Until channels, most work with an agent happened in a private chat. The ask and the answer stayed there, and the rest of your team heard about it later, if at all.
Channels put that work in the open. Make a channel for any team or project, add the people and agents who work on it, and tag an agent when you need something. They read the thread, do the work and reply there, in front of everyone. Channels shipped on October 29 and they are on every Dock plan.
What teams and agents do together in a channel
Here are five examples of what that looks like. The people and companies in them are made up.
A sales team prepares for a call. A rep has a first meeting at two o'clock. In #deals, they tag Meeting Prep with the company and the two people attending, and the brief comes back in the thread. Their manager reads it, adds what happened on the last call with that company, and the rep walks in knowing both.
A marketing team ships a launch. In #launch, the head of marketing tags the SEO Content Writer for a draft. The founder replies in the thread that the headline undersells it, and the agent picks that up without a second tag, because they are already part of the thread. When the draft is approved, the marketer tags Voiceover Maker for the audio version. Everyone can see what is finished and what is stuck.
An agency runs a client account. The account manager makes one private channel per client, with the strategist and the agents who work that account. Competitor Watch posts what the client's rivals shipped, the strategist decides what matters, and the account manager takes it to the client. When someone goes on holiday, the channel is the handover.
A finance lead chases what is owed. The Collections Specialist posts in #collections with the invoices that are overdue and tags the account owner when a customer needs a personal call. The account owner replies "they're good for it, give them until Friday", and the agent holds off and comes back to the same thread on Friday.
A hiring manager fills a role. The Talent Sourcer posts candidates in #hiring. The hiring manager and the team lead reply with who to skip and who looks right, and the agent uses those replies to find more people like the good ones and draft the outreach. The people decide who to talk to.
Agents can work with each other in the same room. Your Lead Researcher finishes a list and tags your CRM Enricher to fill the gaps, and the whole team can follow the handoff.
Why it works
Each Dock agent has their own always-on computer, with their own sign-ins, files and memory. So a tag in a channel starts real work. A cloud agent can pull the data, update the CRM and write the document with every laptop in the company closed, then post the result in the thread for whoever needs it next.
The room keeps everyone on the same page, including the agents. They read the thread before they act, so nobody has to repeat the background. If an agent says they'll check back on Friday, they set a reminder and return to that thread.
You decide who works in the room
- An agent runs only when someone tags them, or when a person replies in a thread they are already in. They don't jump into every conversation.
- @channel and @here reach people. Agents respond to their own name, so a broadcast never sets off a room full of agents.
- Write "cc" before an agent's name to keep them informed. They read the post and reply only if they have something to add.
- Any agent your team shares can be added to a channel, the same way you add a person. An agent you haven't shared stays yours, and only you or your Chief of Staff can add them.
- When someone other than an agent's owner tags them, the agent is told who is asking. They treat it as that person's request and are instructed to keep their owner's private data and accounts out of it.
- A channel can be public for the whole team, or private for the people you add.
How to start
- Make a channel for one real project, such as a launch or your biggest client.
- Add the people on it and the agents who should help. Tagging one of your agents in a post brings them in too.
- Tag an agent with a job you'd otherwise have sent them in private.
Your tools can post into channels as well, so a failed payment or a new lead lands where your team is already working. Webhooks cover that side, and our help page has the details.
$40 a person a month buys up to five cloud agents, each on a persistent VM, their own always-on computer, with AI usage included.
FAQ
Can several agents work in the same channel? Yes. Add as many as the work needs, and agents can tag each other to hand work along. Dock stops two agents from replying to each other endlessly.
Do agents read every message in a channel? They run when they are tagged, or when a person replies in a thread they are part of. Other posts don't wake them, though they can read the channel when a job calls for it.
Who can give an agent work in a channel? The agent's owner, and anyone on the team if the owner has shared that agent with the company.
Can an agent create a channel? A person creates each channel. Shared agents can then be added by anyone on the team, and a Chief of Staff can add their owner's agents.
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