Connecting Slack
In Workspace settings, open the AI page, choose Slack under Integrations, and complete the install.If your Slack workspace requires admin approval for new apps, a regular member can request the install but an admin has to approve it. Worth starting early, as it’s often the longest step.
What Conversion asks for
The Slack app needs to read conversations to answer questions in them, and to post replies. Specifically it requests access to read messages and history in public channels, private channels it’s been added to, DMs, and group DMs; to see reactions, mentions, and files; and to post messages and reactions. The agent only sees private channels it has actually been invited to. Adding it to a private channel is how you give it access; removing it takes that access away.One Slack agent per workspace
Connecting Slack gives you one Slack agent, and one is the maximum. A reply in a Slack thread is just a message that doesn’t name the agent it’s for, so each thread has a single owner that handles every reply in it. Your other agents can post into Slack (see below). Slack messages don’t wake them.Choosing when it responds
Choose the event that should wake the agent. Channel events also let you select channels; reactions require an emoji.
Channel triggers let you choose where the agent responds. Direct message covers one-to-one DMs and has no channel selection. Removing it stops responses in existing DMs too. Adding it again lets new messages continue the saved conversation.
The choice that matters most is Mention vs. Message:
- Mention makes the agent opt-in. It only speaks when asked. Safe default for a busy channel.
- Message makes it an active participant in that channel, responding to everything. Good for a dedicated channel like
#ask-marketing-ops, noisy anywhere else.
How threads work
The agent replies in the thread, and that thread becomes an ongoing conversation. Follow-up messages there continue the same session, so it remembers the earlier part of the discussion, with no need to re-explain. In channels, each thread is its own conversation. In a one-to-one DM, all messages to the Slack agent share one conversation.Custom agents in Slack
A custom agent (one triggered by Linear, a schedule, or a webhook) can post into Slack even though Slack can’t wake it. That’s how a scheduled agent delivers a weekly report to a channel, or a Linear agent announces that it finished. Their messages are prefixed with the agent’s name, so a channel with several agents stays readable. When a custom agent starts a thread, replies in that thread come back to it, including custom-agent threads inside a DM. If it posts into a thread that already belongs to another agent, the thread’s replies begin routing to the one that posted most recently.Things to know
The agent can’t see private channels it hasn’t been added to
Add it to any private channel you want it working in.It won’t reply to itself
The agent’s own messages don’t wake it up, so there’s no risk of a loop.Pausing stops new turns in every conversation
Pause stops new messages and reactions from waking the agent, including in existing threads and DMs. It preserves conversation history. After Activate, new messages continue the same session; messages received while paused are not replayed. Pausing does not cancel work already running. Editing or deleting a channel trigger still only affects how new conversations start. A Direct message trigger must remain present for the Slack agent to continue a DM. See Triggers.Related
Agents overview
What an agent is and what you configure on it.
Triggers
All four trigger types and how scoping works.