Chat and calls

Chat is first-party, not a Slack plugin. Conversations stay in the hive. Public project channels can become knowledge (archived incrementally; chatter may be skipped). Private rooms do not.

Plan: chat and calls are Studio, Team, and Enterprise (and the trial). Without an active plan or trial, Chat is not a working room.

Open chat

Chat in the left rail, or jump in from a project. Unread shows as a badge on the rail, and next to each conversation while you are in another room. On the desktop app that same unread count is the dock badge — a DM still counts while the window is in the background. Bring the window forward on that conversation to clear the count.

Opening Chat again returns to the conversation you left — a channel, a direct message, or Ask — including after you open a project or a task, and after you close the browser or the desktop app. A link to a specific room still opens that room. The Ask button on a project opens that project’s Ask. Team channels, project channels, sub-channels, and direct messages are listed with the ones you use most often first. People you have not messaged yet stay in name order.

Channel types

Kind	What it is
Project channel	Created with the project. The default room for that engagement. The conversation title opens the project.
Sub-channel	Nested under a project channel. Can be private; membership is then gated like a DM. The project name next to the title opens the project.
Org channel	Hive-wide, no single project. Managers create these. Use for weeklies that cover many clients. See Meetings.
DM	One other person. Opening a DM is get-or-create. You cannot DM yourself. The list shows a small squircle photo or initial for each person, the same shape as the app icon. The conversation bar shows their profile photo when they have one. In the thread that photo is larger.

Every hive member can read public org channels. Private subs are invite-only; you cannot remove the last member.

Ask sits under each project channel, and org Ask sits under Team channels for shared procedures. See Knowledge.

Messages

The thread is not boxed in. Messages scroll under the conversation title and under the message field. The latest line stays just above the field, and a short thread still starts below the title. Each new day shows the date. The arrow on that date jumps to yesterday, last week, last month, the start of the conversation, or a date you pick. Scroll up and earlier messages load on their own, before you reach the top. Latest messages brings you back to the newest lines.

