How Claude Tag works changedclaude-tag/concepts/how-it-works
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99Claude Tag is Claude, working inside your team's Slack channels. An organization Owner gives it its own accounts to the tools your team uses, so it arrives already able to act, and anyone in a channel can tag it into a problem without setting anything up.
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11When someone tags Claude in at a channel's top level, the channel's own [session](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/glossary#session) picks the message up. A task that needs investigation, tools, or a longer exchange gets a working session in a thread under the message, and that thread binds to its own session from then on. Claude works through the task and posts the result back into the conversation. The work runs in an ephemeral cloud sandbox, not on your local machine.
11When someone tags Claude in at a channel's top level, the channel's own [session](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/glossary.md#session) picks the message up. A task that needs investigation, tools, or a longer exchange gets a working session in a thread under the message, and that thread binds to its own session from then on. Claude works through the task and posts the result back into the conversation. The work runs in an ephemeral cloud sandbox, not on your local machine.
1212
1313This page covers:
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7777
7878* **Editing a message**: Claude receives a note each time you edit, showing what the message said before the edit and what it says now. Both versions become part of the session's transcript, so editing a message doesn't remove the earlier text from what Anthropic stores. An edit doesn't start a new task or re-address Claude, even if you add `@Claude` to it.
7979* **Deleting a reply**: Claude gets no notification and keeps the version it already read. Deleting the reply in Slack doesn't remove it from the session's transcript.
80* **Deleting the thread's first message**: Claude stops working in that thread and the session closes, whether or not the thread has replies. Anything Claude already pushed or posted persists, per [what survives between replies](#what-survives-between-replies), and you start a new thread to pick the task back up. Closing the session archives it rather than deleting it, so its transcript, including the message you deleted, stays with the channel's Claude data until that data is [deleted](/docs/claude-tag/admins/workspaces#revoke-a-pairing).
80* **Deleting the thread's first message**: Claude stops working in that thread and the session closes, whether or not the thread has replies. Anything Claude already pushed or posted persists, per [what survives between replies](#what-survives-between-replies), and you start a new thread to pick the task back up. Closing the session archives it rather than deleting it, so its transcript, including the message you deleted, stays with the channel's Claude data until that data is [deleted](/docs/claude-tag/admins/workspaces.md#revoke-a-pairing).
8181* **Correcting course**: Claude responds to replies; edits reach it only as notes, and a deleted reply not at all. Say the change in a new reply; the reply is also how you walk back a message it already read.
8282
8383## Team channels and personal DMs
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9292
9393The Access column is about external systems. A channel session reaches what the channel was granted, and a one-to-one DM session reaches what your own account is connected to.
9494
95Everything below describes channel sessions, where most of the model lives. For one-to-one DMs, see [direct message channels](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity#direct-message-channels). For group DMs, see [Use Claude Tag in a group DM](/docs/claude-tag/users/group-dms). For choosing where to ask, see [pick the right surface](/docs/claude-tag/users/good-habits#pick-the-right-surface).
95Everything below describes channel sessions, where most of the model lives. For one-to-one DMs, see [direct message channels](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity.md#direct-message-channels). For group DMs, see [Use Claude Tag in a group DM](/docs/claude-tag/users/group-dms.md). For choosing where to ask, see [pick the right surface](/docs/claude-tag/users/good-habits.md#pick-the-right-surface).
9696
9797## How Claude Tag differs from Cowork and Claude Code
9898
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111111
112112Three ideas recur across this page and the rest of these docs.
113113
114* **Agent identity**: in channels, Claude acts under its own service accounts that an admin provisions, not as the person who asked. What it can reach is set per channel, so everyone in a channel works with the same access. See [How agent identity works](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity).
115* **Scheduling and long-running work**: a task can run on a schedule, follow a pull request and act when it changes, or keep going across many turns in one thread. The same channel access applies whether a person or a schedule started it. See [Set up routines](/docs/claude-tag/users/proactivity).
