> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://chattree.co/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Announcements

> Post your own message to a group through Chattree.

An announcement is you speaking to your own group. Chattree writes nothing and decides nothing — it
posts your words, once you have read them back and said yes.

Use it for the things a group actually needs told: the venue moved, the meeting is off, fees are due
Friday.

## Sending one

Message Chattree directly. You do not need the dashboard.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find the group's number">
    Reply **4** for **My Groups**. Each group is listed with a number.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start the announcement">
    Reply **`announce 1`** — using that group's number. Chattree asks what you want to say.

    Replying just **`announce`** lists your groups instead of failing.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write it">
    Send the message exactly as you want it to appear. Your words are what get posted.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read it back and confirm">
    Chattree shows you the message and waits. Reply **yes** to post it, or **no** to drop it.

    Anything that is not a clear yes or no gets the question again — a message to a group cannot be
    taken back, so Chattree will not guess.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Nothing is posted on the message that composed it. There is always a confirmation.
</Note>

## The limits, and why they exist

Chattree's number is shared with other groups. WhatsApp's spam enforcement looks at a number's
behaviour, not at whether each message was permitted — so a number that posts constantly puts every
group on it at risk, not just yours.

Every announcement is checked against:

| Limit                       | What it means                                                                                                                    |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Three a week, per group** | Your group hears at most three announcements in seven days.                                                                      |
| **Quiet hours**             | Nothing is posted overnight in the group's own local time — 22:00 to 07:00 by default, changeable on the group's dashboard page. |
| **The number's allowance**  | A daily and weekly ceiling across every group the number serves, and a minimum gap between posts.                                |

If one of these stops your announcement, Chattree tells you which and nothing is sent. Hitting the
weekly limit is not an error — it is the limit doing its job, and you can send it in a few days.
Quiet hours and a busy number are delays: try again later and it will go out.

## What is kept

Chattree keeps what was posted to each group and when, including the drafts you decided against.
That is what makes "three a week" something you can check rather than something you have to trust.

## Dates, which are not announcements

If the thing you want to say is *a date is coming up*, you do not need to announce it repeatedly.
Tell Chattree once:

```
date 1
The wedding, 14 March
```

Chattree then mentions it in the weekly roundup and again as it gets closer — a month out, then a
fortnight, a week, three days, and the day before. Each of those happens once. A wedding group has
one date; a school group has a term's worth.