Offices

Offices are dedicated workspaces for teams. Unlike Rooms, which are discussion spaces, Offices are full environments with their own canvas, membership, and persistent presence. Think of an Office as a virtual headquarters for your team.

What Are Offices?

An Office is a team workspace that exists separately from your personal canvas. When you create or join an Office, you get access to a shared environment where your team can:

• Organize Rooms, Sparks, and other resources on a shared canvas
• Communicate via persistent voice lobby and team chat
• Manage membership with roles and permissions
• Collaborate on projects with full context and history

Offices appear as tiles on your personal canvas, providing quick access to your team spaces.

Office Ownership and Roles

Every Office has an owner and a set of members with different roles:

Owner

The Office owner is the person who created the Office. Owners have full control:

• Manage all Office settings
• Invite and remove members
• Assign and change roles
• Delete the Office

Ownership can be transferred to another member if needed.

Admin

Admins help manage the Office:

• Invite and remove members
• Manage Office settings (name, description, etc.)
• Moderate content and behavior
• Configure channels and integrations

Admins can’t delete the Office or change the owner.

Member

Members are regular participants in the Office:

• Access the Office canvas and all resources
• Create Rooms and Sparks
• Participate in chat and voice
• Collaborate with other members

Members can’t manage settings or invite others unless promoted to admin.

Office Canvas

Each Office has its own canvas, completely separate from personal canvases. This shared canvas is where teams organize their work:

Shared Resources

The Office canvas can contain:

• Rooms for team discussions
• Sparks for ideas and requests
• Shelves for shared links and resources
• Widgets for team tools
• Any other canvas elements

All members see the same canvas and can interact with the same resources.

Spatial Organization

Teams can organize the Office canvas however they want:

• Group related Rooms together
• Create zones for different projects or workstreams
• Arrange resources by priority or status
• Use positioning to show workflows and relationships

The canvas provides a shared mental model of the team’s work.

Permissions

All Office members can:

• View all canvas elements
• Create new Rooms and Sparks
• Move and organize elements
• Participate in discussions

Admins and owners can additionally:

• Delete or archive elements
• Manage Office-wide settings
• Control who has access

Voice Lobby

Every Office includes a persistent voice lobby powered by Agora RTC. The voice lobby is an always-on audio space where team members can:

• Drop in for casual conversation
• Ask quick questions without scheduling a call
• Maintain ambient connection with remote teammates
• Collaborate spontaneously

How the Voice Lobby Works

The voice lobby is like an open office space:

1. Join the lobby whenever you want to be available
2. See who else is in the lobby
3. Talk freely without starting a formal call
4. Leave when you need to focus

There’s no “starting” or “ending” a lobby session. It’s just there, ready whenever you need it.

Presence Indicators

You can see who’s in the voice lobby at any time:

• Profile pictures of active participants
• Speaking indicators (who’s talking right now)
• Mute status

This helps you decide when to join and who you might connect with.

Voice Lobby Etiquette

Teams develop their own norms for voice lobby use:

• Some teams keep it open all day for ambient connection
• Others use it for specific collaboration hours
• Some teams use it only for quick questions

The flexibility lets each team find what works for them.

Office Chat

Offices have dedicated team chat, separate from Room chat. Office chat is for:

• Team-wide announcements
• General coordination
• Social connection
• Questions that don’t belong in a specific Room

Chat Features

Office chat includes:

• Persistent message history
• Presence indicators (who’s online)
• Typing indicators
• Message search
• File and link sharing

Chat is powered by Agora Chat SDK, providing reliable, real-time messaging.

Chat vs. Room Chat

Use Office chat for team-wide communication. Use Room chat for topic-specific discussions. This separation keeps conversations organized and easy to follow.

Inviting Members

Offices support two invitation methods:

Email Invitations

Invite people by email address:

1. Enter the email address
2. Optionally add a personal message
3. Send the invitation

The recipient receives an email with a link to join the Office. If they don’t have a Flowstate account, they’ll be prompted to create one.

Shareable Links

Generate a shareable invitation link:

1. Create a link in Office settings
2. Set an expiration date (optional)
3. Share the link via any channel

Anyone with the link can join the Office. Links can be revoked at any time.

Managing Invitations

Owners and admins can:

• View pending invitations
• Resend invitations
• Revoke invitations
• Set default role for new members

This gives teams control over who joins and how.

Office Tiles on Personal Canvas

Offices appear as tiles on your personal canvas in two forms:

Owned and Joined Offices

Offices you own or are a member of appear as standard Office tiles:

• Office name and icon
• Member count
• Activity indicators (new messages, people in voice lobby)
• Quick access to enter the Office

These tiles provide fast navigation to your team spaces.

