# How should online school mentors communicate with students?

> A Pachca use case. The mentor posts assignments in a channel, students ask questions in the threads under the assignments, and they talk to each other in a separate chat.

> This is the Markdown version of https://pachca.com/en/scenarios/obshchenie-s-uchenikami for AI agents. The API methods named here are documented at https://dev.pachca.com/llms-en.txt — open it before calling the API. Other use cases are listed at https://pachca.com/en/llms.txt.

## What you'll get

1. The cohort has an "Assignments" channel and a "Cohort chat". Students are invited with the Multi-guest role and only see the chats they've been added to.
2. The mentor and the teacher post in the channel. Students read the channel, react to posts and write in the threads under assignments. The whole cohort sees the mentor's answer in a thread.
3. Any member can post in the chat, so students talk to each other there.

No bot or third-party services needed.

## What you need before you start

- Pachca access as the workspace owner or an administrator: only they can invite students. Scopes: `users:read`, `users:create`, `chats:create`, `chat_members:read`, `chat_members:write`, `messages:create`, `pins:write`. The setup and check steps also need `users:update`. Signing in is covered in the rules below.
- The Company or Corporation plan. The Multi-guest role is available on them.

## If you're an AI agent: working rules

### Who does what

- You do everything the instructions name an API method for. Don't ask the user to create a chat, a bot or a message by hand.
- Ask the user only to sign in to Pachca and to do what is listed in "Ask the user to do by hand".
- If you have no terminal, say so right away and don't pretend you set it up. Walk the user through the steps for people on the use case page and help with the template or the handler code.

### How to talk to the user

- The user is not a developer. Write briefly and in plain words. Don't mention API methods, scopes, response codes, `id`s or CLI profiles. Say "permissions" instead of "scopes" and "the program behind the bot" instead of "handler".
- Don't report your checks. A message contains only three things: what is done, what you need from the user, what you'll do next.
- Don't ask for what you can find out through the API or what is easy to change later. Take the value from the instructions and name it.
- Take the bot's message texts from the instructions or write them yourself and carry on. Show them in your final message and offer to change them. Don't wait for approval.
- Ask the questions from "Ask the user" in the same words.

### Your first message to the user

It has three parts. The first two together take at most five lines.

1. What the user will get: one or two lines.
2. What you will create yourself: the chat, the bot and the messages, with the names from the instructions. Word anything that depends on the user's choice as a condition: "if you choose the bot, I'll also create…".
3. "What I need from you": signing in to Pachca, if the user isn't signed in yet, and the questions from "Ask the user". If the use case or one of its options needs n8n, ask here whether the user has it and ask for access right away in the words from the "n8n" section below: "if you have n8n, send me…".

If part of the result appears only after a manual step by the user, say so in one line: "you'll schedule the retro questions yourself, I'll show you how".

The user's answers are their consent to the plan. Start the setup right after them, without asking for a second confirmation.

### Access to Pachca

- The user doesn't need to issue a token or send it in the chat. Before your first message, check the login: `npx -y @pachca/cli@latest auth status`. If there is none, ask the user to run `npx -y @pachca/cli@latest auth login` in their own terminal. The CLI shows a code; the user enters it in the browser and confirms access. Write the commands with `@latest`: without it an old cached CLI version may start, and it asks to paste a token instead of signing in through the browser.
- This login has the same rights as the user's role. Compare them with the scopes in "What you need before you start" yourself: `npx -y @pachca/cli@latest api GET /oauth/token/info` shows the scopes. If something is missing, say in plain words what you won't be able to do, for example "I can't send messages". There are two ways out: add this permission to the token in Pachca, under "Automations" → "API", or sign in again as the workspace owner or an administrator.
- If `auth status` shows `scopes: null`, it doesn't mean there are no rights: look at `GET /oauth/token/info`. The checks in these rules also need `search:chats`, `bots:read` and `profile:read`.
- When the user says "me", they mean the owner of the login. `GET /profile` returns their `id` and nickname.
- Call the API with `npx -y @pachca/cli@latest api <METHOD> <path> -o json`. Write the full command in every call; don't put it into a shell variable.
- Pass query parameters as `--query key=value`, for example `--query query=Purchasing`. The CLI silently drops a parameter without a key and returns the whole list, so it's easy to conclude that the chat already exists.
- Pass the request body with `--data` or `--input`. Almost every write method wraps the body in an object: `chat` for `POST /chats`, `message` for `POST /messages`, `task` for `POST /tasks`, `group_tag` for `POST /group_tags`, `user` for `PUT /users/{id}`, `webhook` for bots. `--describe` shows the wrapper; write its path with `{id}`, not with a number. Without the wrapper, `POST /chats` creates the chat but silently adds no members.
- Don't print tokens or bots' incoming webhook URLs in the chat. A bot's token is shown only once, when it's created: save it to a file.

