Classic Threads

How It Works

When someone posts a text message in a channel with Thread Mode enabled, Smithy creates a Classic Thread. The flow depends on whether the thread creation modal is enabled for your team.

With the Creation Modal

If your team has the thread creation modal enabled (the default), Smithy sends a private prompt to the message author with a Start Thread button. Clicking it opens a modal where you can:

• Set a subject for the thread (a short title)
• Add or edit the content (the body of the thread)
• Apply tags to categorize the thread

If you haven't yet granted Smithy permission to clean up your original messages, the modal also displays an Authorize button. Clicking it opens the OAuth flow in your browser while the modal stays open, so you can grant access without losing your work. This is a one-time action — once authorized, the button won't appear again.

After submitting the modal, Smithy creates the thread as a new message in the channel with the subject in the parent message and the content in a reply.

Without the Modal

If the modal is disabled, Smithy automatically converts the message into a thread using the message text as both the subject and content. This is faster but gives less control over the thread's title.

Find Related Threads

When the thread creation modal is enabled and your workspace has Knowledge Capture turned on, Smithy adds a Find Related Threads button to the modal.

If the user hasn't authorized Smithy for message cleanup, both the Authorize and Find Related Threads buttons appear in the modal. The Authorize button is highlighted as the primary action to encourage granting cleanup permissions first. Once authorized, Find Related Threads becomes the primary button and Authorize disappears. If Knowledge Capture is disabled, only the Authorize button appears when authorization is needed.

After filling in your thread subject and content, clicking Find Related Threads searches the current channel for existing threads on the same topic. Smithy uses semantic search and tag matching to surface the most relevant results, helping you avoid creating duplicate threads.

If related threads are found, they are displayed in the modal so you can review them before deciding whether to continue creating a new thread or join an existing discussion. See Finding Related Threads for more details.

Thread Structure

A Classic Thread has two parts:

• Parent message — displays the thread subject in the channel
• Thread replies — contain the full thread content, tags, action buttons (close/reopen), and any team discussion