Breakout Rooms

Create focused discussion groups for specific topics. Breakout rooms automatically create Outline collaborative notes, track decisions, action items, and questions.

Creating Breakout Rooms

!breakout

Create a new breakout room for focused discussion.

!breakout <topic> [duration]
!breakout -q <question_hash>              # Create/join breakout for a Q&A question
!breakout -q <hash> @user                 # Add user to existing question breakout
!breakout -q <hash> --new                 # Force create NEW room for question

Duration Options:

Default: 3 hours
Min: 15 minutes
Max: 7 days
Formats: 30m, 1h, 6h, 1d, 3d, 7d

Examples:

!breakout Security audit planning           # 3 hours (default)
!breakout Sprint Planning 6h                # 6 hours
!breakout Week-long Project 3d              # 3 days
!breakout Quick Sync 30m                    # 30 minutes
!breakout -q ABC123                         # Breakout for Q&A question
!breakout -q ABC123 @expert                 # Add @expert to existing breakout
!breakout -q ABC123 --new 1h                # Force new 1-hour room

What Happens:

Bot creates a temporary private group
Creator is invited automatically
Outline document is created with the topic as title
Welcome message includes link to collaborative notes
Topic and purpose are posted
All annotations (questions, actions, decisions) are tracked

Welcome Message:

Welcome to the breakout room!

Topic: Security audit planning

Collaborative Notes: https://outline.example.com/doc/security-audit-abc123

Use !action @person <task> to assign tasks
Use !decision <text> to record decisions
Use !extend 1h to extend the session
Use !endbreakout when finished

Duration & Extensions

Default Duration

Breakout rooms default to 3 hours, which provides ample time for most focused discussions without requiring manual extension.

!extend

Extend the breakout room duration.

!extend              # +1 hour (default)
!extend 2h           # +2 hours
!extend 1d           # +1 day
!extend 3d           # +3 days

Limits:

Default extension: 1 hour
Max extension: 7 days per extension
Total session can run up to 7 days

Example:

!extend 2h

Response:

⏰ Time extended by 2 hours!
New end time: 5:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM CT / 2:30 PM PT
(2 extensions remaining)

Outline Integration

Every breakout room automatically creates an Outline document for collaborative note-taking.

Features

Auto-created on room start: Document is created with topic as title
Link shared in welcome message: All participants can access immediately
Included in late-joiner catch-up: When new members join, they get the Outline link
Updated on room end: Final summary with decisions and action items is appended

Document Structure

When a breakout ends, the Outline document is updated with:

## Session Summary

Duration: 45 minutes
Participants: 4

## Decisions Made
1. Budget increased to $50k for infrastructure
2. Launch date set for December 15th

## Action Items
- [ ] @Bob: Prepare infrastructure proposal
- [x] @Carol: Create marketing timeline (completed)

## AI-Generated Summary
[Automatic summary of the discussion]

Managing Breakout Rooms

!breakouts

List all active breakout rooms.

!breakouts

Response: Shows active breakouts with topics, creators, participant counts, and Outline links.

!endbreakout / !end

End your breakout room and generate a summary.

!endbreakout
!end

What Happens:

Generates AI summary of all discussions
Lists all decisions and action items
Updates Outline document with final summary
Posts summary to the breakout group
Group is renamed to “(archived) {topic}”
Archive delay (2 min default): Users receive notice and time to save info
All members are removed and bot leaves the group
If linked to a Q&A question, updates the question’s forum link

Archive Delay:

After the summary is posted, users get a 2-minute grace period before being removed:

⏰ This room will be archived in 2 minutes.

Save any important information now. All members will be removed when archiving completes.

This gives participants time to:

Screenshot important decisions
Copy action items
Save the Outline document link

Features:

Only the breakout creator can end it
Summary posted to parent group
Outline document preserved for future reference

Broadcasting to Multiple Groups

—broadcast flag

Announce your breakout to other groups so members can join via emoji reaction.

!breakout Security Discussion 2h --broadcast

What Happens:

Breakout is created in current group
Announcement sent to configured broadcast groups
Users in any group can react with any emoji to join

!broadcast command

Re-broadcast an existing breakout to more groups.

!broadcast              # Reply to announcement → send to env-configured groups
!broadcast all          # Reply to announcement → send to ALL groups
!broadcast suas, tak    # Reply to announcement → send to groups matching keywords

Late Joiner Catch-Up

When someone joins a breakout room after it has started, they receive:

Welcome to the breakout!

Topic: Security audit planning

Collaborative Notes: https://outline.example.com/doc/security-audit-abc123

Here's what you missed:
[AI-generated summary of discussion so far]

Recent decisions:
- Budget increased to $50k

Pending action items:
- @Bob: Prepare infrastructure proposal

Annotations

!decision

Record a decision made during the breakout.

!decision <decision text>

Example:

!decision We will use AES-256 encryption for all data at rest

!action / !task

Assign an action item to a participant.

!action @person <task description>
!task @person <task description>

Example:

!action @Alice Research encryption libraries by Friday

Features:

Assigns to mentioned user
Tracks completion status
Included in breakout summary
Added to Outline document on session end

!complete

Mark an action item as completed.

!complete

Usage: Reply to an action item message with !complete

Integration with Q&A

Creating Breakout from Question

Use !breakout -q <hash> to create a discussion room for a specific question:

!breakout -q ABC123

What Happens:

Breakout topic is set to the question text
Question is linked to the breakout
When breakout ends and posts to Discourse, the forum link is added to the question

Adding Users to Existing Question Breakouts

Default Behavior: When a question already has an active breakout room, using !breakout -q will add mentioned users to the existing room instead of creating a duplicate.

