Breakouts & SideChat

Focus is what makes findings clean. When a conversation sprouts a tangent that's worth having but doesn't belong in the main thread, move it into a SideChat.

SideChat

A SideChat is a child chat linked to its parent. It's the branching step of the funnel: the tangent gets its own room to run to a conclusion, and the parent chat stays on topic.

• Move a thread to a SideChat — an inline reply thread can be promoted into a full SideChat when it outgrows a hover-reply. The "Move to SideChat" action is available in a message's actions.
• Parent ⇄ child link — the two chats stay connected, so you can follow the branch and bring its conclusion back.

When to branch

Branch when:

• A sub-question needs a few people to go deep while the main group moves on.
• A disagreement needs space to resolve without derailing the agenda.
• A topic deserves its own durable record and, eventually, its own resolution.

Don't branch a quick aside — a hover-reply thread is enough. Branch when the tangent has become its own conversation.

Bringing it back

A SideChat runs the full funnel itself: it can reach its own Resolution and promote its own findings. Because it's linked to the parent, its outcome is easy to fold back into the main conversation — you resolve the branch, then carry the finding upward.

On terminology

"Breakout" is the facilitation concept; SideChat is the shipped mechanism (linked parent/child chats). A dedicated, orchestrated breakout mode — pushing groups into simultaneous timed rooms — is part of the broader facilitator vision and is not yet built. See The facilitator role.