# How do you run a daily standup in 15 minutes?

> A Pachca use case. At 9:00 the "Standup" bot sends every chat member a "Fill in status" button and a three-field form. At 9:25 the bot posts a summary to the chat with blockers first. The call covers blockers only, and decisions go in the summary's thread.

> This is the Markdown version of https://pachca.com/en/scenarios/planerka-za-15-minut 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

The page offers three options. Ask the user which one fits.

- A. No handler. Pin a "Yesterday / Today / Blockers" template in the chat. Everyone posts a status to the chat by 9:25 and marks a blocker with 🔴. The 9:00 reminder is a scheduled message that repeats daily. No form, no summary.
- B. No code with n8n. Three workflows handle the messages, the form, the summary and the reminders.
- C. Your own code. A developer or an AI agent writes the handler.

## What you need before you start

- Administrator rights in Pachca.
- Pachca access with the scopes `chats:create`, `chat_members:write`, `bots:write`. For option A, also `messages:create` and `pins:write`. The setup and check steps also need `search:users`, `messages:read`. Signing in is covered in the rules below.
- For option B, n8n with the Pachca node: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/n8n/setup.md

## 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. How do you want to collect updates? Everyone posts in the chat using the "Yesterday / Today / Blockers" template before the standup: it works right away. Or the "Standup" bot asks the team in the morning and builds a summary: that needs n8n. Do you have n8n? If not, or if you're not sure, we'll start with the simple option and add the bot later.
2. What is the team called and who takes part in the standup? Send me the names and I'll add them to a chat like "Product · standup".
3. Which time zone does the team work in? The bot uses it to schedule its messages.

### 2. Option A: do it yourself through the Pachca API

1. Find the members' `id`s: `GET /search/users` or `GET /users`.
2. Create the chat: `POST /chats` with `name: "Product · standup"` and `member_ids`.
3. Post the "Yesterday / Today / Blockers" template and the 🔴 rule to the chat: `POST /messages`. Pin it: `POST /messages/{id}/pin`.

Ask the user to do these by hand:

- The 9:00 reminder. Type "Statuses by 9:25" in the chat, choose "Schedule message" in the send settings, set 9:00 and repeat daily. The API has no scheduled messages.
- For the manager: start the call with the camera icon in the chat header, invite only the people with a 🔴 and write the decisions in the thread of their own message.

### 3. Options B and C: do it yourself through the Pachca API

1. Find the members' `id`s: `GET /search/users` or `GET /users`.
2. Create the chat: `POST /chats` with `name: "Product · standup"` and `member_ids`. Save the chat `id`: the handler needs it.
3. Create the bot: `POST /bots` with `name: "Standup"`, a nickname ending in `_bot`, `trigger_on: "commands"`, `commands: ["/status"]`, `events: ["message_new", "button_click"]`. The bot works in several chats: don't set `single_chat` to `true`. Save the bot `id` and `access_token` from the response: the token is shown once, and the handler needs it.
4. Add the bot to the chat: `POST /chats/{id}/members` with the bot `id` in `member_ids`. Without this the bot can't see the chat's members.
5. Once the handler has an address, put it in the outgoing webhook: `PUT /bots/{id}` with `outgoing_url` using the personal token, or `PUT /bot/webhook` using the bot token. In n8n this is the Production URL of the Webhook node. The Test URL won't work.

### 4. Handler specification

- At 9:00 on weekdays the handler gets the chat's members and messages each one directly with a "Fill in status" button. Account for the team's time zone.
- On a button click the handler opens a three-field form: `POST /views/open` with the `trigger_id` from the `button_click` event. It stores the answers itself: in n8n, in Google Sheets or a database table.
- At 9:25 the handler posts a summary to the chat. Blockers come first. At the bottom, a "Not filled in" line with the names of people who didn't send a status. Under the summary, the "Call for blockers" and "No call today" buttons.
- Anyone who fills in the form later gets their status posted in the summary's thread.
- For the call, the bot pulls the people affected by a blocker into the thread with @mentions.
- The manager writes decisions in the summary's thread as "who · what · when". The handler messages each item to its owner directly and reminds them half an hour before the deadline.

In n8n this is three workflows. First: a Schedule Trigger at 9:00 → the Pachca node fetches the chat's members → messages with a button. Second: a Webhook receives the click, opens the form and writes the answer to a table. At 9:25 a Schedule Trigger builds the summary. Third: reminders for the owners of decisions. How to install n8n and the Pachca node: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/integrations/avtomatizacii-v-pachke-s-pomoshchyu-n8n

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

- Turn on the "Public" toggle in the bot's settings. This lets employees find the bot in search and message it directly. The API can't set it.
- Suggest posting the rules in the chat via `POST /messages`. Status by 9:25, or your name lands in the "Not filled in" line. The call is 15 minutes at most and only about blockers. Decisions go in the summary's thread as "who · what · when".

### 6. Check

1. Ask the user to send the bot `/status`. The bot should reply with a "Fill in status" button.
2. Ask them to click the button and submit the form.
3. After 9:25, confirm the summary appeared in the chat: `GET /messages` for the "Product · standup" chat.

## Troubleshooting

- The bot doesn't write at 9:00. The handler's schedule is in another time zone: servers usually run on UTC. Check the time and zone in the Schedule Trigger or the function's trigger.
- The button doesn't open the form. The bot's `events` doesn't include `button_click`, or the handler is off. In n8n, the outgoing webhook has the Test URL instead of the Production URL.
- Some people are missing from the summary. The bot isn't in the chat and can't see its members. Or the employee hasn't opened a conversation with the bot yet: ask them to send the bot `/status`.

## Links

- Use case page with the demo and the human instructions: https://pachca.com/en/scenarios/planerka-za-15-minut
- Calls: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/features/novye-zvonki-v-pachke
- Scheduled messages: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/features/otlozhennye-soobshcheniya
- Forms: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/integrations/formy
- Buttons in chat bots: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/integrations/knopki-v-chat-botah
- Outgoing webhooks: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/integrations/ishodyashchie-webhook-kak-nastroit
- Forms for developers: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/forms/handling.md
- Buttons in bot messages: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/buttons.md
- Outgoing webhooks and event types: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/webhook/events.md