Chat

What this is

Hookshot™ Chat lets you talk directly to a Protege or to the built-in Hookshot responder inside Slack threads and Asana task comments by mentioning @hookshot.

When to use it

Use Chat when you want to:

• Ask a question or give an instruction inside an existing Slack thread or Asana task

• Get a response from Hookshot without creating a dedicated Protege

• Continue a conversation where the work is already happening

What you need first

• A connected Slack or Asana integration with chat enabled

• A team-scoped chat connection in the integration settings

Steps

1. Enable chat on an integration

For Slack or Asana:

1. Open Integrations

2. Select the integration

3. Enable chat in the integration detail view

4. Confirm the chat connection is team-scoped and active

Chat connections are always team-scoped. They cannot be personal connections.

2. Invoke Hookshot in a conversation

In Slack or Asana, mention Hookshot to start a conversation:

• Slack: Use @hookshot, @hookshotdev, or @composio in a channel where the Slack bot is present

• Asana: Include @hookshot, @hookshotdev, or @composio in a task comment

Chat requires an explicit mention. Hookshot does not passively listen to all messages — it only responds when invoked.

3. Understand System Chat vs Protege Chat

Hookshot routes chat conversations to one of two targets:

Target	When it applies	Behavior
System Chat	No specific Protege is bound to the conversation	Built-in Hookshot responder handles the message using standard AI tools
Protege Chat	A Protege is bound to the conversation	The Protege's skill, tools, and configuration drive the response

System Chat requires no setup beyond enabling chat on the integration. It is always available when chat is enabled.

4. Continue a conversation

After the first mention, subsequent messages in the same thread or task continue the conversation with the same target. You do not need to mention @hookshot again in follow-up messages within the same thread.

For Asana, follow-up comments that do not mention Hookshot are still processed if they are in a task where an active conversation binding exists.

5. Watch for in-progress indicators

When Hookshot is processing a chat message, you will see:

• Slack: An :eyes: emoji reaction appears on the triggering message while the response is being generated

• Asana: A temporary comment reading "Hookshot is working on this..." appears and is automatically deleted once the response is posted

6. Review the response

The response appears as a reply in the same Slack thread or as a comment on the same Asana task. If the Protege uses a tool to post the message directly, the auto-reply is skipped to avoid duplicate posts.

You can verify chat activity in:

• Event Feed: Shows the inbound chat event

• Audit: Shows the chat run with tool usage and outcome

Chat configuration

Each integration with chat support has per-team configuration:

• Enabled/disabled: Turn chat on or off for the team

• Coverage mode: How Hookshot decides which conversations to monitor (currently mention_anywhere)

• Response mode: How Hookshot replies (currently reply_in_thread)

For Asana, you can select specific projects or portfolios for chat coverage. For Slack, confirm the correct channel boundary.

How chat routing works

1. A user mentions @hookshot in Slack or Asana

2. Hookshot receives the event via the connected integration

3. The chat routing layer checks if an existing conversation binding exists for this thread or task

4. If a binding exists: the conversation continues with the bound target (System Chat or a specific Protege)

5. If no binding exists: a new conversation is created with System Chat or the first eligible Protege

6. The target Protege runs, and the response is posted back to the thread or task

How to verify

• Chat is enabled on the integration detail page

• The chat connection shows as active and team-scoped

• Mentioning @hookshot in the target channel or task produces a response

• The response appears in the same thread or task

• The run appears in Audit with chat execution mode

Common failures

• Enabling chat but not confirming the chat connection is active

• Expecting Hookshot to respond without an explicit @hookshot mention

• Using a personal connection instead of a team connection for chat (chat connections must be team-scoped)

• Mentioning Hookshot in a channel or project that is outside the configured coverage

• Checking only Slack or Asana for the response without confirming the run completed in Audit

Next step

• Integrations Overview

• Slack

• Asana

• Create a Protege