Coffee Chats in Slack Connect Channels (2026)

Match people across companies for a virtual coffee.

Can you run coffee chats in a Slack Connect channel?

Yes, if the app supports it. A Slack Connect channel is a channel shared between two or more organizations, so the people in it belong to different Slack workspaces. Not every coffee chat app can introduce people across that boundary.

• Catchup: intros run in Slack Connect channels on the Builder plan ($29/mo) and the Enterprise plan ($99/mo)
• Donut: Intros are not compatible with Slack Connect channels, on any plan

Does Donut work in Slack Connect channels?

Not for coffee chats. Donut's help center says Intros, the feature that pairs people for coffee chats, does not support Slack Connect channels on any plan.

How to set up coffee chats in a Slack Connect channel

With Catchup, the setup takes a few minutes:

• 1) Add Catchup to your Slack workspace and choose the Builder or Enterprise plan. Slack Connect channels are not included in the free Starter plan.
• 2) Open the Slack Connect channel, type /invite @catchup and press enter. This adds the Catchup app to the channel.
• 3) Open the Catchup app in Slack, select the Home tab and click on Start a Catchup Channel.
• 4) Choose the Slack Connect channel, then the weekday, time and frequency of the intros, for example 10am on Wednesday every 2 weeks.

From then on the members of the channel are introduced on that schedule. You can change the intro message, set a group size between 2 and 8, add roles so that people with different roles are matched, and pause inactive members automatically. The full steps are in the Slack Connect guide in our FAQ.

Do apps and bots work in Slack Connect channels?

Yes, with limits that Slack sets for every app. According to Slack's help center and developer documentation:

• An app added by one organization shows that organization's icon next to its name, and only that organization can remove it
• An app in the channel can see the channel's members from the other organizations
• A bot can send direct messages to people in connected workspaces, as long as they share a channel with it
• Slash commands and message actions only work for the organization that installed the app. Other members still see what the app posts in the channel
• An organization's custom apps and shortcuts can only be used by its own members

This is why support differs from app to app. Each app has to handle members from other organizations itself, so check for an explicit statement before you rely on one. Many coffee chat apps do not document Slack Connect support at all.

Slack Connect vs shared channels: what is the difference?

There is none. A Slack Connect channel is a channel shared between separate organizations, such as your company and a customer. Shared channel is the older name for the same thing, and you may also see external-shared or externally shared channel. If an app's documentation uses any of these names, it is talking about Slack Connect.

Is Slack Connect free?

No. Slack's help center says every organization in a shared channel must be on a paid Slack plan, not just the one that creates it. A free workspace cannot send a channel invitation at all. There are two exceptions:

• Free trial: a paid organization can invite a free one. If that workspace has never had a Slack Connect trial, it gets a one-time 90-day trial of the Pro plan. When the trial ends without an upgrade, the shared channels disconnect.
• Enterprise plans: if the inviting organization is on an Enterprise plan, free teams can join its channels without upgrading or starting a trial. Org admins can turn this off, and free teams cannot invite further organizations.

Direct messages are different. One-to-one DMs with people outside your company work on every plan, including Free. Group DMs with external people need a paid plan.

A few other limits from Slack's help center:

• One Slack Connect channel can hold up to 250 organizations, including your own
• Admins on either side may need to approve an invitation before the channel is shared
• Each organization decides whether the channel is public or private in its own workspace
• You cannot add external people to #general

Who are cross-company coffee chats for?

Any group that already shares a Slack Connect channel and wants its members to know each other better:

• Communities: introduce members from different companies to each other every week or two
• Customers and partners: match your team with the people they work with at the other company
• Agencies and clients: help both sides of a project meet outside of status calls
• Investors and portfolio companies: add roles to match founders with investors or with other founders