Band Chat
Talk with your bandmates without leaving the app. Band Chat is on for every band — no setup, nothing to switch on — with channels you can scope by role so the right conversation lands in front of the right people.
Default Channels
Section titled “Default Channels”When chat is first opened for a band, six default channels are created automatically:
| Channel | Visible to |
|---|---|
| General | Everyone in the band |
| Announcements | Everyone in the band — owners and managers post |
| Bookings | Owners + Managers |
| Core | Owners + Managers + Members |
| Musicians | Owners + Managers + Members + Guests |
| Production | Owners + Managers + Members + Techs |
Each channel is filtered against your band role — you only see channels you have access to.
Channel Types
Section titled “Channel Types”When creating a new channel, you can pick one of three types:
| Type | Use for |
|---|---|
| General | Day-to-day band conversation — repertoire ideas, scheduling, banter |
| Gig | Discussion tied to a specific gig — load-in times, parking, setlist nerves |
| Setlist | Discussion tied to a specific setlist — rehearsal feedback, key changes |
Gig and Setlist channels can reference an event or a setlist record, but they aren’t auto-linked when an event or setlist is created — you create them from the chat interface when you want one.
Managing Channels
Section titled “Managing Channels”Owners and managers create, rename, re-scope, and delete channels from the chat sidebar — the ＋ next to the section header opens New Channel, and the gear in the channel header opens Channel Settings for the open channel. Other roles read and post but cannot change the channel list.
Deleting a channel deletes every message in it. There is no undo.
Role Scoping
Section titled “Role Scoping”Any channel carries two independent role lists:
- Who can see it — members outside the set won’t see the channel in their sidebar at all.
- Who can post — a read-only channel for everyone else. This is how Announcements works: the whole band reads it, owners and managers write to it.
Leave either list empty to mean “everyone”.
Sending Messages
Section titled “Sending Messages”- Open Backstage > Chat (the first tab in Backstage on mobile)
- Pick a channel from the sidebar
- Type and send
Messages sync in real-time across every band member’s devices using Supabase Realtime broadcast. Sent messages appear instantly on everyone’s screen; traffic in a channel you aren’t reading moves that channel’s unread badge instead of interrupting you.
The composer holds 5000 characters and shows a counter as you approach the limit. Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line.
Reactions
Section titled “Reactions”Tap a message (or focus it and press Enter) and pick from the reaction palette — 👍 🔥 😂 🙌 👀 ❗. Tap a reaction that’s already there to add or remove your own. Hovering a reaction shows who reacted.
The palette is fixed. Arbitrary emoji aren’t supported.
Attachments
Section titled “Attachments”Attach up to four files per message with the paperclip, by dragging them onto the composer, or by pasting from the clipboard. Images render inline; PDFs and audio show as file cards.
Accepted: PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, PDF, MP3, WAV — up to 20MB each. SVG is deliberately excluded, since attachments are served inline.
An attachment can travel on its own — no message text required.
Unread Counts
Section titled “Unread Counts”Every channel carries a badge with the number of messages you haven’t seen, and the Chat tab carries the total. Opening a channel marks it read. Your own messages never count as unread.
History
Section titled “History”Chat opens on the most recent 50 messages. Scroll to the top — or use Load Older Messages — to pull the next page. Scrolling back through history won’t get yanked to the bottom when a new message lands; a jump-to-latest button appears instead.
Editing, Deleting, Moderating
Section titled “Editing, Deleting, Moderating”Edit or delete your own messages by tapping your own bubble (or focusing it and pressing Enter). An edited message is marked (edited) for everyone.
Owners and managers can delete anyone’s message in a channel they can see. Nobody can edit someone else’s message — moderation removes, it doesn’t rewrite.
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”The global Chat messages toggle in Settings > Notifications turns chat notifications on or off everywhere.
Within that, each channel carries its own level, set from the channel-info panel:
| Level | You get |
|---|---|
| Every Message | A notification for every message (the default) |
| Mentions Only | Only messages that @-mention you |
| Nothing | Muted — including mentions |
Being @-mentioned sends a distinct notification naming who wanted you, and reaches you even in a channel set to Mentions Only.
Tapping a chat notification opens the channel it came from. Channel links have the shape /chat/<channel-id> and can be shared with anyone in the band who can see that channel.
Searching
Section titled “Searching”Search from the channel-info panel. It runs against full history across every channel you can see — not just the messages currently on screen — and results are labelled with the channel they came from. Pick one to jump to that channel.
Searches need at least two characters.
Typing Indicators
Section titled “Typing Indicators”While someone is typing in the channel you’re reading, their name appears above the composer. The signal is ephemeral — nothing is stored, and it clears on its own if someone walks away mid-sentence.
Mobile Layout
Section titled “Mobile Layout”On mobile, Band Chat takes the full screen with messages anchored to the bottom and the composer always visible. Tap the back button to return to the channel list.
Accessing Chat
Section titled “Accessing Chat”- Mobile — Chat is the first tab in the Backstage segment control
- Web / Desktop — Open Backstage from the navigation, then pick Chat from the sidebar
When the band has the Shared Mailbox or Rider Pack enabled, they appear as additional Backstage tabs alongside Chat.