# How to congratulate employees without the manual routine

> A Pachca use case. The day before, a bot collects wishes from colleagues through a form, and in the morning it posts a greeting with a card in the company channel.

> This is the Markdown version of https://pachca.com/en/scenarios/pozdravleniya-sotrudnikov 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

Without a bot. The greeting goes out in the company channel as a scheduled message with the "Yearly" repeat.

With a bot.

1. The day before a birthday or work anniversary, the bot sends the person's manager and teammates a direct message. A button opens a form for a wish.
2. On the day, the bot posts a greeting with the wishes and a card in the company channel.

## What you need before you start

- Pachca access with the scopes `search:chats`, `chats:create`, `messages:create`, `pins:write`. Signing in is covered in the rules below.
- With a bot: access as a workspace owner or administrator and these extra scopes: `custom_properties:read`, `users:read`, `users:update`, `chat_members:write`, `bots:write`, `messages:read`.

## 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 congratulate people? With a scheduled message that repeats every year: you set it up yourself in a couple of minutes, and I'll show you how. Or the «Праздники» bot reminds colleagues the day before and posts the greeting: that needs n8n or a developer. Do you have n8n?
2. Which channel do greetings go to?
3. If you choose the bot: at what time should it post the greeting, and where does the card come from — a prepared set or an image model?

Work out the employee's manager and department from profiles yourself. If the profiles lack this data, ask where to get it.

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

1. Find the channel: `GET /search/chats`. If it doesn't exist, create it: `POST /chats` with `name`, `channel: true` and `member_ids`.
2. Offer to post the rules in the channel and pin them: `POST /messages`, then `POST /messages/{id}/pin`. Greetings go out in one channel, and the age isn't mentioned. Gift collections are separate and voluntary.

Without a bot, go to the section "Ask the user to do it by hand".

With a bot only.

3. Check the date fields: call `GET /custom_properties` and find the date fields, for example "Birthday" and "Start date". Check the response schema with `--describe`. Save the field `id`s. There is no method for creating fields. If the fields don't exist, ask the user to add them (section 5) and repeat the request.
4. If the user gave you the dates, fill in the date fields with `PUT /users/{id}`. Check the body structure with `--describe`.
5. Create the bot: `POST /bots` with `name: "Праздники"`, a nickname ending in `_bot`, `events: ["button_click"]` and `scopes`: `users:read`, `messages:create`, `views:write`, `uploads:write`. From the response, save the bot's `id` and `access_token`.
6. Add the bot to the channel: `POST /chats/{id}/members` with the bot's `id` in `member_ids`.

### 3. Build the handler

The handler calls the API with the bot's token. The morning run is on a schedule:

1. Get the employees: `GET /users`, all pages by `cursor`. The dates are in the employee's custom fields. Check the field name and value format against the responses of `GET /users` and `GET /custom_properties`. Compare the day and month.
2. Skip an employee with no date. If profiles have a "Congratulate publicly" field, check it.
3. If the event is tomorrow, send a direct message to the manager and teammates from the department: `POST /messages` with `entity_type: "user"`, the recipient's `entity_id` and a button in `buttons`. Check the button type and fields at https://dev.pachca.com/guides/buttons.md
4. If the event is today, post the greeting with the wishes and a card in the channel: `POST /messages`. Upload the card following the guide https://dev.pachca.com/api/file-uploads.md. In `files`, pass `key`, `name`, `file_type: "image"` and `size`.

On outgoing webhook events:

- Button click. Open the form: `POST /views/open` with the `trigger_id` from the event. The `trigger_id` is valid for 3 seconds. The form has an `input` block for the wish.
- Form submission. The handler receives the form submission event, takes the text from the field with the `name` of the `input` block and the author from the event. Save the text. How to receive a form: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/forms/handling.md

### 4. Connect the bot to the handler

Set the handler's address as the outgoing webhook: `PUT /bots/{id}` with `outgoing_url` using a personal token, or `PUT /bot/webhook` using the bot's token.

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

Without a bot.

- Write the greeting in the company channel, open the send settings, choose "Schedule message", set the date and time and turn on the "Yearly" repeat.

With a bot.

- Add the date fields if they don't exist. In "Members", click "Settings", then "Add field", choose the "Date" type and name the field "Birthday". Add "Start date" the same way and click "Save".
- Fill in the dates in profiles. Leave the date empty for anyone who doesn't want a public greeting.

### 6. Check

With a bot only.

1. Set tomorrow's date in the "Birthday" field of a test employee and run the handler. The user confirms that a colleague received the message with the button and sent a wish.
2. Set today's date and run the handler again. Check the greeting in the channel: `GET /messages` with `chat_id`. Restore the real date.

## What the use case can't do

- A single chat can hold up to 50 scheduled messages. For a new hire, the message is created separately.

## Links

- Use case page with the demo and instructions for a human: https://pachca.com/en/scenarios/pozdravleniya-sotrudnikov
- Scheduled messages: https://pachca.com/en/help-center/features/otlozhennye-soobshcheniya
- Buttons in bot messages: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/buttons.md
- Handling forms: https://dev.pachca.com/guides/forms/handling.md
- File uploads: https://dev.pachca.com/api/file-uploads.md