Direct messages are one-to-one chats between team members in Pistonlog. They don't appear on any jobcard, don't go to customers, and aren't part of any audit trail visible to other users.
When to use them
- "Hey can you take a look at jobcard 0142 when you're free"
- "Customer just rang, says her car's making a weird noise"
- "I'm running late, can you cover the Smith booking"
- "Need a hand on this brake job after lunch"
The kind of fast back-and-forth that doesn't need to be on a customer record.
When NOT to use them
If the comment is about a specific job, put it on that jobcard's comments so it's visible to whoever picks the work up next. Direct messages are private to the two participants.
Permission
Direct messaging is gated by the messages.direct permission. Reception and Manager have it by default; Technician does not. The company owner isn't a role: owner accounts clear every permission check, so they always have it.
Real-time
DMs appear instantly. The sender's browser saves the message and then broadcasts it to the other participants over the conversation's own channel, so what you see arrive is pushed by their app rather than picked up from the database.
One practical consequence: delivery depends on the sender's message reaching the server and the broadcast going out. If the other person's app misses the broadcast (they were offline, or the tab was asleep), the message is still safely saved and appears the next time they open the conversation. Nothing is lost, it just isn't always instant.
Every DM you receive also creates a notification entry, which is the reliable signal — see the bell.
Mobile
Direct messages work on the mobile app too, with push notifications via Expo.