Team Chat summarization (planned)

What it is

Status: In-development (not yet built). Registered as unreleased feature team-chat-summarization.

AI-powered summarization for Team Chat channels and threads. When built, it will add a "Summarize" or "Catch me up" button to channel headers and thread panes, generating a concise summary of recent activity using the existing LLM layer.

Where to find it

Nothing is on screen to click yet — no code exists for this feature. When it is built the entry points will sit where you are already reading: a "Summarize" or "Catch me up" button in Team Chat channel headers and in thread panes, so you can catch up without leaving the conversation.

How it behaves

Planned capabilities

• Channel summarization -- summarize recent channel activity (new messages since you last visited, or a configurable time window).
• Thread summarization -- summarize a long thread into key points and decisions.
• Catch-me-up -- a one-click surface to get up to speed on a channel after being away.

Why it matters

Team Chat is designed as a Slack replacement. Channel and thread summarization is a standard expectation in modern team messengers, especially for users returning after time away or joining an active channel mid-conversation.

Scope and considerations

This is a large feature (estimated weeks of work) because it involves:

• Deciding how much message history to include and how to paginate for context.
• LLM token cost management (channel history can be substantial).
• Privacy: summarization must respect channel membership and visibility rules.
• UI surfaces in both the channel header and thread pane.
• Mobile/PWA parity considerations.

Current state

No code exists yet. The feature is registered in UNRELEASED_FEATURES with setting key teamChatSummarizationEnabled and gated via the standard unreleased-feature mechanism.

Related

The rest of the messenger this would live in is documented on Team Chat, including the channel and thread panes the Summarize button would sit in. Messages that are forwarded elsewhere rather than summarized are covered by Team Chat message forwarding, and translation of those messages is on Team Chat message translation. For how planned-but-unbuilt surfaces are turned on once they ship, see Open settings.