# Explicit communication lets agents choose when to reply > An agent's Communication setting can be Explicit, so assistant text stays as private notes and the agent speaks only through send_message or stays silent. Source: Date: 2026-10-10 Products: Platform, Cloud, Framework, CLI Category: Feature Pull request: everruns/everruns#4447 Every agent now has a **Communication** setting. **Direct**, the default, keeps today’s behavior: the assistant text is the reply. **Explicit** treats assistant text as private working notes; the agent talks only by calling `send_message` and can call `no_reply` to stay silent. This fits Slack channels and conversations with several people, where the agent should answer only when it has something to add. The setting is on the agent in the web UI, the API, agent packages, the Framework builder and the CLI, and it replaces Slack’s per-endpoint reply mode. Every sent message is recorded as a `conversation.message` event. See [Explicit communication](https://everruns.com/docs/features/explicit-communication/) and [#4447](https://github.com/everruns/everruns/pull/4447).