116* **Memory**: Claude keeps notes for each channel, and the workspace notes it saves from public channels are read in every channel in the workspace. See [What Claude remembers](/docs/claude-tag/users/memory).
114* **Agent identity**: in channels, Claude acts under its own service accounts that an admin provisions, not as the person who asked. What it can reach is set per channel, so everyone in a channel works with the same access. See [How agent identity works](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity.md).
115* **Scheduling and long-running work**: a task can run on a schedule, follow a pull request and act when it changes, or keep going across many turns in one thread. The same channel access applies whether a person or a schedule started it. See [Set up routines](/docs/claude-tag/users/proactivity.md).
116* **Memory**: Claude keeps notes for each channel, and the workspace notes it saves from public channels are read in every channel in the workspace. See [What Claude remembers](/docs/claude-tag/users/memory.md).
117117
118118## Lifecycle of a request
119119
120120Every session, in any channel, follows the same five-step loop.
121121
1221. **The session starts.** Someone tags `@Claude` with a task that needs a working session, or a [scheduled routine](/docs/claude-tag/users/proactivity) runs. At a channel's top level, the channel's own session picks the message up and starts the thread's session.
1221. **The session starts.** Someone tags `@Claude` with a task that needs a working session, or a [scheduled routine](/docs/claude-tag/users/proactivity.md) runs. At a channel's top level, the channel's own session picks the message up and starts the thread's session.
1231232. **A sandbox builds.** Each thread gets its own isolated working environment.
1241243. **The working loop runs.** Claude works through the task with the channel's access, editing its checklist in place.
1251254. **The result lands in the thread.** An answer, a doc, a chart, or a pull request.
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152152| A page kept current | Any of the above, edited in place over time | Digests, indexes, standing reports |
153153| A hosted page | A web page published on claude.ai, linked in the thread | Dashboards, prototypes, reports |
154154
155A hosted page stays available after the session ends, and Claude updates it when you ask in the thread. Anyone with access to the channel can open it. [Artifact visibility](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/security-and-data#artifact-visibility) covers the access model. These are the same artifacts [Claude Code publishes](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/artifacts), with channel-based access in place of owner-controlled sharing.
155A hosted page stays available after the session ends, and Claude updates it when you ask in the thread. Anyone with access to the channel can open it. [Artifact visibility](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/security-and-data.md#artifact-visibility) covers the access model. These are the same artifacts [Claude Code publishes](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/artifacts), with channel-based access in place of owner-controlled sharing.
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157157For code work, the result is usually a draft pull request opened under the Claude GitHub App, with the link posted in the thread.
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161161For a longer task, Claude's first reply is a checklist, a live task list that it edits in place as it goes. Slack does not send notifications when a message is edited, so the thread can look frozen while the list is still moving.
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163A quiet thread usually means Claude is mid-task, not stuck. Open the thread. Checklist items checked off since you last looked mean the work is moving. In the walkthrough, nothing new arrived in anyone's notifications between 9:02 and 9:06, while the checklist ticked through fourteen threads of reading. If the work hits a wall, Claude usually says so in a reply rather than going silent. When a thread stays silent well past what the task should need, treat it as a stuck session; see [Claude reacted or started thinking, then never replied](/docs/claude-tag/users/troubleshooting#claude-reacted-or-started-thinking-then-never-replied).
163A quiet thread usually means Claude is mid-task, not stuck. Open the thread. Checklist items checked off since you last looked mean the work is moving. In the walkthrough, nothing new arrived in anyone's notifications between 9:02 and 9:06, while the checklist ticked through fourteen threads of reading. If the work hits a wall, Claude usually says so in a reply rather than going silent. When a thread stays silent well past what the task should need, treat it as a stuck session; see [Claude reacted or started thinking, then never replied](/docs/claude-tag/users/troubleshooting.md#claude-reacted-or-started-thinking-then-never-replied).
