🚀 Getting started

Every teachChat class follows the same rhythm: sign in, create a class, connect Drive, share the code, approve students, and start a session. Here is the whole path from zero to your first live chat.

Go to teachchat.app and choose Sign in with Google on the teacher card. Teacher accounts are for adults, and teachChat is offered to U.S. schools only.

The first time in, a box asks you to read and accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. It will not let you past until you do, and teachChat records which version you accepted. Worth two minutes: it is also where you confirm your school has approved teachChat before you invite students.

Then your dashboard opens with two cards: Your classes and Start a new class.

2. Create a class

Type a class name (something like "Period 3, Biology") and press Create class. You land straight in that class's teacher console. Every class gets its own join code, shown in the console header and beside the class on your dashboard.

The console has three tabs along the top. Live is where you run class: the chat, your students, and the buttons you use mid-lesson. Setup holds every setting, and changes apply right away, even mid-class. Records is for after class: grades, exports, and the privacy logs. On a narrow screen, Chat and Students become two tabs inside Live. The Help link at the top opens this guide.

Not ready for real students? The dashboard also has Try a practice class: it builds a class of made-up students in the subject you pick, who answer on their own, and a short guided tour walks you through the real controls one by one. Practice classes never use your free class slot.

3. Connect Google Drive

Use Connect Google Drive in the Get ready for class checklist (open it from the small chip near the top of the console that reads Getting started and a count like 0/3) and authorize your teacher account. Drive is required for student joins: names save to an app-created roster in your Drive automatically before you approve each student. Uploading a roster is optional. teachChat can access files it creates or you explicitly select, not the rest of your Drive.

If you cancel authorization, return to the console and use Connect Google Drive again. If your school blocks consent, ask your administrator to allow it before inviting students. Disconnecting Drive pauses student joins until you reconnect; your existing Drive files stay yours.

4. Put the join code on the projector

Press the Join code button at the top of the console. A small window opens showing only the join code, safe to full-screen on the projector: no chat, no roster, nothing else. (Before class starts, Show join code in the Before class card does the same thing.)

5. Students join from their devices

Students open teachchat.app on a laptop, Chromebook, or any device and use the I'm a student card:

Join code: the code on your screen.
First name and last initial: two separate boxes, letters only. There is nowhere to type a full last name, and classmates never see it: only you do.
A screenname: the name the class sees.
A 4-digit PIN: their key back in.

The PIN lets a student sign back in from any device: day two is the Coming back tab (code, screenname, PIN), and a device they've already used offers one-tap rejoin. More student-side detail lives on For students.

6. Approve new joiners

Every student who signs up with the join code waits in the Waiting to join list inside Needs you, the box above the chat on the Live tab, always, and no setting turns that off. (Students you added yourself with a roster import are the exception: you vetted them when you built the sheet, so they sign in straight to the chat.) Each row shows the student's first name plus the screenname they picked, so you can check the handle before letting anyone in. Press Accept to let them into the chat, or Decline to reject them and free the screenname for another try. The full walkthrough is on Join approval.

7. Start the session

Press Start session on the Live tab. Until you do, the status line reads Not started yet, and points and roster carry over between sessions, so nothing is lost between periods. Once the room is live, it reads Class is live, messages arrive in the feed in real time, and your own messages stand out from the students'.

When class is over, press End session. teachChat asks you to rate the day, shows suggested participation grades for you to review, then lets you save or download the session record. Past sessions wait on the Records tab.

Want the chat floating over your slides on the big screen? The Projector view button opens it in a new tab; see Projector overlay for the full guide.

Empty roster on day one? Put the join code on the screen. The room fills itself from there.

If the code leaks

Join codes end up in hallway photos and group chats. When that happens, open the Setup tab, find Joining, and press Get a new code: it retires the old code and mints a fresh one, with your roster and every student PIN untouched. Students already on the roster keep their screennames, PINs, and points. The presenter overlay is authorized separately through your signed-in teacher console.

Need a pause instead of a new code? Stop new joins (in Setup under Joining, or in the More menu on the Live tab) blocks new signups with the join code while rejoining students come and go freely.

Where to next

The console has more waiting when you want it: the auto-filter and discipline tools (Moderation), points and Hype Houses (Points and houses), and polls, the class study guide, and vibe checks (Polls, notes, vibe). None of it is required for day one: sign in, create, connect Drive, share the code, approve students, start the session, and watch the chat arrive. 🌱