Invited Offices

Offices you’ve been invited to but haven’t joined yet appear as “invited office” tiles:

• Office name and who invited you
• Preview of Office description
• Accept or decline buttons

This lets you review invitations before committing.

Office Settings and Configuration

Owners and admins can configure Office settings:

Basic Information

• Name: The Office’s display name
• Description: What the Office is for
• Icon: Visual identifier
• Color: For visual organization

Membership

• Member list: View all members and their roles
• Role management: Promote or demote members
• Remove members: Remove people from the Office
• Invitation settings: Configure how invitations work

Communication

• Voice lobby settings: Enable/disable, configure permissions
• Chat settings: Notification preferences, moderation rules
• Channel configuration: Organize chat into channels

Privacy

• Visibility: Who can see the Office exists
• Join settings: Invitation-only vs. request to join
• Content sharing: What can be shared outside the Office

Office Workflows

Team Onboarding

Use Offices to onboard new team members:

1. Create an Office for the team
2. Set up Rooms for key topics (projects, processes, social)
3. Add Shelves with important links and resources
4. Invite new members
5. Use Office chat to welcome and orient them

The Office becomes a central hub for team knowledge and connection.

Project Collaboration

Use Offices for long-running projects:

1. Create an Office for the project team
2. Organize the canvas by workstream or phase
3. Create Rooms for different aspects of the project
4. Use voice lobby for daily standups and quick syncs
5. Use Office chat for coordination and updates

The Office provides a persistent space that evolves with the project.

Remote Team Connection

Use Offices to maintain connection with distributed teams:

1. Create an Office for the team
2. Keep the voice lobby open during work hours
3. Use Office chat for casual conversation
4. Create Rooms for focused work discussions
5. Use the canvas to visualize team priorities

The Office recreates some of the ambient awareness of a physical office.

Content Moderation

Offices include moderation tools to maintain productive, respectful environments:

Reporting

Members can report:

• Inappropriate messages
• Problematic behavior
• Content that violates team norms

Reports are reviewed by admins and owners.

Admin Actions

Admins and owners can:

• Remove messages
• Mute disruptive members
• Remove members from the Office
• Hide or delete canvas elements

Actions are logged for transparency.

Appeals

Removed members can appeal the decision. Appeals are reviewed by the owner, who can reinstate the member if appropriate.

Best Practices

Start Small

Don’t create an Office for every project. Start with Offices for core teams or major initiatives. You can always create more later.

Define Roles Clearly

Make sure members understand what each role can do. Document expectations in the Office description or a pinned message.

Use the Canvas Intentionally

Don’t just dump everything on the Office canvas. Organize it thoughtfully, grouping related resources and creating clear zones.

Keep the Voice Lobby Optional

Don’t require people to be in the voice lobby. Let it be a space people choose to join when it’s helpful.

Moderate Proactively

Address issues early. Set clear norms, communicate expectations, and use moderation tools when needed.

Archive Completed Offices

When a project ends or a team disbands, archive the Office. Archived Offices are hidden but remain accessible for reference.

Technical Details

Data Model

Each Office includes:

• Unique identifier
• Name, description, icon, color
• Owner user ID
• Member list with roles
• Canvas state (separate from personal canvas)
• Voice lobby configuration
• Chat settings
• Timestamps (created, updated)

Canvas Isolation

Office canvases are completely separate from personal canvases:

• Different canvas state
• Different element collections
• Different positioning and organization

This isolation ensures Office work doesn’t clutter personal spaces.

Real-Time Features

Offices use Agora SDKs for real-time communication:

• Agora RTC SDK: Voice lobby with spatial audio
• Agora Chat SDK: Office chat with presence

These SDKs provide low-latency, high-quality communication.

Storage

Office data is stored in MongoDB:

• Office metadata and settings
• Member list and roles
• Canvas state

Chat messages and voice lobby metadata are stored in Agora cloud storage.

Integration with Other Features

Offices integrate with other Flowstate features:

Rooms

Offices can contain Rooms on their canvas. These Rooms are Office-specific and separate from personal canvas Rooms.

Sparks

Sparks created in Office Rooms belong to the Office. All members can see and interact with them.

Widgets

Widgets can be added to the Office canvas, providing shared tools for the team.

Passport

Office members can view each other’s Passports, making it easy to understand team skills and experience.

Future Enhancements

Planned improvements to Offices include:

• Custom roles with granular permissions
• Office templates for common team structures
• Integration with external tools (Slack, Teams, etc.)
• Advanced analytics on Office activity
• Nested Offices for large organizations
• Office-wide search across all content

Offices provide the structure and space teams need to collaborate effectively. By combining a shared canvas, persistent communication, and clear membership, they create virtual headquarters that feel as real as physical ones.