164164
165165### Channel access
166166
167Claude Tag connectors extend a session's reach into your own systems. An organization admin applies access to all of Slack, to one workspace, or to a single channel, either directly or through a [bundle](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/glossary#bundle), so the same request can do more in one channel than in another, and everyone in a given channel works with the same capability.
167Claude Tag connectors extend a session's reach into your own systems. An organization admin applies access to all of Slack, to one workspace, or to a single channel, either directly or through a [bundle](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/glossary.md#bundle), so the same request can do more in one channel than in another, and everyone in a given channel works with the same capability.
168168
169169A thread locks in its skills, plugins, and custom instructions when it starts, and a running thread keeps that set. Connectors and domain rules are enforced on each request, so one an admin adds mid-thread works in a running thread. Claude doesn't announce a new connector in an existing thread; ask it to use the service by name. A new thread picks up every kind of change, so after a configuration change, start a new top-level thread.
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173173Because access is set per channel rather than per person, the way to find out what a session can reach is to ask it, not to guess from your own permissions.
174174
175175* **Ask what Claude can reach.** In any channel, `@Claude what can you access from this channel?` lists its current reach.
176* **If Claude cannot reach something, the channel was not granted access.** Another channel may have the access, and an Owner or a [Claude Tag admin](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#delegate-claude-tag-administration) of your Claude organization can add it. [How agent identity works](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity) covers the model.
177* **Personal connectors are separate from Claude Tag connectors.** A connector an admin applies to a channel is separate from a connector on your personal claude.ai account. Your own connectors work in your one-to-one DMs. Claude can also [use them in a channel](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/personal-connectors) for your own tasks, after you allow it.
176* **If Claude cannot reach something, the channel was not granted access.** Another channel may have the access, and an Owner or a [Claude Tag admin](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access.md#delegate-claude-tag-administration) of your Claude organization can add it. [How agent identity works](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity.md) covers the model.
177* **Personal connectors are separate from Claude Tag connectors.** A connector an admin applies to a channel is separate from a connector on your personal claude.ai account. Your own connectors work in your one-to-one DMs. Claude can also [use them in a channel](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/personal-connectors.md) for your own tasks, after you allow it.
178178
179179### What Claude can do in other channels
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192192* **Attribution line**: every message Claude posts outside the conversation you asked from carries a line under it that names where it came from. When you ask in a thread, the line links back to that thread and names whoever last addressed Claude there, as in "Sent by Claude in #team-eng on behalf of @jordan". When you ask in a DM, the line names the person who approved the post, as in "Sent by Claude, approved by @jordan".
193193* **Replies**: when you ask from a channel, Claude follows the thread it posted into, so replies there reach the session you asked in. Claude reads them and responds in the conversation where you asked, not in the other thread. Replies don't reach it while the conversation where you asked includes guests or is shared with another organization. When you ask from a one-to-one DM, replies under the post don't reach your DM; reply in the DM to follow up.
194194* **Following a channel or thread**: ask Claude to watch another public channel or a thread in one, for example `@Claude follow #incidents and tell me here if anything mentions billing`. Claude must be a member of that channel. Claude reads new messages there and acts in the conversation where you asked, without posting in the followed channel. It doesn't receive them while the conversation where you asked includes guests or is shared with another organization. Ask Claude to stop following when it no longer matters. A follow you set up from a thread ends once that thread goes 7 days without a new message.
195* **Which channels Claude can post into**: a public channel in the same Slack workspace that Claude is already a member of. Claude can't post into a Slack Connect channel or a [channel shared across workspaces](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#channels-shared-across-workspaces-in-your-enterprise-grid), wherever you ask from.
195* **Which channels Claude can post into**: a public channel in the same Slack workspace that Claude is already a member of. Claude can't post into a Slack Connect channel or a [channel shared across workspaces](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access.md#channels-shared-across-workspaces-in-your-enterprise-grid), wherever you ask from.
