Documentation
Advanced Features/Team Collaboration

Team Collaboration

ThinkCode's team collaboration features are designed to enhance how development teams work together, share knowledge, and maintain productivity. This guide explains how to leverage these capabilities to improve your team's collaborative development experience.

Understanding Team Collaboration in ThinkCode

ThinkCode enables teams to collaborate more effectively through:

  • Real-time code collaboration with AI assistance
  • Shared knowledge and context across team members
  • Standardized development practices
  • Streamlined code reviews and knowledge transfer

Key Benefits

  • Reduced communication overhead: Team members can share context and solutions directly within the development environment
  • Consistent development practices: Ensure all team members follow the same standards and patterns
  • Knowledge preservation: Capture insights and decisions in a shareable format
  • Accelerated problem-solving: Leverage collective team knowledge to solve complex issues faster

Setting Up Team Workspaces

Creating a Team Workspace

  1. Navigate to Settings → Team Management in ThinkCode
  2. Click Create New Workspace
  3. Configure the workspace settings:
    • Workspace name and description
    • Team members and their roles
    • Repository connections
    • Knowledge sharing preferences

Configuring Workspace Permissions

Set up appropriate access levels for team members:

{
  "workspacePermissions": {
    "administrators": [
      "lead-developer@example.com",
      "tech-lead@example.com"
    ],
    "contributors": [
      "developer1@example.com",
      "developer2@example.com"
    ],
    "viewers": [
      "product-manager@example.com",
      "designer@example.com"
    ]
  },
  "featureAccess": {
    "codeGeneration": ["administrators", "contributors"],
    "codeReview": ["administrators", "contributors", "viewers"],
    "knowledgeBase": ["administrators", "contributors", "viewers"],
    "aiCustomization": ["administrators"]
  }
}

Connecting Team Resources

Link your team's resources for better integration:

  1. Go to Workspace Settings → Integrations
  2. Connect version control systems (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)
  3. Link knowledge repositories (Confluence, Notion)
  4. Set up communication tool integrations (Slack, Microsoft Teams)
  5. Connect CI/CD pipelines

Collaborative Development Features

Shared AI Context

Enable AI to maintain context across team members:

  1. Open Team Settings → AI Configuration
  2. Enable Shared AI Context
  3. Configure context sharing scope:
    • Project-wide
    • Repository-specific
    • Feature-specific
  4. Set context retention policies

Live Collaboration Sessions

Work together in real-time with AI assistance:

  1. Click the Collaboration icon in the editor
  2. Select Start Live Session
  3. Invite team members via email or username
  4. Set session permissions (view-only, edit, full access)
  5. Enable or disable AI participation in the session

During a live session:

  • All participants see real-time code changes
  • AI suggestions are visible to everyone
  • Conversations and decisions are captured
  • Code explanations are shared with all participants

Code Review Collaboration

Streamline code reviews with collaborative AI:

  1. From a pull request, click AI-Assisted Review
  2. Invite reviewers to the collaborative session
  3. Use the shared AI to analyze code changes
  4. Capture explanations and rationales
  5. Document decisions directly in the review

Knowledge Sharing Features

Share insights and solutions across the team:

  • Solution Sharing: Save and share AI-generated solutions
  • Pattern Library: Build a team library of approved patterns
  • Decision Records: Document and share architectural decisions
  • Code Explanations: Generate and share detailed code explanations

Team Knowledge Management

Shared Knowledge Base

Configure a team-wide knowledge repository:

  1. Go to Knowledge Management → Team Knowledge
  2. Set up knowledge categories relevant to your team
  3. Configure access permissions
  4. Set knowledge validation workflows
  5. Enable automatic knowledge capture from team interactions

Knowledge Contribution Workflows

Establish processes for knowledge contributions:

  1. Individual discoveries
  2. Peer review of knowledge
  3. Knowledge validation by experts
  4. Publication to team knowledge base
  5. Notification of relevant team members

Knowledge Metrics and Analytics

Track how knowledge is shared and utilized:

  • Most referenced knowledge items
  • Knowledge contribution by team members
  • Knowledge gaps and opportunities
  • Impact of knowledge on development speed

Communication Features

Contextual Discussions

Have discussions directly in the code context:

  1. Highlight code and click Start Discussion
  2. Tag relevant team members
  3. Reference requirements or documentation
  4. Include AI in the conversation for additional insights
  5. Save important points to the knowledge base

Asynchronous Collaboration

Work effectively across different time zones:

  • Recorded coding sessions with AI commentary
  • AI-generated summaries of changes
  • Automated status updates
  • Detailed context preservation for handoffs

Notification and Awareness

Stay informed about relevant team activities:

  1. Configure Team Notifications settings
  2. Set up alerts for:
    • Changes to critical code areas
    • Knowledge base updates
    • Solution sharing
    • Requests for assistance
  3. Integrate with external notification systems

Best Practices for Team Collaboration

Establishing Communication Protocols

  • Document preferred communication channels
  • Set expectations for response times
  • Define escalation paths
  • Establish meeting and synchronization cadence

Knowledge Sharing Standards

Create standards for effective knowledge sharing:

  • Required metadata for knowledge items
  • Quality criteria for shared solutions
  • Review process for team patterns
  • Regular knowledge base maintenance

Onboarding New Team Members

Use collaboration features to accelerate onboarding:

  1. Create onboarding knowledge collections
  2. Assign an AI-assisted mentor
  3. Schedule collaborative code walkthroughs
  4. Set up progressive permission levels
  5. Track onboarding progress with knowledge checkpoints

Troubleshooting

Common Issues and Solutions

IssueSolution
Context not properly sharedCheck permission settings and context scope
Knowledge duplicationUse the knowledge deduplication tool
Collaboration session lagReduce participants or scope of session
Notification overloadAdjust notification filters and priorities

Support Resources

  • Use /team-help command for team-specific assistance
  • Reference the collaboration troubleshooting guide
  • Contact ThinkCode support with team workspace ID
  • Schedule a team collaboration consultation

Conclusion

ThinkCode's team collaboration features transform how development teams work together by combining the power of AI with purpose-built collaboration tools. By properly configuring these capabilities and integrating them into your team's workflow, you can significantly improve communication efficiency, knowledge sharing, and overall development productivity.