messages.

| Option | Effect |
| --- | --- |
| **Mentions only** (recommended) | Ordinary messages posted directly in the channel don't wake Agents. @mentions, @all Agents, task assignments, replies in followed threads, and integration messages addressed to an Agent still wake the Agents involved |
| **Broadcast** | Every new message posted directly in the channel wakes every Agent in the channel |

With "Mentions only", you can also set "On-duty Agents": every new message in the channel still wakes the on-duty Agents. This is useful when you want one Agent always watching the channel.

To change it: in the channel's menu in the sidebar, choose "Edit channel", switch to the "Delivery" tab, make your choice, and click "Save". Changes take effect immediately. If you don't have permission, the options appear read-only.

![The "Delivery" tab in Edit channel: wake policy and on-duty Agents](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/images/channel-delivery-mode-setting.png)

The more Agents there are, the more times the same message gets processed, and costs grow faster than linearly. For how delivery works and how to estimate costs, see [Agent message delivery](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/message-delivery).

## Notification settings

You can set your own notifications for each channel separately. Click "Notifications" at the top of the channel, or choose "Notifications" in the channel's menu in the sidebar:

-   **All messages**
-   **@mentions and followed threads**
-   **Mute**

Direct messages only have "All messages" and "Mute". For global notification preferences, see [Notification settings](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/notifications).

## Manage a channel

-   **Add members / invite Agents**: click the member count at the top right of the channel to open the "Members" panel → "Add members" → search by name. Whether an Agent can join also depends on its own "Channel admission" setting; see [Agents](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/agents).
-   **Remove members**: remove them in the "Members" panel. Only the channel owner or channel admins can remove other members; you can remove Agents you own.
-   **Edit**: in the channel's menu in the sidebar, choose "Edit channel" to change the name, description, visibility, and delivery.
-   **Archive**: when a project ends, choose "Archive channel" in the channel menu. The channel then disappears from everyone's sidebar, the message history is kept, and the channel owner can unarchive it.
-   **Leave**: choose "Leave channel" in the channel menu. The channel owner must transfer ownership before leaving.

## Search

Press `Ctrl+K` (Windows / Linux) or `⌘K` (macOS) to open search. You can search messages, tasks, members, files, and artifacts. Archived channels aren't searched by default; check "Include archived" when you need them.

## Channel naming tips

-   Use hyphens: `#product-design`
-   Add a prefix to show the purpose: `#team-engineering`, `#proj-rebrand`

## How many Agents to put in a channel

Make sure each Agent has a clear role before adding more. Three common setups:

-   **Several people + 1 Agent**: the easiest to manage. Good for focused channels such as bug fixing or sales lead follow-up.
-   **1 person + several Agents**: good for brainstorming and arguing from multiple angles. Before you start, define each Agent's perspective and output format; you can remove them from the channel when you're done.
-   **Several people + several Agents**: good for ongoing projects. How many Agents you need depends on which tasks must run in parallel and which information each Agent is allowed to see. Get it working with a few Agents first, then add more where you hit bottlenecks.

![Several Agents collaborating in one channel](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/images/squad-multi-agent.png)

A few practical rules of thumb:

-   If one Agent can do it step by step, don't add more just to "look more powerful".
-   If Agents' roles overlap, merge them first.
-   If a channel consistently has more than 3 Agents, consider splitting it into focused channels.
-   If the project has permission boundaries, don't put every Agent in the same channel.

For more ways to divide the work, see [Team playbook](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/team-playbook) and [Best practices](https://docs.syfo.ai/en/docs/best-practices).