196196* **If Claude isn't a member of the target channel**: when you ask from a channel, add Claude by sending `/invite @Claude` from inside the target channel. When you ask from a DM, approving the post adds Claude to the target channel.
197* **Channels with guests**: Claude can post into a [channel that includes guests](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#restrict-guest-channels) only when the **How should Claude work in channels with guests** setting covering that channel is **Full access**.
197* **Channels with guests**: Claude can post into a [channel that includes guests](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access.md#restrict-guest-channels) only when the **How should Claude work in channels with guests** setting covering that channel is **Full access**.
198198
199199### One-off and scheduled tasks
200200
201A session starts the same way whether a person triggers it or a schedule does. A tagged task runs in its thread's session, and the sandbox is released once the work finishes. A routine runs the same loop on a schedule, a channel watch, or a repository event, with the channel's connections, so a recurring digest or watcher gets the same access a typed request would. See [set up routines](/docs/claude-tag/users/proactivity).
201A session starts the same way whether a person triggers it or a schedule does. A tagged task runs in its thread's session, and the sandbox is released once the work finishes. A routine runs the same loop on a schedule, a channel watch, or a repository event, with the channel's connections, so a recurring digest or watcher gets the same access a typed request would. See [set up routines](/docs/claude-tag/users/proactivity.md).
202202
203203## Session context and memory
204204
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208208
209209A session reads its own thread and its channel. Mentioning `@Claude` partway into an existing thread gives it a window of the thread's messages, not the whole thread, with other bots' replies filtered out. In long threads, restate anything critical.
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211Claude works in channels it has been added to, but workspace search can still find messages by keyword from public channels it's not a member of (the same search any Slack user has). Workspace search is unavailable in [channels that include guests](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#restrict-guest-channels), and an admin can [limit search to channels Claude is in](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#limit-which-channels-claude-can-search). Finding something is broader than being able to act somewhere; to have it participate in a channel directly, invite it with `/invite @Claude`.
211Claude works in channels it has been added to, but workspace search can still find messages by keyword from public channels it's not a member of (the same search any Slack user has). Workspace search is unavailable in [channels that include guests](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access.md#restrict-guest-channels), and an admin can [limit search to channels Claude is in](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access.md#limit-which-channels-claude-can-search). Finding something is broader than being able to act somewhere; to have it participate in a channel directly, invite it with `/invite @Claude`.
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213213### What survives between replies
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217217| When | What Claude does |
218218| :- | :- |
219219| Someone sends [`@Claude !restart`](/docs/claude-tag/users/commands#restart-a-stuck-or-wrong-context-session) | Archives the session right away and starts a fresh one that rereads the thread |
220| The session [gets stuck and fails](/docs/claude-tag/users/troubleshooting#claude-reacted-or-started-thinking-then-never-replied) | Starts the replacement when the next message arrives in the thread |
220| The session [gets stuck and fails](/docs/claude-tag/users/troubleshooting.md#claude-reacted-or-started-thinking-then-never-replied) | Starts the replacement when the next message arrives in the thread |
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228228| Work pushed, posted, or opened as a PR | Yes, in the external system |
229229| Files that exist only in the sandbox | No. Claude recreates them if asked. |
230230
231For long tasks, ask it to push branches and post drafts as it goes, so deliverables are saved somewhere durable while the work is still running. See [Good habits](/docs/claude-tag/users/good-habits#give-every-task-a-definition-of-done).
231For long tasks, ask it to push branches and post drafts as it goes, so deliverables are saved somewhere durable while the work is still running. See [Good habits](/docs/claude-tag/users/good-habits.md#give-every-task-a-definition-of-done).
232232
233233A running thread isn't told about configuration changes an admin makes after it started, such as a new connection, plugin, skill, repository grant, or custom instruction. A new thread starts from the scope's current configuration, so after changing a scope, start a fresh thread to see the change.
