> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ravenna.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Channels

> Channels organize tickets by team, topic, or workflow with their own ticket prefix, settings, integrations, and routing rules in each workspace.

Channels organize tickets by team, topic, or workflow. Every ticket belongs to a channel, and each channel functions as a dedicated container with its own:

* **Prefix** - Appears in ticket numbers (e.g., `HELP-123`)
* **Settings** - Controls ticket creation, automation, and notifications
* **Integrations** - Connects to Slack, email, forms, and external systems
* **Routing rules** - Determines which tickets land in the channel

Use channels to separate work by team (Engineering, Support), topic (Bugs, Features), or workflow stage.

<View title="Human" icon="user">
  ***

  ## Create a channel

  <Steps>
    <Step title="Open channel creation">
      In your left sidebar, click the **+** button next to Channels.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Configure channel">
      Add an emoji, name, and prefix. The prefix appears in ticket numbers (e.g., `HELP-123`).
    </Step>

    <Step title="Save">
      Click **Create** to save the channel.
    </Step>
  </Steps>

  <Info>
    New workspaces include a default "Help Desk" channel that you can customize or delete.
  </Info>

  ***

  ## Channel settings

  Access channel settings by selecting a channel and clicking **Settings**.

  <AccordionGroup>
    <Accordion title="AI agents" icon="bot">
      Connect an <Tooltip headline="AI agents" tip="AI assistants that handle requests automatically in Slack" cta="Learn about AI agents" href="/documentation/automate/ai-agents/overview">agent</Tooltip> to handle interactions in connected Slack channels. Agents can answer questions, create tickets, and apply rules you configure.

      Create agents in **Settings > Agents** before connecting them to channels.
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Request channels" icon="hash">
      Connect <Tooltip headline="Request channels" tip="Slack channels where tickets are created from messages" cta="Learn about request channels" href="/integrations/slack/creating-tickets#request-channels">Slack channels</Tooltip> as sources for tickets. Multiple Slack channels can connect to a single Ravenna channel.
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Ticketing behavior" icon="settings">
      Configure how tickets are created and managed in Slack.

      **Auto create tickets**
      Automatically create tickets for all messages in connected Slack channels. Thread replies update the parent ticket.

      **Ignore workspace members**
      Skip ticket creation for messages from workspace members. Requires auto create tickets to be enabled.

      **Send all tickets to triage channel**
      Automatically send tickets created in this channel to your <Tooltip headline="Triage channel" tip="Central monitoring channel for all incoming tickets" cta="Learn about triage channels" href="/integrations/slack/triage-channel">triage channel</Tooltip>.

      **Silent mode**
      Prevent ticket mirrors from appearing in request Slack channels.

      **AI tags**
      Automatically extract and apply tags to tickets based on message content.

      **System emojis**
      Send system emoji updates to Slack when ticket actions occur.

      **CSATs**
      Send <Tooltip headline="CSATs" tip="Customer satisfaction surveys" cta="Learn about CSAT" href="/documentation/measure/csat">CSATs</Tooltip> when tickets are resolved.
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Notifications and visibility" icon="bell">
      **Ticket events**
      Send Slack messages for ticket updates including priority, tags, due date, form, snooze, channel, and starred changes.

      <Info>
        Requires silent mode to be disabled.
      </Info>
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Ticket actions" icon="mouse-pointer-click">
      **Public ticket actions**
      Send action buttons in request Slack channels for all users, including non-workspace members.

      **Public emoji actions**
      Allow all users to trigger actions with <Tooltip headline="Emoji actions" tip="Trigger Ravenna actions by reacting to messages" cta="Learn about emoji actions" href="/integrations/slack/emoji-actions">emoji reactions</Tooltip>.
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Inbound email" icon="mail">
      Enable your channel to receive emails and convert them into tickets. Each channel gets a unique email address in the format `PREFIX+CHANNEL_ID@mail.ravenna.ai`.

      Configure guest users, forwarded requester extraction, sender name, bounce handling, and email allow lists and block lists to control how your channel processes inbound emails.

