---
title: "The incident responder"
description: "Mention @Firefight in an incident channel to get answers grounded in the incident's own record."
canonical: https://firefight.app/docs/ai/incident-responder/
---

# The incident responder

Every incident channel has someone answering the same questions on loop. What is the status, who is leading, what have we tried, what did that thread conclude. The incident responder takes those questions instead. Mention @Firefight in an active incident channel, ask, and it answers from the incident's record.

## Asking a question

Mention @Firefight anywhere in an active incident channel with your question, for example `@Firefight what mitigations have we tried so far?`. Firefight acknowledges with an eyes reaction, then posts the answer as a threaded reply to your message, keeping the main channel clear.

Mention it inside a thread and the behavior narrows deliberately. The responder answers from that thread's messages only, which makes it a quick way to summarize a long side discussion, such as `@Firefight summarize this thread`.

## What it draws on

Outside a thread, the responder sees the incident's full record.

| Source | Includes |
|---|---|
| Incident details | Identifier, name, summary, severity, status, who declared it, the incident lead, and key timestamps |
| Timeline | The structured events recorded on the incident, with who did what and when |
| Narrative summary | The live summary of the channel conversation, covering theories, decisions, and open questions |
| Actions and follow-ups | Each action's description, status, and assignee |

Inside a thread, it sees only that thread's messages. Channel messages have known secret formats redacted before storage, so the responder never sees them either. See [AI data handling](https://firefight.app/docs/ai/data-handling.md).

## What it will not do

The responder is deliberately narrow, and knowing its edges helps you trust its answers.

- It answers only from the incident's data. It does not browse your code, your dashboards, or the wider internet.
- It does not invent. When the incident's record does not contain an answer, it says so instead of guessing.
- It does not take actions. It cannot change status or severity, assign people, or edit the incident. Those remain `/ff` commands and dashboard actions taken by people. See the [Slack command reference](https://firefight.app/docs/incidents/slack-commands.md).
- It only works in active incident channels. Mentions elsewhere are ignored.

:::tip
For the standing "catch me up" question there is a dedicated command. `/ff catchup` produces a structured catch-up without your having to phrase a question. See [Summaries & catch-up](https://firefight.app/docs/ai/summaries-and-catchup.md).
:::