Catch up on three days of Slack in 30 seconds
You come back from a long weekend or a deep-work block to 400 unread messages across 8 channels. Crade reads the channels on your screen and tells you what actually happened, what is waiting on you, and what you can ignore.
Catch up on 3 days in 30 seconds.
What did I miss?
3 days · 47 unread. Here's what matters: NEEDS YOU (2): • #marketing — Kim wants Q3 input by Wed • @Maya DM — contract to sign DECIDED (just FYI): • #engineering — Postgres 16 upgrade lands Friday • #design — Logo v8 picked (Anna's) SKIP — 14 reactions + small talk
Coming back to a backlog of Slack is its own kind of work. The expected behaviour is to read top to bottom of every channel, catch the context, sort the noise from the signal, and figure out who needs a reply. Done properly, this can eat half a day. Done improperly, you miss the one message that needed a response yesterday. Crade reads the channels on your screen and summarises what matters, in the order it matters.
What you put on your screen
Whatever you would normally scroll through to catch up:
- A specific channel that piled up while you were away
- Your Slack threads view with several unresolved threads
- A direct message conversation with a teammate
- Discord, Teams, or any chat client. Crade does not care which app
Start with one channel at a time. Crade reads what is visible, so if you scroll up to see the start of the day, that is what gets summarised. For very long backlogs, scroll to the oldest unread message first.
What you say to Crade
Ask Crade what happened, and ask for what action is needed:
Or more focused: "What decisions were made today?", "Who is blocked on me?", "What can I safely skip?". Crade reads the channel and answers in the same shape as your question.
Step-by-step: how to do this in Crade
Open the channel you want to catch up on
Slack, Discord, Teams. Scroll to where you stopped reading so the oldest unread message is visible.
Click the Crade icon
Expand the Crade window. It floats above Slack so you can scroll in Slack while Crade stays in place.
Ask for the summary
Type a one-line ask. "Summarise this channel" is the simplest version. Add detail if you want a specific cut: "focus on decisions", "who is blocked on me", "what can I skip".
Read the summary
Crade gives you the digest in priority order: things that need a reply from you first, decisions made second, ongoing discussions third, noise last.
Scroll and ask again for the next slice
Scroll up in Slack to load older messages, then ask Crade to continue. The summary picks up from the new visible content.
Reply directly in Slack
Crade does not post for you. Once you know what needs a reply, you go to the message in Slack and type the reply there. Crade can draft replies too if you ask, like "Draft a reply to the question about the budget".
What you get back
A digest of the channel in priority order. Crade flags messages directed at you, decisions that affect your work, and questions still waiting on someone. It usually leaves out reaction emojis, off-topic chatter, and small talk unless the small talk turned into a real decision.
If a message contains a deadline or a commitment from you, Crade calls it out explicitly. If a thread changed direction halfway through, Crade reflects the final position, not the initial one.
Tips for better catchups
- Catch up channel by channel, not all at once. Crade is more accurate when it reads one focused stream than when it tries to summarise a whole workspace.
- Ask for what you need, not just a generic summary. "What is waiting on me?" beats "Summarise everything" by a wide margin.
- If the channel has thread replies, scroll into the most active thread before asking. Crade reads what is visible, so collapsed threads are skipped.
- Tell Crade who you are if it matters. "I am the designer" or "I am the project lead" helps Crade flag relevant messages.
- Use Crade to draft replies too, not just read. "Draft a quick reply to the question about the timeline" saves another tool-switch.
Free vs Pro vs Premium
- Free ($0): summarises and answers questions about visible channels. Plenty for occasional catch-up after a weekend.
- Pro ($7.99/mo or $49.99/yr): higher daily usage, Agent mode. Right tier for people whose work involves keeping up with several busy channels every day.
- Premium ($19.99/mo or $149.99/yr): 10x more daily usage than Pro. Right tier for managers and team leads who are in every channel.
Frequently asked questions
Does Crade read my entire Slack workspace?
No. Crade only sees what is on your screen at the moment of the prompt. It does not have a Slack API connection, does not crawl other channels, and does not see DMs you have not opened.
Will my team know I used Crade to summarise the channel?
Not from Slack's side. Crade reads your screen locally. There is no bot, no integration, no "Crade has joined the channel" notification. As far as Slack is concerned, you scrolled and read.
Can Crade write the reply for me?
Crade can draft a reply in the chat window. You copy it into Slack and post it yourself. Crade does not post directly to Slack. That boundary is intentional.
Does it work with Discord, Teams, or WhatsApp Web?
Yes. Crade reads any chat client on your screen. Discord, Teams, WhatsApp Web, Telegram, Signal Desktop. The behaviour is the same: scroll to what you want summarised, ask Crade.
What if the channel has 1000 messages?
Crade summarises what is visible. For very long backlogs, do it in chunks: scroll to the oldest part, ask for a summary, scroll forward, ask again. The summaries chain naturally if you stay in the same Crade conversation.
The whole loop in one sentence
Channel on screen, one prompt, a prioritised digest in the chat window. Three days of Slack in thirty seconds, and you actually know what is waiting on you.
A calendar invite shows up. Five minutes before the call. Crade reads the invite, the linked docs, and the email thread on your screen and hands you a one-pager: who is in the room, why, and what they probably want.
A two-hour lecture, a YouTube tutorial, a recorded all-hands. Crade watches what is on your screen and gives you structured notes: key points, action items, timestamps for the parts worth re-watching.