      <Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">
        Learn more about [Email integration](/integrations/email/overview) for complete setup instructions and features
      </Callout>
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Forms" icon="file-text">
      Associate <Tooltip headline="Forms" tip="Structured intake forms with custom fields" cta="Learn about forms" href="/documentation/tickets/forms/overview">forms</Tooltip> with your channel. Connected forms appear as options when creating tickets in the channel.
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Knowledge bases" icon="book-open">
      Connect <Tooltip headline="Knowledge bases" tip="Documentation sources like Notion, Confluence, and Google Drive" cta="Learn about knowledge bases" href="/documentation/automate/knowledge/overview">knowledge bases</Tooltip> to provide AI agents with context for answering questions.
    </Accordion>

    <Accordion title="Ticket replication" icon="refresh-cw">
      Configure bidirectional synchronization between Ravenna and external ticketing systems.

      Ticket replication keeps tickets in sync across platforms with automatic updates to comments, status changes, and ticket details.

      **Supported integrations:**

      * [Jira](/integrations/jira/ticket-replication) - Jira Software, Work Management, and Service Management
      * [Linear](/integrations/linear/ticket-replication) - Issue tracking and project management

      <Steps>
        <Step title="Connect integration">
          Install and configure the integration in Settings > Integrations.
        </Step>

        <Step title="Navigate to ticket replication">
          Open **Ticket Replication** in channel settings.
        </Step>

        <Step title="Enable replication">
          Enable replication for your connected integration.
        </Step>

        <Step title="Configure preferences">
          Click **Configure** to set channel-specific mapping and preferences.
        </Step>

        <Step title="Toggle directions">
          Select replication directions (Ravenna → External, External → Ravenna).
        </Step>
      </Steps>

      <Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">
        Learn more about each integration's ticket replication capabilities in their documentation
      </Callout>
    </Accordion>
  </AccordionGroup>

  ***

  ## Move tickets between channels

  <Steps>
    <Step title="Select tickets">
      Select one or more tickets from the ticket list.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Open move dialog">
      Click **Move** from the bulk actions menu or individual ticket menu.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Select destination">
      Select the target channel and optionally update other properties.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Confirm move">
      Click **Move** to transfer the tickets.
    </Step>
  </Steps>

  ***

  ## Share tickets across channels

  Share tickets across multiple channels for cross-team collaboration:

  * The ticket appears in all shared channels
  * All team members in shared channels can view and update the ticket
  * Changes made in any channel are reflected everywhere
  * The original channel maintains ownership

  <Info>
    Use ticket sharing for cross-team collaboration and <Tooltip headline="Ticket links" tip="Connect related tickets together" cta="Learn about ticket links" href="/documentation/tickets/links">ticket links</Tooltip> for related but separate tickets.
  </Info>

  ***

  ## Ticket routing

  Ravenna routes tickets using this priority order:

  <Steps>
    <Step title="Form default channel">
      If a <Tooltip headline="Forms" tip="Structured intake forms with custom fields" cta="Learn about forms" href="/documentation/tickets/forms/overview">form</Tooltip> specifies a default channel, the ticket routes there.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Slack channel connection">
      If the source Slack channel is connected to a specific channel, the ticket routes there.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Workspace default">
      The workspace's default channel is used as a fallback.
    </Step>
  </Steps>

  <Info>
    Set a default channel in **Settings > Workspace > General**.
  </Info>

  ***

  ## Delete a channel

  <Steps>
    <Step title="Select channel to delete">
      Navigate to the channel you want to delete and click **Settings**.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Delete channel">
      Scroll to the bottom and click **Delete Channel**.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Select destination channel">
      Select a destination channel to move all existing tickets from the channel you're deleting.
    </Step>

    <Step title="Confirm deletion">
      Confirm the deletion. All tickets will be moved to the selected channel and the original channel will be deleted.
    </Step>
  </Steps>

  <Warning>
    This action cannot be undone. All tickets will be permanently moved to the destination channel.
  </Warning>
</View>

<View title="Agent" icon="bot">
  ## Mental model

  A channel is the primary organizational unit for tickets within a workspace. Every ticket belongs to exactly one channel at any given time (though tickets can be shared to additional channels for visibility). A workspace contains one or more channels.

  Channels map to how teams divide their work. The relationship hierarchy is: Organization > Workspace > Channel > Ticket.