### n8n

- If the user has no n8n, say that it comes as the hosted n8n Cloud or can be installed on their own server, and give the link for installing the Pachca nodes: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/n8n/setup.md. These instructions don't cover installing n8n. If they have an option without n8n, suggest starting with it and coming back to the bot once n8n is there.
- If the user has n8n, ask for access in these words: "Send me your n8n address: the link you open it with in the browser. Don't send the key in the chat. In n8n, open Settings → n8n API → Create an API key and copy the key. Right after that, run the command below in your terminal exactly as it is; you don't need to put anything into it. It saves the copied key to a file and prints nothing. Then write 'key saved'." The command for macOS: `pbpaste > ~/n8n-key.txt`. For another system, pick the matching one.
- Build everything in n8n on the official Pachca nodes, `n8n-nodes-pachca`. Don't use the `HTTP Request` node for Pachca API calls.

### Setup

- Take API methods from https://dev.pachca.com/llms-en.txt, don't rely on memory. The command `npx -y @pachca/cli@latest api <METHOD> <path> --describe` shows a method's schema.
- The Pachca skills cover the call order and error handling for chats, bots and forms: `npx skills add pachca/openapi`. Install them when you need them, without asking the user.
- Before creating anything, check whether the chat and the bot already exist: `GET /search/chats`, `GET /bots`. If they do, ask whether to set them up or create new ones.
- `POST /group_tags` creates an empty tag. `PUT /users/{id}` with `list_tags` assigns it to an employee; it needs the `users:update` scope. The field replaces the whole set of tags: first read the employee's current tags with `GET /users/{id}` and send them together with the new one. While the tag has no members, mentioning it notifies no one.
- If a method returns an error, stop and tell the user in plain words what failed and what you need to continue.
- The messages you post yourself and the ones the bot sends must be easy to read on a screen, without overdoing spacing or emphasis. Make the heading bold and start the text on the next line. Write connected text as one paragraph. Put rules and steps on numbered lines one under another and separate them from the intro with a single empty line. A short message needs no other empty lines. In a card, make the field labels bold and put the fields on consecutive lines. Use bold only for the heading and the field labels. Pachca markup has no lists or tables: the numbers at the start of lines stay plain text. A sample:

  ```text
  **Retro rules**
  On the last day of the sprint a message with questions arrives here. We reply in the thread under it.

  1. Each point is a separate message.
  2. We add 👍 to what is worth discussing.
  3. The facilitator posts the outcomes in one message and pins it.
  ```
- A pin can't be checked through the API: only a successful `POST /messages/{id}/pin` response confirms it.
- If you sent service messages to a chat to check a bot, such as `/start`, delete them: `DELETE /messages/{id}`. Don't delete messages with rules and templates.
- At the end, say what was created, what is left for the user to do by hand and how to check that the use case works.
- To undo the setup: `DELETE /bots/{id}` deletes the bot, `PUT /chats/{id}/archive` sends the chat to the archive.