While someone is writing, their name sits above the message box. It goes away when they clear what they wrote, or after they stop for a short while.
Choosing a channel or a direct message places the cursor in the message box. In a channel, mention @Name or @Team. In a channel or org channel, @channel notifies everyone in that room. A direct message goes only to the other person, so the box does not offer @Name, @Team, or @channel. Enter sends; Shift+Enter starts a new line. Several messages in a row from the same person share one name and avatar. Posted time is relative (five minutes ago) and appears next to the name when you hover the first message in that run. A person’s @Name in a task comment is a link to a DM with them.
Use the code control in the composer (same row as the paperclip, emoji, and /) to wrap selected text, or to start an empty block. Paste several lines of code and you can also choose Format as code. The block stays monospace, with a copy control. Short spans can be marked with `inline`.
Paste or drop an image into the composer, or use the paperclip. Up to four images per message, 10MB each. A bar on the thumbnail shows how far the upload has got. Click a thumbnail in the thread to see it at full size, or fitted to the screen when it is larger. Download and close sit on the photo. When that thumbnail is a smaller copy, it stays on screen while the full image loads, and a spinner shows until the image is ready. Download saves the stored file in the format you uploaded (a PNG stays a PNG), including in the desktop app, and shows the same progress. Images in private rooms and DMs stay in that room — they are not added to project knowledge.
The paperclip also sends a file (PDF, Office, text, zip, and common audio or video), in a channel or a direct message. Up to four files or images on one message. Other files are 25MB. The chip shows progress while the file uploads, downloads, or opens. Click a PDF, a text file, or an audio or video clip to open it in the thread. Download on that view, or the icon on the chip, saves a copy. Office files and zip archives download when you click them. In a project channel, or a public room under it, the file is added to that project’s files when you send it, and it stays there if the message is later deleted. In a direct message, an org channel, or a private room, the file stays on the message for the people in that conversation. In the desktop app the Dock or taskbar follows that progress once the app itself is up to date.
Type / at the start of a message for commands, or use the / control between emoji and code. It inserts / at the cursor. Click it again to leave the command. /giphy cats searches GIFs. Arrow keys move through the results and Enter picks the highlighted one, or click it. Write a caption if you want, then send. The GIF plays from Giphy. It is not saved as a file in the hive. Esc leaves the search.
/projects lists the projects you can open. Type to narrow the list, then use the arrow keys and Enter. A second list is that project’s links — staging, production, and any others a manager added in project settings. Enter puts the link in the message box, with the label as the words you click. Send it like any other message. Esc steps back.
Hover a message for its actions. Each control names itself in a small tip. With the keyboard, Up and Down select a message, and E edits yours. The whole draft is selected when editing starts. Enter saves the edit and puts the cursor back in the message box. Esc leaves the edit and keeps that message selected.
Forward a message from the arrow on that bar. Search for a channel or a direct message, then choose it. A direct message shows that person’s photo when they have one. The copy is a new message from you, with a line naming who wrote the original.
The three emoji you add most often sit in front of the reaction picker. Until you have added three, those are 👍, ❤️, and 😂. React or insert from curated emoji packs (frequent, smileys, gestures, work, objects, nature, symbols). Search the picker; you cannot add custom emoji. Hover a reaction to see who used it. Several people can share the same emoji. Emoji in a message and in the composer are drawn a little larger than the words around them. A reaction is closer to the size of the count beside it.
Edit or delete your own messages. Delete is a tombstone; history stays coherent for everyone else.
To send later, open the arrow beside Send. Choose later today, tomorrow morning, next Monday, or a time of your own. It posts from you when that time arrives. Until then it sits above the composer, where you can send it now or cancel it. In a direct message, a choice can also show what time that is for the other person.
Remind me is in the ⋯ menu on a message. Pick a time and InHive pings you in the bell (and with a banner, if you already allow them). It does not post anything in the channel.
Unread is per channel. While you are in another room, the count sits next to that conversation and updates as messages arrive. An @mention uses that same count. It does not add a row to the bell. Marking a room read is automatic as you catch up. Coming back after the computer was asleep loads the latest messages — you do not need to reload the page. A DM or @mention can also raise a system banner when you are not in the InHive tab — Notifications.

Teams as mention targets are set on People. They are not permissions.

Calls

From a DM or a channel, start a call. On a project, chat and call sit next to Ask. Chat opens that project’s conversation in the column on the right. Call starts or joins the project’s call and does not ring anyone. The call stays in a column on the right while you move around InHive — other pages and notifications sit beside it. While you are in a call, the chat icon on the call folds it into a honey bar of faces along the top, with mute and leave, and the conversation underneath. Tap the faces to bring the call back. Open in Chat moves that conversation into Chat. A direct message in that column is one row: their face, a presence dot on its corner, and the name from Chat display on Account. In the conversation list, that room keeps an orange outline and headphones, so you can find it again after you open another chat. The mark goes away when the call ends. Drag the left edge to make the column wider or narrower. Drag it past the narrowest size and it collapses to the honey rail; open it again and it comes back at the width you last used. People stay in one column while they fit, and wrap to two when the window is too short. Microphone is on when you join; turn the camera on from the call column if you want video. On a narrower window the main menu collapses while that column is open; you can open it again.

