Skip to main content
On Microsoft Teams, your agents talk through the minai app. There are two ways to use it, and you pick one once, with your first agent on Teams:
  • One agent, in a direct chat. Your agent talks to you in a chat with the minai app. It’s the simplest, but you’ll have a single personal agent on Teams.
  • Several agents, each in its own channel. You create a Teams team just for you and minai makes a channel for each agent. You write to them without mentioning them.

​
What you need

  • A work or school Microsoft Teams account (Microsoft 365). Personal or free Teams can’t add apps.
  • Your organization must allow uploading custom apps. If Teams doesn’t show Upload a custom app, ask whoever manages Teams in your organization.
  • To have several agents, being able to create teams in Teams (almost always allowed).

​
Pick Teams and how to use it

1

Pick Microsoft Teams

When you create the agent, in Where will you talk with Clara?, tap Microsoft Teams (“A chat or a channel in your Teams”).
2

Pick how to use Teams (first time only)

In How do you want to use Teams? pick One agent, in a direct chat or Several agents, each in its own channel. The steps for each are below.
Where will you talk with Clara? screen with the Microsoft Teams option

Microsoft Teams among the channels

How do you want to use Teams? screen with One agent, in a direct chat and Several agents, each in its own channel

The two ways to use Teams

​
One agent, in a direct chat

minai shows you three steps and a code:
Steps: download the minai app, upload it to Teams and send it the code

The steps for the direct chat

1

Download the minai app

Tap Download the minai app. You get a minai-teams.zip file: no need to open it.
2

Upload it to Teams

In Teams, go to Apps in the left bar and, at the very bottom, Manage your apps.
Teams Apps, with Manage your apps at the bottom left
Tap Upload an app → Upload a custom app and pick the minai-teams.zip file.
Upload an app window, with the Upload a custom app option
Teams shows you the minai app: tap Add and then Open.
The minai app in Teams, with the Add button
3

Send it the code

In the chat with minai, send the code minai showed you (for example, K9W-N84). The code works once and expires in an hour: if it did, pick Teams again in minai to get another one.
4

Done

minai shows that your agent writes to you in Teams, with Open Teams and Done. Your agent writes first in the chat.
Teams chat with minai: the code sent and Clara's first message
In this way you have a single personal agent on Teams: for another one, pick another channel for it, or use several agents.

​
Several agents, each in its own channel

minai shows you four steps and a code:
Steps: download the app, create a team, upload the app to the team and mention it with the code

The steps for a team of agents

1

Download the minai app

Tap Download the minai app (a minai-teams.zip file).
2

Create a team for your agents

In Teams, in Chat (or Teams), tap the new icon → New team. Name it (for example, “My minai agents”), leave it Private and don’t add anyone else: that way only you see your agents’ channels.
Create a team window, with a team name and the Private type
3

Upload the app to that team

In the team, tap ⋯ → Manage team.
Team menu with the Manage team option
In the Apps tab, tap Upload an app, pick minai-teams.zip, tap Add and then pick a channel of the team and Go.
The team's Apps tab, with Upload an app
4

Mention minai with the code

In any channel of the team, type @minai, pick minai in the list and add the code (for example, @minai Q8H-54D). Send it.
A message in the channel: the mention of minai and the code
5

minai creates the agent's channel

minai creates a channel named after your agent and answers in the thread. Your agent writes first there.
minai's answer: the agent has its channel
Teams keeps new channels hidden in your list. The first time, tap the channel’s link in minai’s answer, or go to See all channels and tap Show next to your agent’s channel.
List of the team's channels with the Clara channel and the Show button

The team's channels: Show the agent's

Clara channel in Teams: the agent's first message, an answer without a mention and Clara's reply

Clara's channel: you answer in the thread, without mentioning her

From the second agent on there are no more steps: when you pick Teams, minai creates its channel in your team and the agent writes to you there.
Clara writes to you in its channel, with Open Teams and Done

The next agent gets its channel right away

In its channel you write to it without mentioning it: a new post or an answer in a thread reaches it all the same.

​
Agents for a group

A group agent uses a channel of a team (or a Teams group chat) where the minai app is:
  1. If it isn’t there yet, upload the app to that team (⋯ → Manage team → Apps → Upload an app).
  2. In the channel the agent will use, type @minai and the code minai shows you.
The agent stays in that channel and everyone there talks to it, without mentioning it. See Agents for a group.

​
How it behaves

  • Format: bold, italics, code, lists, quotes and links. No tables, headings or strikethrough. Very long messages arrive split.
  • Name: Teams shows every message as minai, not with the agent’s name. In an agent’s channel you know it by the channel’s name; where several share a space, the message starts with its name.
  • Buttons: options show as buttons under the message. You tap one and the message marks it with ✓. See Buttons and options.
  • While it works: you see “typing…”.
  • Files and photos: the ones you send reach it (up to 15 MB). The agent can send you images; other files not yet.
  • Reactions: yours reach it; the agent can’t react on Teams.
  • Only you: in a personal agent’s chat or channel, only whoever connected it talks to it.
  • To stop it: send /stop on its own.

​
Limits

  • Teams comes with the Pro and Business plans, like Slack. See Plans.
  • In the direct chat, a single personal agent.
  • Teams private channels aren’t used for agents: Teams makes you mention the app in every message there.
  • If the minai app is removed from the chat or the team, the agents stop talking there. Connect them again from Where it talks.
  • If in a team your agent only answers when you mention it, remove the minai app from that team and upload it again (it happens when an older version of the app was uploaded). Then connect your agents again from Where it talks.
  • Teams gives you the notifications of its messages.

Agents for a group

An agent in a Teams channel, for the whole team.

Compare channels

What changes from one channel to another.