## How to set up the use case with the user

### 1. Ask the user

Ask these questions in these words:

1. Who should I invite to the cohort? Send me each student's email, first name and last name.
2. Who are the cohort's mentors? Send me the names and I'll add them to the "Assignments" channel and the "Cohort chat".
3. Will the teacher post in the "Assignments" channel? If so, I'll add them along with the mentors.

Use the names "Assignments" and "Cohort chat" as they are unless the user asks for others.

### 2. Do it yourself through the Pachca API

1. Find the mentors' `id`s: `GET /users` with the `query` parameter.
2. Create the channel: `POST /chats` with `name: "Assignments"`, `channel: true` and the mentors' `member_ids`. The token's owner becomes the channel's creator and a member.
3. Create the chat: `POST /chats` with `name: "Cohort chat"` and the mentors' `member_ids`, without `channel`.
4. Give the mentors and the teacher you added to the channel the Editor role: `PUT /chats/{id}/members/{user_id}` with `role: "editor"`. Only the channel's creator, admins and editors can post in it. Don't change the role of the workspace owner or administrators: when added to a chat, they get the Admin role.
5. Invite the students: `POST /users` with `email`, `first_name`, `last_name`, `role: "multi_guest"` and `chat_ids`: the `id`s of the channel and the chat. Pachca emails each student an invitation, so show the user the list of addresses before calling. If a student is already in the workspace (`GET /users` with `query` by email), add them to both chats: `POST /chats/{id}/members` with `member_ids`. Don't change the students' role in the channel, they stay subscribers.
6. Post the ground rule in the channel: `POST /messages` with the channel's `entity_id` and `content: "Ask questions about an assignment in the thread under it."`. The message goes out as the token's owner. Pin it: `POST /messages/{id}/pin`.

### 3. Ask the user to do by hand

- Invite by link any students whose email isn't on the list: in Members, click "Add member" and choose the Multi-guest role. Then add them to both chats through `POST /chats/{id}/members`.
- Group the cohort's chats in a folder: hover over any folder in the chat list, click the three dots, select "Add new folder" and drag the cohort's chats into it. The API has no method for folders.
- Post each assignment as a single message: what to do, by when and where to submit the work. The mentor posts assignments as themselves: a message's author is subscribed to the thread under it, and those threads show up in their Threads.
- Set up a deadline reminder: write it in the channel, choose "Schedule message" in Send settings and pick the date and time. If assignments are due on the same day every week, make the reminder recurring. `POST /messages` has no field for scheduled sending.
- Loop the teacher into a thread with an @mention when they need to answer. The teacher sees the whole thread, even if they aren't in the channel.
- Keep track of questions in Threads. The "Unread only" toggle hides the threads you've read.
- Agree on how quickly the mentor answers a question in a thread. The mentor discusses grades and personal matters with a student in direct messages. If the mentors have their own chat, offer to post these rules there: `POST /messages`.

### 4. Check

1. Call `GET /chats/{id}/members` for the channel and the chat. All students and mentors should be in the list, and the students' `role` should be `multi_guest`.
2. Call the same method for the channel with `role=editor`. The response should include the mentors you gave the Editor role.
3. Ask a student to ask a question in the thread under the first assignment. The thread will show up in the mentor's Threads.

## Troubleshooting

- A student can't post in the channel feed. That's expected: channel subscribers can only write in the threads under posts.
- A student can't see the channel. Check that they're in `GET /chats/{id}/members` for the channel and that their `role` is `multi_guest`. A guest (`guest`) only has access to one group chat. To change the role, use `PUT /users/{id}` with `role: "multi_guest"`, scope `users:update`.

## Links

- The use case page with the demo and the instructions for people: https://pachca.com/en/scenarios/obshchenie-s-uchenikami
- Guests in Pachca: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/features/gosti-v-pachke
- Scheduled messages: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/features/otlozhennye-soobshcheniya
- Permissions and roles in the API: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/permissions.md