1:1 rings the other person. While the call is still open, the conversation bar shows orange headphones and JOIN, and the same control sits under the words on the message that says who started it. That message scrolls with the chat. Its icon sits in the portrait column and the words line up with the message text. The date and time appear on hover, the same way a message shows when it was sent. A missed ring becomes a notification, and that same message leads with Missed. A call you were on leads with the duration, then when it started and who was there. A call that went ahead without you also leads with Missed, then the duration and who was on it.
Channel conferences are join-when-ready. The bar offers JOIN, and that scrolling message offers it under the words, until you are in the call. When the call ends, the message leads with the duration if you were on it. If other people were on it and you were not, it leads with Missed, then the duration and who was there. An empty conference is still a call that happened.
Background noise on your microphone is filtered on the website and the desktop app before other people hear it. If that filter cannot start, the call still uses the browser’s own noise reduction. The phone app uses the phone’s own voice processing.
Click the microphone, camera, or speaker icon to turn that one off or on. Off is the slashed icon. The small arrow beside each icon chooses that device. Changing a device keeps it off if it was already off. Successful choices are remembered in this browser. If your headset or camera is missing next time, the call uses the browser default and keeps your saved choice for later. Some browsers do not support choosing speakers. Turn your camera on to grant access if camera names are not available yet.
Share screen replaces your camera with the screen, across the top of the column. You’re sharing and Stop sharing sit on that card. If your camera is on, your face stays as a circle on the card.
When someone else shares, their screen takes the same full-width card, with their face as a circle only while their camera is on. Full screen and Pop out share are in the call header. Full screen fills the window with their screen and keeps the call controls. Pop out share puts just their screen in its own floating window. Resize it or drag it to another monitor — the picture stays sharp as the window grows. Their card stays in the column, and you can minimize the call and keep watching. Bring share back, or closing that window, returns it. If your browser does not offer pop out, use Full screen. In the desktop app, screen share needs the OS Screen Recording permission (separate from camera and microphone). If it is off, the call window offers Open settings.
The window shows when it is joining or reconnecting. When the connection comes back, a microphone or camera that was on is turned on again. One you had switched off stays off. If it cannot be turned back on, the same device message appears. Screen share is not restored. If your browser blocks sound, click Enable audio. A failed device change shows a message so you can try another device.
While you are on the call, a quiet tone rises when someone else joins and falls when they leave. The same fall plays if you are left alone or your connection drops. A guest waiting to be admitted knocks once. Turn People joining and leaving off under Account → Sound. Mute all sounds, or Notification sounds, also silences the ring, the knock, and those tones.
Use Minimize to keep working while the call continues. The call becomes a narrow honey rail on the right, and the page sits beside it. Headphones under the chevron show the call is still on. The chevron (the same one as the main menu) opens the call column again. Circles are the people on the call — a ring marks who is talking. Below them: the project folder, settings, and leave. Settings opens microphone, camera, speakers, screen share, and transcription — the same row you see when the column is open. On a team channel, the folder is the project you are discussing, in the column and on the rail.

Transcription and meeting AI actions are optional on the call, and live capture is Team (and the trial). A manager or the person who started the call can turn Send to transcripts on (project and team channels). On a team (org) channel the call starts immediately — pick the project from the folder just above leave (every project, most recently active first). The same folder is on the minimized rail. Spoken lines and messages typed in that room both land on the project you are discussing. Afterward, see Meetings.

From a task with other assignees, you can also start the project conference and ring them.

On the phone app, the same Call button sits in the conversation header. The microphone starts on and the camera stays off until you turn it on. You can watch a screen share. The phone does not share its own screen. A locked phone uses the system incoming-call screen, which you can turn off under More → Account.

Invite a guest

On a project channel (or a public sub-channel), the guest icon in the conversation bar lets you copy a join link or email someone before you start the call. If the project has a client with contacts, you can pick one of those contacts instead of typing an email. They wait in a lobby until someone on the call admits them. A copied link lets them type their own name. If the link leaks, reset it from the same menu — the old URL stops working immediately. An emailed invite still works for that one call only.

If transcription is on, the guest sees that and must agree before they join. Their speech lands on the transcript by name. Guests do not get chat or a hive account. They cannot share their own screen; while someone on the call is sharing, they can open Full screen so the share fills their display.

Team (org) channels and private rooms cannot take guests — those rooms cover more than one client.

What is not here

Group DMs (deliberately out of scope).
Slack import as the daily driver (chat is in-tenant so it can become memory).
Call recording as a downloadable file (transcripts and ingest are the path).

Meetings · Knowledge · Notifications · Plans