Messaging and real-time chat

MateFlow gives your community two connected ways to talk in real time: private direct messages (one-on-one or group), and space-wide Chat spaces where every member in a space shares one live room. Both deliver new messages instantly, so conversations feel immediate rather than refreshed.

Direct messages and group chats

Direct messages are private threads between you and one or more members. From your inbox, a two-column layout puts your conversation list on the left and the open conversation on the right (on mobile, each takes the full screen).

Starting a conversation

• Open New conversation to bring up the recipient picker.
• When the search box is empty, MateFlow suggests people you follow; type a name or @username to search every member.
• Tap a person to add them as a chip. Add several people to start a group chat, then choose Start group chat. Selecting a single person creates a one-on-one thread.

Note: group messaging is a gated feature. If your community admin has turned it off, or your plan does not include it, the picker stays in one-on-one mode and selecting a new person simply replaces the current recipient.

What you can do in a thread

• React to any message with emoji.
• Reply to a specific message to keep context clear.
• Edit or delete your own messages.
• Forward a message to another conversation, and pin important messages so everyone can find them.
• Attach files and images; a shared file panel collects everything sent in the thread.
• See typing indicators, read receipts, unread counts, and members' online status.
• Mute, archive, or search within your conversations to stay organized.

Press Enter to send, Shift + Enter for a new line, and Escape to cancel a reply.

Chat spaces

A Chat space is a space type whose entire feed is one shared live room, closer to a live group room than a post feed. It is ideal for lounges, live event back-rooms, or fast community discussion. Chat spaces support the same core interactions as direct messages, including emoji reactions, replies, editing, deleting, and pinned messages, plus the ability to jump to an older message and scroll back through the full history.

The composer in a Chat space is intentionally lightweight, offering text, media, and emoji so conversation stays quick and readable.

How real-time delivery works

Message history is loaded reliably over the network, while a live connection streams new messages, reactions, and edits as they happen. If the connection briefly drops, reopening the conversation reloads the latest messages so you never miss what arrived while you were away.

Next steps

• Learn how different space types work in Spaces vs channels.
• See the full messaging feature overview and communications tools.
• Explore posting and content formats for feed-style spaces.