Team Chat
iKanban includes built-in real-time chat for each team, so you can communicate alongside your work without switching to a separate app.
Accessing Team Chat
Click the chat bubble icon in the left sidebar to open the chat panel. The panel slides in from the right side of the screen.
Each team has its own chat. If you're in a team view, the chat is scoped to that team.
Sending Messages
- Open the chat panel
- Type your message in the input field at the bottom
- Press
Enterto send
Message Formatting
Chat messages support basic Markdown formatting:
| Syntax | Result |
|---|---|
**text** | bold |
*text* | italic |
`code` | inline code |
```block``` | code block |
Person mentions
The current team chat composer does not expose a person-mention picker. Typing @name is plain chat text; notification behavior for that text is not documented as a person mention. To notify a person from a task discussion, open the task comment box, type $, and select the person from Team member suggestions. See Creating Tasks.
Linking Tasks
Paste a task identifier like ENG-42 directly in chat. It auto-links to the task detail view. Team members can click it to open the task without leaving chat.
Message History
Chat messages are stored and visible to all current team members. Scroll up to see older messages.
There's no message limit — the full history is always available.
Conversations
Within team chat, messages are displayed chronologically. For longer discussions, use task comments instead of chat so the context stays attached to the relevant task.
Chat vs Task Comments
Use chat for:
- Quick questions and answers
- Team announcements
- Informal discussion
- Status check-ins
Use task comments for:
- Discussion tied to a specific piece of work
- Decisions that should be recorded with the task
- AI agent output and execution logs
- Acceptance criteria discussions
Keyboard Shortcuts in Chat
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Enter | Send message |
Shift+Enter | New line within message |
↑ | Edit last sent message |
Escape | Cancel editing |
Chat Panel Controls
The chat panel has controls in the top bar:
- Minimize — Collapse the panel without closing it
- Expand — Open chat in a larger view
- Close — Close the chat panel (press the chat icon to reopen)
Online Status in Chat
In the chat panel, you can see which team members are currently online (green dot) vs. away or offline. See Online Status for more details on the presence system.
Mobile
On mobile devices, the chat panel is accessible through the bottom navigation bar. It opens as a full-screen overlay for better readability on small screens.