3.14 Chat with colleagues from IM
IM channels let you talk to the main assistant or a specific colleague from Feishu, Telegram or Slack without opening the workbench. You can mention colleagues in a bound IM group to hand over work and approve or reject approval cards directly. Conversations, group messages and approvals all go through Teloa's own services, so the workbench shows the same records.
Enable IM channels
IM channels is an optional official extension that ships with Teloa and is off by default. Until it is enabled, Settings → IM channels only shows a notice.
- Click "Enable in Marketplace › Extensions" on the notice, or open Marketplace → Extensions, find "IM channels" under "Official extensions", click "Enable" and confirm. You can also ask the assistant in a conversation and approve the confirmation card.
- When the status reads "Enabled · takes effect after restart", restart Teloa. After the restart the status is "Enabled" and the settings page shows the channel form.
Disable it from Marketplace → Extensions as well; the change takes effect after a restart. Disabling deletes nothing: saved channels, credentials and bindings are kept and come back when you enable it again. To remove them, delete the channels in Settings first. When upgrading from an earlier version, IM channels is enabled automatically on first start if you had configured at least one channel; otherwise it stays off.
Before you start
- Teloa runs on Node.js 22 or later, and this computer must be able to reach the chosen IM platform.
- Create your own bot on the platform (a Telegram bot, an internal Slack app or a Feishu custom app) and get its credentials.
- Each channel binds exactly one personal account. Messages from other people in IM are never executed as instructions.
Credentials per platform:
| Channel | Credentials | Platform requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Telegram | Bot token | Create the bot with BotFather |
| Slack | Bot token (xoxb-) and app token (xapp-) | Enable Socket Mode; grant connections:write, chat:write, app_mentions:read, im:history, channels:history |
| Feishu | App ID and app secret; encrypt key optional | Use long-connection event subscription; enable im:message, im:message.group_at_msg and card callbacks |
Add a channel and bind your account
- Open Settings → IM channels, pick the channel type under "Add channel", enter the credentials and save. The page only shows "Credentials saved" and never displays the values again.
- Turn the channel on. When the status shows "Connected", click "Generate pairing code".
- In IM, send
/pair <code>to the bot in a direct message. The code is valid for 10 minutes, works once, and is rejected in groups. - After the bot confirms the binding, refresh the settings page and your account appears under "Linked accounts". You can change the default contact from the main assistant to a colleague there.
The first time you save a Feishu channel, Teloa downloads and verifies a pinned version of the Feishu SDK, which may take about a minute.
Channel credentials can only be saved in Settings. Setting SLACK_BOT_TOKEN, FEISHU_APP_SECRET and the like as environment variables has no effect, and neither does the _FILE form; the launcher drops such variables from the host environment and notes it once in the startup log (names only).
Direct messages and commands
Plain text in a direct message goes to a conversation with your default partner; the finished reply is sent back to the same chat. Available commands:
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
/new | Start a new conversation |
/status | Show the current partner |
/stop | Stop the current reply |
/colleague name | Switch to a colleague; /colleague assistant switches back |
/tasks | Show recent tasks |
/attention | Show items waiting for you |
/help | Command help |
Keys, payments, accounts and security settings can only be handled in the workbench; IM replies with a link instead.
Assign work in groups
Under "Group links" in settings, link an IM group to a Teloa team group. When you then mention the bot or a colleague by name in that IM group, your message is sent to the team group together with up to 10 earlier messages from others (as reference material, not instructions), and the colleague's reply is posted back to the IM group. Messages without a mention are only buffered in memory and never stored.
Approvals
When a colleague needs permission for an action, an approval card appears in both the workbench and your IM direct message. Whichever side answers first wins; when you answer in the workbench first, the IM card is edited to say so and its buttons are removed. Only the bound account can answer in IM; unanswered cards expire after 30 minutes and must then be handled in the workbench. IM can only approve or reject the single call and cannot change permission rules.
Known limitations
- After you answer in IM, the same card in the workbench stays visible until the turn ends; clicking it has no effect.
- After Teloa restarts, IM approval cards sent before the restart expire; clicking them only reports that the card was handled or has expired.
- Only one Teloa on the same computer can connect a given set of IM channels; the other one shows the error "Another Teloa is connected to this channel".
- Sending files, streaming replies and linking threads to tasks are not supported yet.
For network and data-location notes during deployment, see Configuration and data locations.