Team chat
Team chat where the work is part of the conversation
Channels, direct messages and threads, right next to your tasks and timers. Type # and drop in a live task, project, client or a running timer; everyone sees its real status, not a stale link. See who's online and what they're working on, share files, and turn any message into a task.
- Free for your whole team, forever
- No credit card
- Every feature included
Type # and the task shows its real status, updating while you watch.
How it works
- 1
Open Chat. Everyone starts in #general; create channels for projects or teams, public or private.
- 2
Message one person or a few at once. DMs are private to the people in them.
- 3
Type # to reference a task, project, client or one of your time entries. It shows up as a live card: status, assignees, the timer ticking.
- 4
Type @ to mention a teammate or an AI agent. Mentions light up and notify.
- 5
Reply in a thread, react, drag in files, and turn a message into a task in one click.
Try team chat on your own work
Create a free workspace, invite your team with a link and start the timer.
- Free for your whole team, forever
- No credit card
- Every feature included
Everything a team chat needs
- Public and private channels, DMs and group DMs
- Threads, reactions, editing and deleting
- Files by drag and drop or paste, with image and PDF previews
- Unread counts, mentions, browser notifications
- Search across every conversation you can see
- Typing indicators and drafts that survive a reload
The work, live in the conversation
A link in Slack goes stale the moment you paste it. A reference in Hourtick is live: a task shows its current status and assignees, a project its client, a time entry its duration, ticking while the timer runs. Click a task and it opens right there, without leaving the conversation.
See who's around and what they're on
Green means online. Open a DM and you see what that person is tracking right now, if they share it. Nobody has to ask "what are you working on?" Anyone can turn sharing off in Settings.
AI agents in the room
Mention an AI agent like a teammate and it takes the request: you watch what it's doing, answer when it asks, and get the result in the thread. See AI agents.
Your other systems, posting in the channel
Give a channel a webhook and your deploys, alerts, forms and shop post there, each with its own name and picture. Tools that already send Slack, Discord or Microsoft Teams webhooks work by pasting the Hourtick URL, and their attachments and cards show as cards with fields and buttons. See the developer docs for every format.
Catch up without scrolling
Back from a week off? Ask an agent to catch you up on a channel. It reads the conversation and answers you in a direct message, so you can start from the summary instead of the first message.
Made for teams that build things
- Code you paste becomes a code block, with the language taken from VS Code or Cursor when it can
- Drop in a GIF from the picker (rated G, powered by GIPHY); it goes out as its own message and your typed text stays
- @all in a channel reaches everyone in it; everyone can mute it, and beyond 50 people only managers and admins may use it
- Turn any message into a task in one click
- Notifications for direct messages, mentions and replies to threads you started, in the browser, on the Mac and on your phone
Why chat lives next to the timer
A separate chat app cannot tell you what a decision cost, or whether a task is still being worked on. In Hourtick the conversation, the task and the hours are linked. Reference a task and everyone sees its status, assignees and ticking timer; open it and you are in the task without leaving the thread. Presence shows who is online and what they are tracking right now, if they share it.
Frequently asked questions
Is chat included on the free plan?
Yes. Chat is on every plan for unlimited people. Messages count toward storage like tasks and comments; files count by size.
Who can see a channel?
Everyone in the workspace can see and join public channels. Private channels and DMs are visible only to their members.
Does it replace Slack?
For many small teams, yes: channels, DMs, threads and files cover day-to-day talk, and the work is right there. If you rely on Slack's app directory or huddles, keep Slack for those.
Can my scripts or AI post in chat?
Yes. The REST API and the MCP server can read, post and search chat.
What does @all do?
In a channel it notifies everyone who is in it. It never works in direct messages, never comes from or goes to an agent, anyone can mute it for themselves, and in channels over 50 people only managers and admins can use it.
Can people see what I am tracking?
Only if you let them. "Show what I'm working on" in Settings controls whether teammates see your running timer. Turn it off and you still show as online.
Is there a mobile app for chat?
Yes, on iPhone and Android: the apps open chats instantly from a local cache and send pushes for messages and mentions.
Can I search old messages?
Yes. Search covers every conversation you can see, and ⌘K finds channels and people from anywhere in the app.
More features
Tasks
A board and list with assignees, subtasks, blockers and chat, with time tracked right on the task.
AI agents
Give an agent a seat on the team. It takes tasks, asks when stuck and logs billable time of its own.
Search and notifications
⌘K finds tasks, time, people and notes. Notifications reach you only when something is for you.
AI timesheet
Ask your AI assistant to fill the hours you forgot, from what you did in Hourtick. You confirm.
Timesheets
A week grid that fills itself from your timers, with flexible input, copy-last-week and autosave.
Billable hours
Billability by task type, rates that stay with the time and billable AI work in the same reports.
Track your first hour in a minute.
Free for your whole team, forever. Every feature included.