  Key relationships:

  * One workspace has many channels.
  * One channel has many tickets.
  * One channel can connect to many Slack channels (for ticket creation).
  * One channel can connect to one AI agent.
  * One channel can associate with many forms and knowledge bases.
  * A ticket's prefix comes from its channel (e.g., channel prefix "HELP" produces ticket numbers like HELP-123).

  ***

  ## Channel design patterns

  There are three common approaches to structuring channels within a workspace:

  | Strategy        | Example channels                          | Best for                                                 |
  | --------------- | ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
  | **By team**     | Engineering Support, Design Requests      | Workspaces serving multiple internal teams               |
  | **By topic**    | Hardware, Software Access, Account Issues | High-volume workspaces where categorization helps triage |
  | **By workflow** | Approvals, Incidents, General Requests    | Workspaces with distinct ticket lifecycles per type      |

  Most workspaces start with a single general channel and add more as volume grows and patterns emerge. Over-segmenting into too many channels creates confusion and routing complexity.

  When a workspace handles requests that follow fundamentally different processes (e.g., quick questions vs. multi-step approvals), separate channels make sense. When the difference is just categorization, use categories or tags within a single channel instead.

  ***

  ## Routing priority

  When a ticket is created, Ravenna determines which channel it belongs to using this priority order:

  1. **Form default channel** - If the form used to create the ticket specifies a default channel, the ticket routes there.
  2. **Slack channel connection** - If the Slack channel where the message was posted is connected to a specific Ravenna channel, the ticket routes there.
  3. **Workspace default channel** - The workspace's configured default channel catches everything else.

  This means form configuration takes precedence over Slack channel mapping, which takes precedence over the workspace default. When designing channel routing, set up form defaults for structured intake paths and Slack connections for organic message-based ticket creation.

  ***

  ## Configuration patterns

  Different channel use cases call for different setting combinations:

  **Agent-handled support channel (e.g., IT Help Desk):**

  * Auto create tickets: disabled (the agent handles messages first and creates tickets when needed)
  * AI agent: connected
  * Send to triage: enabled
  * CSATs: enabled

  **Auto-create channel (every message becomes a ticket):**

  * Auto create tickets: enabled
  * Ignore workspace members: enabled (so internal replies do not create tickets)
  * AI agent: not connected (auto-create bypasses agent processing)
  * Send to triage: enabled

  **Backend processing channel (e.g., Approvals, Provisioning):**

  * Silent mode: enabled (no mirrors in Slack)
  * Auto create tickets: disabled (tickets arrive via forms or workflows)
  * Ticket replication: enabled if syncing to Jira or Linear

  **Transparent team channel (e.g., Engineering Requests):**

  * Auto create tickets: enabled
  * Silent mode: disabled (mirrors visible in Slack)
  * Public ticket actions: enabled (requesters can update tickets directly)
  * Ticket events: enabled (status updates posted to Slack)

  ***

  ## Moving vs. sharing tickets

  Channels support two mechanisms for cross-channel collaboration:

  |                | Move                                        | Share                                            |
  | -------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
  | **Ownership**  | Transfers to the destination channel        | Stays with the original channel                  |
  | **Visibility** | Ticket appears only in the new channel      | Ticket appears in all shared channels            |
  | **Use case**   | Ticket was routed to the wrong team         | Multiple teams need to collaborate on one ticket |
  | **Prefix**     | Changes to the destination channel's prefix | Keeps the original prefix                        |

  Move tickets when the original channel should no longer own the request. Share tickets when multiple teams need visibility and the ability to update the same ticket.

  For related but separate work items, use ticket links instead of sharing.

  ***

  ## Constraints and gotchas

  * Every ticket must belong to exactly one channel. There is no "unassigned" state.
  * Deleting a channel requires selecting a destination channel for all existing tickets. Tickets are never orphaned.
  * Channel prefixes appear in ticket numbers and cannot be changed after creation without recreating the channel.
  * Multiple Slack channels can feed into one Ravenna channel, but each Slack channel can only connect to one Ravenna channel at a time.
  * "Ignore workspace members" only works when "Auto create tickets" is enabled. Without auto-create, the setting has no effect.
  * Silent mode and ticket event notifications are mutually exclusive. Enabling silent mode prevents ticket event messages from being sent to Slack.
  * A channel can connect to one AI agent. To change agents, disconnect the current one first.
</View>