Open-source team chat features
What Parletto does today: channels and threads, direct messages and files, message search, bots and webhooks, and admin and security controls, plus a short list of everything else.
Channels and threads
Create public channels for topics, projects or teams. Reply to any message in a thread, so side conversations stay out of the main channel. Threads open in a panel next to the channel.
New messages, thread replies, edits and reactions appear for everyone without reloading the page.
Direct messages and files
Message one person directly, or pick several people for a small group conversation.
Attach files to any message. Images open in a viewer, any attachment can be downloaded, and uploaded files are served only to signed-in members of their organization.
Message search
Search the messages in the channels and DMs you belong to. Narrow a search with in:channel-name or from:name, by date with after: and before:, or to messages with a link with has:link.
On app.parletto.com now. It comes to self-hosted installs in the next release.
Bots and webhooks
Incoming webhooks post plain-text messages into a channel from scripts, CI or monitoring, and are Slack-compatible. Outgoing webhooks send new messages from the public channels you choose to a URL of your own.
Owners can also create bot tokens. A bot added to channels can list them, read messages, post, reply in threads and react through the API, and its messages show a BOT badge. The organization’s active bots are listed in the same Add people dialog as teammates, so you add a bot to a channel, or remove it, just like a person. Active bots also appear in the People directory with a BOT badge, and you can message a bot you share a channel with. Owners can add active bots to user groups too, so an @group mention reaches a bot just like an @mention of it.
Admin and security
Turn on two-factor sign-in with any authenticator app, and owners can require it for every member. See where you’re signed in and sign out other sessions.
Owners get an audit log of membership, channel, security, integration and settings changes, which they can filter and download as CSV. They can also set a message retention period of 30, 90 or 365 days.
More features
Organizations and people
- Belong to several organizations and switch from the sidebar
- Owner and member roles, plus guests who see only the channels they’re added to
- Invite links with an optional expiry and use limit
- Default channels that new members join along with General
- A “Get started” checklist for new owners and a welcome message for new members
- Organization icons, profile photos, titles and pronouns
- A People directory you can search, with a Message button
- Light, Dark or Match system appearance
Channels
- Channel browser, and Ctrl+K (Cmd+K) to jump to any channel or DM
- Preview a public channel before you join it
- Channel topics and a bookmarks bar for links
- Announcement channels where only owners can post
- Mute, leave, archive or delete channels
- Unread counts, a “New messages” divider, Mark unread and an Unreads page
- Starred channels and your own sidebar sections
Messages
- Rich text, with URLs turned into links
- Drafts kept per conversation, listed in a Drafts view
- Edit with version history, or delete your own messages
- Saved messages and “Remind me” reminders
- Send later: schedule a message, then edit, send or cancel it
- Forward a message with an optional comment
- Slash commands such as /topic, /status, /me and /shrug
- Emoji reactions and custom emoji
- A Threads page, muted threads and “Also send to #channel”
Mentions and notifications
- @mentions, @channel, @here and user groups
- @mention a teammate or bot to add them to the channel, if you can add members there (never guests, never in DMs)
- Mention a bot in its channels, or open a DM with it
- A Mentions page with every message that mentions you
- Browser notifications you can pause
- Per-channel notifications: all messages, only mentions, or muted
- Notification keywords
Admin and data
- Owners see who has two-factor sign-in on, and can remove members
- Insights: active members, messages, new members and top channels over 7 or 30 days, counts only
- Owners export the organization as JSON
- Every member can download their own data as JSON
On app.parletto.com now
Live on the managed service. They come to self-hosted installs in the next release.
- An organization dashboard of unreads, mentions and threads
- Typing indicators
- Unread count in the browser tab, and Mark all as read (Shift+Esc)
- Polls, with an optional closing time
- Link previews, which you can turn off
- Rename channels
- Message links with “Copy link”
- Pinned messages
- Older history as you scroll up
- Presence dots, custom status and local time
Self-hosting with Docker Compose
The source includes a docker-compose.yml, and docker compose up builds and runs Parletto. It is one container with SQLite for app data, cache, background jobs and WebSockets, so you don’t need Redis or an external database. Database migrations run when the container starts, and uploads are stored on local disk by default, or in Cloudflare R2 if you configure it.
The source opens shortly under the MIT license. Until then, the managed service at app.parletto.com runs the same software.