Open direct message conversations with users using bot.openDM(). For globally recognizable user IDs, the adapter is automatically inferred from the ID format.

DMs behave slightly differently from channel messages:

• Direct message handlers — if you register onDirectMessage, every incoming DM routes there before onSubscribedMessage, onNewMention, and pattern handlers. This keeps DM-centric flows like WhatsApp conversations, Telegram DMs, and web chat on one consistent handler.
• Mention fallback — if no onDirectMessage handlers are registered, DMs continue through normal routing. Unsubscribed DMs are treated as mentions, so existing onNewMention bots keep working without requiring the user to @-mention the bot.
• Per-conversation threading — Each top-level DM starts a new conversation. Thread replies within a DM continue the same conversation, giving you the same per-thread isolation as channels.

bot.onDirectMessage(async (thread, message) => {
  await thread.post(`You said: ${message.text}`);
});

The most common pattern — use the author from an incoming message:

bot.onSubscribedMessage(async (thread, message) => {
  if (message.text === "DM me") {
    const dmThread = await bot.openDM(message.author);
    await dmThread.post("Hello! This is a private message.");
  }
});

From a user ID

Pass a user ID string directly. The adapter is inferred from the ID format:

const dmThread = await bot.openDM("U1234567890"); // Slack

const threadId = await bot.getAdapter("whatsapp").openDM("15551234567");
const dmThread = bot.thread(threadId);

bot.onSubscribedMessage(async (thread, message) => {
  if (thread.isDM) {
    await thread.post("This is a private conversation.");
  }
});