Commands and private answers

This page covers the commands you can give Qubit in Slack and Teams, and the two Slack ways to ask a question that only you see: the /qubit command and the Ask Qubit message shortcut. Anyone who can message Qubit can use them. Qubit can use your tools in its answers once you have linked your account; see Linking your Slack or Teams account.

Before you start: Qubit must be switched on for your Slack workspace or Teams tenant. For /qubit and Ask Qubit, an Administrator must also have added them to the Slack app (Setting up the Slack app).

Commands work after a mention, in your direct message with Qubit, and after /qubit in Slack. The command word has to start the message, and the case does not matter.

Ask privately with /qubit in Slack

Type /qubit followed by your question in any Slack conversation: a channel, a group direct message, or even a direct message between two people that Qubit is not part of.

1. Type /qubit and your question, for example /qubit what is open for Contoso today?, and send it. Slack shows Qubit is on it….
2. Read the answer. It appears as a message that only you can see.
3. To show it to the others in the conversation, select Share in conversation under the answer. Qubit posts the answer there with a heading that says you asked Qubit and quotes your question. The private copy disappears.

Things to know:

• Only you can see the answer until you share it, and only you can share it. A sharing button works for 60 minutes. After that, or if Qubit lost the answer, it says so and you ask again.
• Only the question you type is read. Qubit does not read the conversation around it.
• Slack does not allow slash commands inside a thread. In a thread, mention Qubit or use Ask Qubit on a message.
• In your own direct message with Qubit, there is no private step: the answer appears in the direct message as it does for any message.
• If Slack closes the private reply window, which lasts 30 minutes, the answer goes to your direct message with Qubit with a line that says why. It is never lost.
• A private answer cannot carry a file. If Qubit makes a chart or a file, you get a download link in the private reply instead (see Approvals and files).
• Follow-up questions with /qubit in the same conversation continue your own earlier questions there. Nobody else shares that memory.

/qubit also takes the other commands in this page, for example /qubit status. Replies to those are private too. /qops works like /qubit once the Qubit assistant is on for Slack. While it is off, /qops answers with the older command list.

Ask Qubit about one Slack message

Use Ask Qubit when someone sends you a message and you want help with it.

1. Open the menu of the message (the three dots) and choose Ask Qubit.
2. Slack shows Qubit is reading that message…. Qubit then sends you a private answer with three parts: what the message is about, answers to anything it asks, and a suggested reply.
3. To post the answer into the conversation, select Share in conversation.

Qubit receives only the text of that one message, up to 12,000 characters, and a link to it. It does not receive the thread, the conversation, or any file on the message. It works in threads and in direct messages that Qubit is not part of. A message without text gets the reply That message has no text Qubit can read. In your own direct message with Qubit, the answer streams into the direct message like any other.

Check your link with status, and list the commands with help

• status shows whether you are linked, the model, whether tools are on, and the state of each source. The lines are explained in Check your link with status.
• help lists the Qubit commands. A message with no text at all shows the same list.

Choose the model for a conversation

1. Type model. Qubit shows a picker titled Pick the model for this conversation.
2. In Slack, open Choose a model and pick one. In Teams, pick one in the card and select Use this model.
3. Qubit confirms with This conversation now uses and the model.

The picker lists Tenant default and the active models, up to 24. Choose Tenant default to go back to the channel's default model. You can also type model followed by the id of a model to set it straight away.

The choice applies to this conversation only. Starting a new conversation keeps it. Without a choice, the model set for the channel applies, and after that your organisation's default. Administrators set both under Choose the model. In Slack the picker is private to you; in Teams it is a card in the chat.

Start a new conversation

Type new, new conversation, new chat or new thread. Qubit answers Started a new conversation. I no longer see the earlier messages here; your model choice is kept.

The whole message must be the command. A message such as new tickets for Contoso? is a question, not a reset. Resetting helps most in a Slack direct message or a Teams personal chat, which would otherwise stay one conversation for good.

Qubit also starts a new conversation by itself when one reaches its size limit. It puts a line at the top of the answer, I started a new conversation — the previous one reached its size limit, so I no longer see its earlier messages, and answers your message in the new one.

Where command replies appear

In Slack, a reply to a command typed in a channel is a message only you can see. In Teams there are no private messages, so the reply appears in the conversation for everyone there. Type commands such as status in your personal chat with the bot when the reply is only for you.

Ask a question that starts with a command word

A message that starts with ask, link, model, routine, status or help is read as a command. That means a question such as status of the Contoso backups? runs status. Start the question with ask, for example ask status of the Contoso backups?, or put another word first.

A message that carries a file is always read as a question, with the text as you typed it. A screenshot with the words help me read this error is not the help command.

Command quick reference

The older agent status commands such as /lunch and /online are separate; see Agent status commands. So are the older summary, client and Q-Notice commands; see Summary, client and Q-Notice commands.

Related pages

• Qubit in Slack and Teams: asking, follow-ups and what Qubit reads.
• Routines: the routine commands.
• Approvals and files: approval cards and files.
• Agent status commands: /online, /lunch and the other status commands.
• Summary, client and Q-Notice commands: /morningsummary, /summary, /monitor, /research, /qnotice and the other older commands.