ERPNext Chat with Raven
ERPNext Chat is deprecated and should not be used for new implementations. If your organization needs instant messaging, team channels, document sharing, and collaboration inside the Frappe ecosystem, use Raven instead.
Raven is a Frappe app for team messaging. It works as an open-source Slack alternative and can be installed on the same site as ERPNext and other Frappe apps. This makes it a good option for organizations that want internal communication to stay close to their business data and workflows.
Why Use Raven
Raven helps teams communicate in real time without leaving the Frappe ecosystem. Teams can create channels, send direct messages, share files, mention users, react to messages, and search conversations.
It is especially useful for organizations using ERPNext because discussion can happen around actual work: customers, sales orders, invoices, issues, projects, tasks, and other business documents.
Key Features
- Channels and direct messages: Create public or private channels for teams, departments, projects, or topics.
- Rich messaging: Send formatted messages, links, code blocks, emojis, mentions, replies, and reactions.
- File sharing: Share images, documents, PDFs, and other files directly in conversations.
- Search: Search messages, channels, files, and users.
- Mobile-friendly: Raven is designed for collaboration on desktop and mobile.
- Dark mode: Users can choose a comfortable interface for daily communication.
ERPNext And Frappe Native Features
Raven is more than a standalone chat tool. Since it is built on Frappe, it can work closely with ERPNext and other Frappe apps.
Useful ERPNext-native capabilities include:
- Share ERPNext documents in Raven conversations.
- Send messages to channels from the Desk interface.
- Link messages to documents so the discussion context is available from the document timeline.
- Trigger notifications based on document events.
- Use document previews when sharing ERPNext records.
- Perform workflow-related actions from conversations where supported.
- Keep collaboration connected to business records instead of scattered across external chat tools.
This makes Raven useful for teams that want conversations to remain connected to actual ERPNext work instead of living separately in another system.
When To Use Raven
Use Raven when your organization needs:
- Internal team messaging.
- Department or project channels.
- ERPNext-related discussions around documents and transactions.
- A Frappe-native alternative to Slack.
- A self-hostable or Frappe Cloud-hosted communication tool.
- Better context between chat, documents, and workflows.
Installation And Source Code
You can install Raven from the Frappe Cloud Marketplace:
The source code is available on GitHub: