Create a thread from a Slack message

createThreadFromSlackMessage creates a thread from a top-level message in a connected customer Slack channel. The thread includes the replies Plain has already received for that message. It is the trigger for API-only ingestion, and it works in every other ingestion mode too.

For TypeScript, the GraphQL SDK gives you a fully typed client for these operations.

The channel must already be connected in Settings → Slack, enabled, and set as a customer channel. Pass slackChannelId and slackMessageTimestamp. Replies are rejected. You need an API key with the thread:create permission.

Mutation

mutation createThreadFromSlackMessage(
  $input: CreateThreadFromSlackMessageInput!
) {
  createThreadFromSlackMessage(input: $input) {
    thread {
      id
      title
      status
      customer {
        id
        fullName
      }
    }
    error {
      message
      type
      code
      fields {
        field
        message
        type
      }
    }
  }
}

Variables

{
  "input": {
    "slackChannelId": "C06EJ1397MY",
    "slackMessageTimestamp": "1718784609.080089"
  }
}

Getting the created thread

Ingestion runs asynchronously. The mutation returns thread only when that Slack message was already a thread. When the request is accepted and the thread is still being created, thread is null and error is null. Fetch the thread with threadBySlackPermalink, or subscribe to thread.thread_created. Calling the mutation again for the same message returns the existing thread rather than creating a second one.

Query

query threadBySlackPermalink($slackPermalink: String!) {
  threadBySlackPermalink(slackPermalink: $slackPermalink) {
    id
    title
    status
    customer {
      id
      fullName
    }
  }
}

Variables

{
  "slackPermalink": "https://plain-demo.slack.com/archives/C06EJ1397MY/p1718784609080089"
}

threadBySlackPermalink returns null until the thread exists. The permalink is the Slack link to the top-level message.

Messages the mutation rejects

The mutation returns cannot_create_thread_from_slack_message when:

The Slack channel is not connected to this workspace
The connected channel is disabled
The connected channel is not a customer channel
The message is a reply rather than a top-level message

After the thread exists

Replies in that Slack thread attach to the Plain thread. New top-level messages in an API-only channel do not become threads until you call the mutation again.

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Create a thread from a Slack message

Getting the created thread

Messages the mutation rejects

After the thread exists

​Getting the created thread

​Messages the mutation rejects

​After the thread exists

Getting the created thread

Messages the mutation rejects

After the thread exists