How to manage channels and their agents

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# How to manage channels and their agents

This guide shows how to create, rename and delete channels, choose the agents in them, talk with an agent directly, and clear a conversation's history. It assumes Sidekicks runs with a configuration that has agents.

## Create a channel

1. In the **Channels** panel, click **+ New channel** under the list.
2. Type a name (1 to 64 characters, spaces and accents allowed) and press Enter. The channel opens in the centre, with no member.
3. Invite agents (next section), or simply mention one: `@alice …` invites Alice before the answer — the channel says "Alice (assistant) joined the channel."

A name already used by another channel, whatever its case, is refused: the error appears under the name.

## Choose the agents of a channel

- **Invite**: in the channel's header, open **+ Invite** and pick an agent.
- **Remove**: click **×** next to an agent's name in the header. The agent's past messages stay; it no longer answers in this channel unless mentioned again.

## Rename or delete a channel

Hover the channel in the list:

- **✎** turns its name into a text box: type the new name, Enter to keep it, Escape to cancel.
- **🗑** asks "Delete #name and its whole history?": **Delete** removes the channel, its members and all its messages, for good.

## Talk with one agent directly

Click an agent in the **Agents** panel. Its direct conversation opens; the agent stays highlighted while it is shown, and a counter next to it gives the answers you have not read yet. Every message goes to that agent; `@` mentions are plain text there. When the agent is removed from the configuration, its direct conversation is hidden but kept: it comes back if the agent is added again.

## Clear the history of a channel or a direct conversation

To start again from an empty conversation without deleting the channel:

1. Open the channel, or the direct conversation (click the agent in **Agents**).
2. Click **🗑** (*Clear the history*) at the right of the conversation's header. It shows once the conversation has messages.
3. Confirm with **Erase**.

Every message is erased, for good. A channel keeps its name, description and members. The agents start a new conversation: they do not remember what was erased, and their context gauge goes back to zero.

While an agent is answering, the history cannot be cleared: stop it (**■**) or wait for the end of its answer, then click **🗑** again.

## Address the right agent

| You want | Type |
| --- | --- |
| a specific agent to answer | `@name your message` (the list after `@` filters as you type; Tab or Enter picks) |
| several agents to answer in turn | `@alice @bob compare your answers` |
| the agent you were talking with | your message, without mention |
| an agent's command | `/` then pick it in the list; with several agents, `/agent:command` |

## Variants

- **Channels from the configuration file**: channels declared under `channels:` are created at startup if they do not exist yet, with their agents; afterwards they are ordinary channels. Removing them from the file deletes nothing ([configuration reference](../reference/configuration.md)).
- **Start again from an empty history, for every channel at once**: use the **Danger zone** ([Reset Sidekicks](reset-sidekicks.md)), or quit Sidekicks and delete the folder `sidekicks/data/<…>` of your configuration (its location is in the [reference](../reference/agents-and-events.md#history)). The channels declared in the file come back at the next launch, empty.
- **"History unavailable" banner**: another Sidekicks has the same configuration file open. This one keeps working, but forgets everything when it quits; close the other one and relaunch.

## See also

- [Channels and what each agent knows](../explanation/channels-and-context.md)
- [Reference: agents, channels and events](../reference/agents-and-events.md)