Determining Channel Priority

This guide helps the agent decide which Slack channels are worth following, how to discover new ones, and where to track that knowledge over time.

How to discover which channels matter

Don't assume up front which channels are important. Instead, let signal emerge:

• Start from the daily note — channels referenced in recent daily notes are already known to be active or relevant. Check those first.
• Use channels list --active-since — this surfaces any channel with new activity since the last check-in. Scan the full list; anything that looks substantive is worth reading.
• Let content decide — a channel is worth following if it consistently surfaces decisions, announcements, or discussions that affect the product, strategy, or operations. If a channel only ever has noise, note that and deprioritise it.

Where to track channel knowledge

Don't hardcode channel lists in this file. Instead:

• Daily note — list channels checked in the **Channels checked:** line of the Slack section. This lets future check-ins pick up where the last one left off without re-scanning everything.
• Memory — if a channel proves consistently valuable or consistently noisy over multiple days, save that to memory so it persists across sessions.
• Heartbeat/schedule — if a channel needs to be checked every single sync (e.g. an urgent project channel), note it in the agent's recurring task configuration.

What kinds of channels tend to matter

Usually high signal:

• Team channels (#team-*) — decisions, direction changes, standups that contain real progress or blockers
• Project channels (#proj-*) — active work, scope changes, launches
• Company-wide announcements — #general, #decisions, #welcomes-and-celebrations
• Customer channels (#customer-*) — feedback, escalations, relationship signals
• Product discussion channels — anything where the product's direction or behaviour is being debated

Often lower signal, but don't skip:

• Daily update/standup channels — usually routine, but occasionally surface blockers or shipped work worth noting. A roundup of what people are working on is useful context the user doesn't always have time to read.
• Tool channels (#tool-*) — mostly noise, but worth a skim if active

Process freely, no need to pre-filter: The agent has access to all channels. Don't skip anything — process the full activity and use judgement to determine what's worth surfacing. Unexpected signal comes from unexpected places.

Launch announcements

When a launch or completion is announced anywhere (not just a dedicated channel), flag it in the daily note as an archive candidate. Check whether there's a matching project folder in the knowledge base — if so, note it for the user to confirm before archiving.