234234
235235The channel's own session, the one that handles top-level messages outside any thread, lives longer than a thread's. Claude replaces it with a fresh one after about an hour with no activity in the channel or its threads, or when the channel's configuration has changed since the session started. Claude also replaces a session once it's about a day old, but waits until the channel and the threads it's working in have gone quiet. Channel memory and the channel's history are unaffected, so the only visible effect is that Claude no longer carries what the previous session had been working on.
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237Claude also stops reading a channel's top-level messages once about 100 of them have arrived since it last posted or replied there. An `@Claude` mention in the channel starts it reading again; see [When Claude stops reading a channel](/docs/claude-tag/users/when-claude-responds#when-claude-stops-reading-a-channel). These thresholds are defaults and can change, so treat the numbers as approximate.
237Claude also stops reading a channel's top-level messages once about 100 of them have arrived since it last posted or replied there. An `@Claude` mention in the channel starts it reading again; see [When Claude stops reading a channel](/docs/claude-tag/users/when-claude-responds.md#when-claude-stops-reading-a-channel). These thresholds are defaults and can change, so treat the numbers as approximate.
238238
239239### Channel and workspace memory
240240
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244244
245245A private channel reads the workspace notes but can't add to them. Everything Claude saves there goes to that channel's own notes.
246246
247To see what it holds, ask `@Claude what do you remember about this channel?`. Anyone in the channel can correct or remove entries. [What Claude Tag remembers](/docs/claude-tag/users/memory) covers reading, correcting, and adding to memory.
247To see what it holds, ask `@Claude what do you remember about this channel?`. Anyone in the channel can correct or remove entries. [What Claude Tag remembers](/docs/claude-tag/users/memory.md) covers reading, correcting, and adding to memory.
248248
249249The whole model so far fits in one picture, with access set at the scope, memory kept per channel, work in progress per thread, and one-to-one DMs outside all of it.
250250
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253One-to-one DMs are outside this picture; they run on your own account, as covered in [Team channels and personal DMs](#team-channels-and-personal-dms). An Owner can turn off DMs for the whole organization; see [Allow or disable direct messages](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#allow-or-disable-direct-messages).
253One-to-one DMs are outside this picture; they run on your own account, as covered in [Team channels and personal DMs](#team-channels-and-personal-dms). An Owner can turn off DMs for the whole organization; see [Allow or disable direct messages](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access.md#allow-or-disable-direct-messages).
254254
255255## What admins can see of your conversations with Claude
256256
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257257Admins have no page or export that shows the individual messages people send Claude.
258258
259259* **Analytics:** the [analytics page](https://claude.ai/analytics/claude-tag) reports spend by channel and by kind of work
260* **Activity page:** the [**Activity** page](/docs/claude-tag/admins/audit) in Claude Tag admin settings, available to Owners, lists scheduled work, memory files, and network events
260* **Activity page:** the [**Activity** page](/docs/claude-tag/admins/audit.md) in Claude Tag admin settings, available to Owners, lists scheduled work, memory files, and network events
261261* **Slack threads:** everyone in a channel can read the threads where Claude works, admins included
262* **Session transcripts:** Anthropic keeps a [transcript of each session](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/data-lifecycle#what-anthropic-stores)
262* **Session transcripts:** Anthropic keeps a [transcript of each session](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/data-lifecycle.md#what-anthropic-stores)
263263
264264## Related resources
265265
266* [Getting started](/docs/claude-tag/users/getting-started): hand Claude your first task
267* [How agent identity works](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity): why an admin sets access per channel, and how credentials stay out of the sandbox
268* [Good habits](/docs/claude-tag/users/good-habits): write tasks that survive the sandbox lifecycle
266* [Getting started](/docs/claude-tag/users/getting-started.md): hand Claude your first task
267* [How agent identity works](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/agent-identity.md): why an admin sets access per channel, and how credentials stay out of the sandbox
268* [Good habits](/docs/claude-tag/users/good-habits.md): write tasks that survive the sandbox lifecycle
269269
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