Finding Open Threads

What Are Open Threads?

An open thread is one that hasn't been closed and still has recent activity — meaning someone has replied to it or updated it within your team's stale threshold. If the default threshold is 7 days, any open thread with activity in the last 7 days is considered active.

This command is designed to complement /thread stale. While stale threads show discussions that have gone quiet, open threads show the ones your team is still actively working on. There is no overlap between the two — every open thread appears in one list or the other.

Viewing Open Threads

To see active open threads in the current channel, run:

Smithy responds with a private message listing up to 20 active threads in the channel, sorted by most recently updated first. Each thread is shown with its subject, a clickable link, and how long ago it was last updated.

If there are no active open threads in the channel, Smithy will let you know and suggest using /thread stale to check for inactive threads instead.

Filter Options

The thread list includes interactive buttons to help you narrow down the results:

• Show tags — toggles tag display inline with each thread. When enabled, tags appear as gray code badges next to the thread subject (e.g., tag1 tag2).
• Only show mine — filters the list to show only threads created by you.

Both buttons highlight blue when active. A separate Dismiss button closes the message when you're done.

How the Stale Threshold Affects Results

The same Stale Thread Threshold setting that controls /thread stale also determines what appears in /thread open. For example, with a 7-day threshold:

• /thread open shows threads updated within the last 7 days
• /thread stale shows threads with no activity for 7+ days

Adjusting the threshold in your Dashboard Preferences shifts the boundary between the two lists. A shorter threshold means fewer threads in the open list and more in the stale list, and vice versa.