Comments

Comments let you discuss work directly on items. Every item has a comment thread where team members can share updates, ask questions, and provide feedback.

Adding a Comment

1. Open an item by clicking on it to open the Item Detail Panel.
2. Scroll to the Comments section at the bottom of the detail panel.
3. Click the rich text editor area and type your comment.
4. Press Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter or click Send to post.

Comments appear in chronological order (oldest first), with the newest comment at the bottom of the thread.

Rich Text Formatting

The comment editor uses Tiptap for rich text editing and supports the following formatting options:

• Bold — Ctrl+B / Cmd+B or wrap text in **double asterisks**
• Italic — Ctrl+I / Cmd+I or wrap text in *single asterisks*
• Code — use backticks for inline code or triple backticks for code blocks
• Lists — bulleted and numbered lists
• Links — paste a URL or use [text](url) syntax
• Images — drag and drop or paste images directly into the editor
• File attachments — attach files by dragging them into the comment area

Comment content is stored as Tiptap JSON (JSONB in the database), which preserves all formatting and embedded content.

Comment Display

Each comment in the thread shows:

• Author avatar and name — fetched from the user profile, with a fallback avatar showing initials.
• Relative timestamp — e.g., "2 hours ago", with the full date and time available on hover.
• Formatted content — rendered from the stored Tiptap JSON using the RichTextRenderer component.

Mentioning People

Type @ followed by a person's name to mention them in a comment. Mentioned users receive a notification. See the Mentions page for more details.

Editing and Deleting Comments

• Edit — hover over your comment and click the pencil icon. The comment body switches back to the Tiptap editor for inline editing. Press Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter or click Save to confirm. Edited comments show an "(edited)" label.
• Delete — hover over your comment and click the trash icon. A confirmation dialog appears before the comment is permanently removed.

You can only edit or delete your own comments. Organization admins can delete any comment.

Deleted comments cannot be recovered

Unlike items (which go to a 30-day trash), deleted comments are permanently removed immediately. Double-check before confirming deletion.

Authorization Rules

• Any organization member can create comments on items within their organization.
• Only the comment author can update their own comments.
• Only the comment author (or an organization admin) can delete comments.
• Comments are scoped to the organization via the parent item's organizationId — cross-tenant comment access is impossible.

Notifications and Integrations

When a comment is created, the system:

1. Sends an in-app notification to the item's creator, assignees, and previously mentioned users.
2. Fires a webhook event (comment.created) if webhooks are configured.
3. Dispatches integration events to connected external services (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams).

Reactions

React to comments with emoji reactions:

1. Hover over a comment.
2. Click the smiley face icon.
3. Select an emoji from the picker.

Reactions are displayed below the comment with a count of how many people reacted with each emoji.

Email Notifications

When someone comments on an item you are subscribed to (as creator, assignee, or mentioned user), you receive an email notification. You can reply directly to the email to add a comment without opening ProBeya.

Email notifications for comments include:

• The commenter's name and avatar.
• A preview of the comment content (plain text rendering of the rich text).
• A direct link to the item's detail panel.
• A reply-to address for adding a response via email.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Comment not appearing after posting	Check your network connection. The comment is saved via a tRPC mutation and requires connectivity.
Cannot edit or delete a comment	You can only modify your own comments. If you need another user's comment removed, ask an organization admin.
Rich text formatting not rendering	Ensure you are viewing the comment in the item detail panel. Plain-text views (e.g., email notifications) may strip formatting.

Comment Ordering and Performance

Comments are fetched from the database ordered by creation time ascending (oldest first), so the conversation reads naturally from top to bottom. The comments list uses the comments.list tRPC procedure, which performs a join with the users table to retrieve author information (name, email, avatar) for each comment.

For items with many comments, the list is loaded in full (no pagination). Performance remains good for typical conversation lengths (under 100 comments per item).

Comment Count

The item card in Board view and the item row in Table view can display a comment count badge showing how many comments exist on the item. This helps you identify items with active discussions without opening the detail panel.

Optimistic Creates

When you post a comment, it appears immediately in the thread (optimistic update) while the server save happens in the background. If the server save fails, the comment is removed and an error toast is shown. This provides a responsive experience even on slower connections.

File Attachments in Comments

You can attach files directly within comments by dragging files into the comment editor. Supported file types include images (PNG, JPG, GIF), documents (PDF, DOCX), and general files. Attached files are uploaded to your organization's S3 storage and displayed as inline previews (for images) or download links (for other file types).

Best Practices

• Keep comments focused — each comment should address a single topic. For complex discussions, consider creating sub-items.
• Use formatting — bold, lists, and code blocks make comments easier to scan, especially for status updates and technical discussions.
• @mention when needed — tag specific people when you need their input rather than relying on them checking the item.
• Attach files inline — drag images or documents directly into the comment editor rather than uploading them separately.

Next Steps

• Mentions — learn how to tag teammates in comments and descriptions.
• Activity Feed — view the full history of changes on an item.
• Notifications — configure how you receive comment notifications.