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A group DM is a Slack direct message among several people. On the Team plan, and for some organizations on the Enterprise plan, Claude works in a group DM it has been added to, so a few people can share a task with Claude without creating a channel. If Claude doesn’t work in group DMs for your organization, it answers a top-level @Claude mention in a group DM with “Group DMs aren’t supported yet. Try a channel or a 1:1 DM instead.” That reply has other causes too. This page is for Slack members. It covers how to add Claude, what Claude can reach, when it replies, how to make it quieter, what differs from a channel, and what to do when Claude doesn’t answer. If you administer Claude for your organization, see the settings that apply to group DMs.

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Add Claude to a group DM

Add Claude as one of the people when you start the group DM. Then mention @Claude with your request.
Claude replies in a thread under your message. An admin decides who can use Claude, and that choice covers group DMs as well as channels.

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Access and billing in a group DM

In a group DM, Claude acts with its own service accounts. If you’ve connected a Claude account, a one-to-one DM with Claude runs on your own account instead.
  • Access. Claude uses the connections, instructions, and repositories an admin set for the workspace and the organization. A connection an admin attached to one channel doesn’t apply.
  • Billing. The work bills to your organization, not to your seat.
  • Your own connectors. Where personal connectors in channels are on for your organization, Claude can use the connectors on your claude.ai account for a task you ask for, after you allow it. Only your own requests use them.

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When Claude replies in a group DM

In a group DM, Claude reads the top-level messages, including the ones that don’t mention it, unless someone makes Claude quieter there.
  • You mention @Claude at the top level. Claude replies in a thread under your message.
  • You reply in a thread that started with an @Claude mention. Your reply reaches Claude without another mention.
  • You post at the top level without a mention. Claude decides whether to reply.

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Make Claude quieter in a group DM

In a group DM, Claude reads the top-level messages that don’t mention it and replies to some of them. You can have Claude reply in the group DM only when someone mentions it, or mute it in one thread.

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Quiet Claude in the whole group DM

Ask Claude to reply only when someone mentions it. The change applies to everyone in the group DM, and someone in the group DM has to confirm it. To confirm, a person needs a connected Claude account in your organization and can’t be a Slack guest. Claude can’t make the change in these cases:
  • Channel-only access. A guest is in the group DM, and Claude runs there with channel-only access.
  • Blocked member edits. An admin set Channel member edits to Block for the workspace or the organization.
1

Ask Claude

Mention @Claude at the top level of the group DM and ask it to reply only to mentions.
Claude posts a card in the thread under your message, with Confirm and Cancel buttons.
2

Confirm the change

Select Confirm within 10 minutes. The card changes to a line that names the person who confirmed and says Claude now replies only when @mentioned.
After the change, Claude stops reading top-level messages that don’t mention it. It still answers a mention, and it still reads replies in a thread that started with an @Claude mention. To have Claude reply without a mention again, mention @Claude and ask.
Claude posts a new card. Select Confirm on that card.

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Quiet Claude in one thread of a group DM

In a thread that started with an @Claude mention, send @Claude !mute. !mute works on one thread at a time.

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Differences between a group DM and a channel

These parts of working with Claude differ between a group DM and a channel:
  • Settings. A group DM has no Configure page, so you can’t give it its own instructions, connections, or default model.
  • Memory. Claude keeps notes for the group DM and reads only those notes there. It doesn’t read or add to the workspace notes.
  • Routines. A routine you set up in a group DM posts its output in that group DM only.
  • Other channels. Claude can’t post, reply, or react outside the group DM. What Claude can do in other channels covers what it can read.
  • Forking. You can’t fork a thread from a group DM.

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When Claude doesn’t answer in a group DM

When you mention @Claude at the top level of a group DM and Claude can’t answer, you usually see one of these outcomes.