!breakout -q ABC123 @expert1 @expert2

This is useful for:

Bringing additional experts into an ongoing discussion
Expanding the participant pool mid-session
Avoiding duplicate rooms for the same question

Response when adding to existing:

✅ Added to existing breakout for Q#ABC123

👥 Added: Expert One, Expert Two
⏱ Time remaining: 1h 45m

The discussion for this question is already in progress.

Forcing a New Room

To create a new breakout room even when one already exists for the question, use the --new flag:

!breakout -q ABC123 --new
!breakout -q ABC123 @user --new 1h

This is useful when:

The existing discussion has concluded but the room hasn’t ended yet
You want a fresh conversation with different participants
The original discussion went off-topic

Questions in Breakouts

Questions asked in a breakout room (!ask) are automatically linked:

Questions appear in the breakout summary
Answers are tracked
Solved questions show in the final report

Workflow Example

Create Breakout:
```
!breakout Q4 Planning Session 6h
```
Outline document created and link shared

Record Decisions:

!decision Budget increased to $50k for infrastructure
!decision Launch date set for December 15th

Assign Actions:

!action @Bob Prepare infrastructure proposal
!action @Carol Create marketing timeline

Ask Questions:

!ask What's our backup plan if launch is delayed?

Extend if Needed:
```
!extend 2h
```
Mark Complete:
```
(Reply to Bob's action)
!complete
```
End & Summarize:
```
!endbreakout
```
Outline document updated with full summary

Summary Output:

Breakout Summary: Q4 Planning Session

Duration: 5 hours
Participants: 4

Collaborative Notes: https://outline.example.com/doc/q4-planning-abc123

Decisions Made:
1. Budget increased to $50k for infrastructure
2. Launch date set for December 15th

Action Items:
- Bob: Prepare infrastructure proposal
- Carol: Create marketing timeline (completed)

Questions:
- What's our backup plan if launch is delayed? (answered)

Discourse Forum Integration

When a breakout ends, an AI-enhanced summary is automatically posted to Discourse (if configured).

Summary Structure

The Discourse post includes:

TL;DR - A compelling 1-2 sentence hook
What You’ll Learn - Reader-focused value (what knowledge they’ll gain)
Discussion Summary - Narrative of what was discussed and concluded
Key Takeaways - Numbered list of important insights
Topics Covered - Main discussion topics with context
Technologies & Tools - Technical terms mentioned (code-formatted)
Shared Files - Documents shared with AI-generated summaries
Notable Quotes - Memorable quotes from participants
Decisions Made - With confidence scores
Action Items - With owners and due dates
Open Questions - Unanswered questions for follow-up
Keywords - SEO terms for searchability
Tags - Auto-generated Discourse tags

SEO & Discoverability

The AI extracts:

Keywords: Searchable terms (technologies, problems, solutions)
Technical terms: Specific tools, protocols, CVEs mentioned
Suggested tags: 3-5 category tags applied to the Discourse post

This makes breakout summaries findable when searching the forum.

File Summaries

Files shared during the breakout get structured summaries:

What This Is: Document type and purpose
Key Points: Most important findings (bulleted)
Who Should Read This: Target audience

Example Discourse Post

# 🔄 VPN Security Configuration

> **TL;DR:** Team evaluated WireGuard vs OpenVPN for travel security,
> decided on WireGuard with GLiNet routers for better performance.

## What You'll Learn
- How to configure WireGuard on GLiNet travel routers
- Key differences between WireGuard and OpenVPN for mobile use
- Security considerations for public WiFi protection

## Discussion Summary
The team discussed VPN options for secure travel connectivity...

## Technologies & Tools Mentioned
`WireGuard` · `OpenVPN` · `GLiNet` · `Tailscale` · `pfSense`

## 🔍 Keywords
VPN · travel security · WireGuard · router configuration · public WiFi

**Tags:** #security #networking #travel-tech #vpn

Best Practices

Choose Appropriate Duration: Use 30m for quick syncs, 3h (default) for discussions, 1d+ for ongoing projects
Use the Outline Document: Take collaborative notes during the session
Record Decisions: Document important decisions as they happen
Assign Owners: Every action item should have an owner
Extend Early: If you need more time, extend before warnings start
Summarize: Always end breakouts properly to capture the summary

Timer Warnings

Breakout rooms send automatic warnings before expiration:

Time Remaining	Warning
15 minutes	Consider capturing decisions. Use `!extend 1h` if needed.
5 minutes	Start wrapping up. Use `!decision` to capture final decisions.
1 minute	Please wrap up your discussion.

Environment Variables

For Outline integration:

OUTLINE_API_URL - Your Outline instance URL
OUTLINE_API_KEY - API key for document creation
OUTLINE_COLLECTION_ID - Collection to create documents in (optional)

For Discourse integration:

DISCOURSE_URL - Your Discourse forum URL
DISCOURSE_API_KEY - API key for posting
DISCOURSE_USERNAME - Username for API authentication
DISCOURSE_BREAKOUT_CATEGORY - Category ID for breakout summaries (default: falls back to DISCOURSE_QA_CATEGORY)

For broadcast groups:

BREAKOUT_BROADCAST_GROUPS - Comma-separated list of groupId:GroupName pairs

For archive behavior:

BREAKOUT_ARCHIVE_DELAY_SECONDS - Delay before removing members after session ends (default: 120 = 2 minutes). Set to 0 to disable delay.