Pairing, allowlists, and mention gating

Use this page when a channel is technically connected but the reply behavior still does not match what you expected.

Core ideaThese are three different policy layers, not one “bot should answer now” switch.

Policy split

Do not mix approval, authorization, and activation together

Layer 1

Pairing

Controls whether an unknown sender is approved to start a DM path.

Layer 2

Allowlists

Control which users, channels, groups, guilds, or rooms are allowed.

Layer 3

Mention gating

Controls whether the bot replies ambiently in shared spaces or only on explicit mention.

Common mistake

DM pairing does not imply group access

The most common wrong assumption is that if DM pairing worked, the bot should now answer everywhere else automatically. Across most channels, that is false. DM approval, shared-space authorization, and mention behavior are separate decisions.

Safe starter defaults

Start narrow, then widen on purpose

pairing for DMs
allowlists for shared spaces
mention gating on
widen behavior only after DM and shared-space tests both succeed