Messaging

Messaging carries every Message a Startup sends or receives, by email, SMS, voice or chat, through one model. Each Message links to its purpose, its recipient's Consent, its delivery result and the work it answers.

Channels, Threads and Conversations

A Channel is a place Messages flow: a chat channel, a Mailbox, or an SMS number. Replies group into a Thread. A Thread that a Worker must answer, such as a support request, is a Conversation.

Every Message has one canonical id in db.sb. Copies on connected chat tools are aliases of it. An edit is a new revision and a delete is a marker, so the record of what was said survives both.

Every Agent has a Mailbox

An Agent sends as itself, from its own address at the Startup's Domain. A Role holds shared addresses, so support@ reaches whoever fills the support seat today.

A Customer who writes to an Agent gets a reply from the same address, in the same Thread. When a Human takes over, the Thread and its history stay where they are.

Guards on every send

No Message leaves a Startup without passing its Guards. The chain runs cheapest first and stops at the first refusal.

Step	Checks
Rules	Recipient, Suppression, Consent for the Purpose, send-rate Limits.
Fast review	A small model screens tone, claims and personal data.
Strong review	A larger model reviews anything the fast pass flags.
Human review	Only Messages above the Startup's stakes threshold.

A Suppression is read before every send from every Startup of the same Company. One opt-out at one Startup silences them all, permanently.

Replies become work

An inbound Message lands in its Thread and, when it needs a reply, opens a Task for the Role that owns the Channel. A mention of a Worker is a reply Task for that Worker. Every Approval gets a Thread of its own, so the decision and its discussion stay together.

Conversation.answerMode do

You, to your agent

Answer the latest conversation.

curl -X POST https://api.sb/ledgerlark.com/conversations/conversation_1/answer \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"body":"Example body"}'

import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

const conversation = await $.Conversation.answer({ conversation: 'conversation_1', body: 'Example body' })

npx startup-builder do Conversation.answer --json '{"conversation":"conversation_1","body":"Example body"}'

{
  "name": "do",
  "arguments": {
    "code": "return await $.Conversation.answer({ conversation: 'conversation_1', body: 'Example body' })"
  }
}

Answer replies through the Channel the Conversation arrived on and closes the reply Task.

Delivery and failure

Delivery is an Event, not an assumption. A bounce, a rejected number, an expired credential and a rate limit are different Events, and each routes to a different next step.

Retries reuse the Message's id, so a timeout never sends the same Message twice. A Message that cannot be delivered becomes a Task for its owning Role.

Connected chat

Channels mirror into the chat tools a team already uses, such as Slack, through an Integration. The Channel in db.sb stays the record; the mirror is a view of it, and a reply in either place lands in both.

Term	Kind	Definition
Outbound	Process	Outbound reaches Prospects who match the ICP, with a legal basis for contact and within the touch Limit.
Support	Process	Support answers every Conversation from the record in one Thread and fixes causes, not symptoms.
Renewal notice	Workflow	Renewal notice tells each Customer on a term of a year or longer the date, Price and cancel link before it renews.
Lead nurture	Play	Lead nurture enrolls each Lead who has not bought in a Sequence keyed to what they do, ending at purchase, reply or 90 silent days.
Channel	Noun	A Channel is a place Messages flow, such as a chat channel, a Mailbox, or an SMS number.
Consent	Noun	A Consent is a person’s grant for one Purpose, with its basis, region, notice, evidence, and expiry.
Contact	Noun	A Contact is a person or Agent a Startup knows by at least one address, where Consent to message them is recorded.
Conversation	Noun	A Conversation is a Thread with one or more Contacts that a Worker must answer, such as a support request.
Enrollment	Noun	An Enrollment is one person’s run through one Sequence: the current step, when the next fires, the branches taken, and why it ended.
Guard	Noun	A Guard is a check every outbound Message and publish passes, from code rules to model review to a Human for high stakes.
Mailbox	Noun	A Mailbox is an email Channel at a Domain, held by a Startup, a Role, or a Worker, so every Agent has its own.
Meeting	Noun	A Meeting is a scheduled time when Workers and Contacts meet about one or more Things, producing notes, Decisions, and Tasks.
Message	Noun	A Message is one communication from any party over one medium, such as email, SMS, or chat, inbound or outbound.
Question	Noun	A Question is what a pending Action asks a Party, a Role, or a Worker before it resumes, kept on the Action with its answer.
Sequence	Noun	A Sequence is a timed series of steps run for one Contact at a time: send a Message, wait, branch, or stop.
Suppression	Noun	A Suppression is an address a Company never sends commercial Messages to, read before every send from any of its Startups.
Thread	Noun	A Thread is a set of Messages replying to one another inside a Channel.
Action.answer	Verb	Answer gives the reply to an Action’s open Question, through any Interface, and the Action resumes.
Action.ask	Verb	Ask puts a Question to a Party, a Role, or a Worker and holds the Action `pending` with reason `awaitingInput`.
Contact.enroll	Verb	Enroll adds a Contact to a Sequence, which sends its steps until the Contact replies or exits.
Contact.suppress	Verb	Suppress records a Suppression for a Contact’s address, which every Startup honors forever.
Conversation.answer	Verb	Answer replies in a Conversation through the Channel it arrived on and closes the reply Task it opened.
Conversation.close	Verb	Close marks a Conversation resolved, confirmed by the Customer or assumed after 72 hours with no reply.
Conversation.reopen	Verb	Reopen reverses a Conversation’s resolution when a reversal signal arrives within 7 days, and grades the resolution a failure.
Human.invite	Verb	Invite asks a person to join a Startup in a named Role, sharing that Role’s work with its Agent.
Human.recruit	Verb	Recruit invites a person to supply credentialed work to a Startup through its supply App.
Issue.resolve	Verb	Resolve closes an Issue with its fix recorded and tells every Customer who reported it.
Meeting.book	Verb	Book schedules a Meeting with a Contact at a time both calendars hold free.
Tenant.invite	Verb	Invite asks a Person to join a Customer’s Tenant, and resizes the Subscription when the Offer prices per member.
Waitlist.admit	Verb	Admit releases Leads from a Waitlist to the Offer they waited for, in the order the Waitlist ranks them.

Agents: the Workers behind every Mailbox.
Domains: the addresses Messages send from.
Integrations: connecting outside chat tools.

Channels, Threads and Conversations

Every Agent has a Mailbox

Guards on every send

Replies become work

Delivery and failure

Connected chat

Next

Contents

Channels, Threads and ConversationsCopy Anchor Link

Every Agent has a MailboxCopy Anchor Link

Guards on every sendCopy Anchor Link

Replies become workCopy Anchor Link

Delivery and failureCopy Anchor Link

Connected chatCopy Anchor Link

NextCopy Anchor Link

Channels, Threads and Conversations

Every Agent has a Mailbox

Guards on every send

Replies become work

Delivery and failure

Connected chat

Next