Work with AI agents in Slack

Slack lets you team up with agents so you can get work done faster solo or with your team. You can find available apps with AI agents or assistants in the 
  Agents & tools tab, a newly improved agent landing page. Once an app with an agent is installed, anyone with access to the app can start a conversation.

What you need to know

• Start conversations with agents the same way you would with another teammate. You can add agents to channels, or DM with them one-on-one to answer quick questions. 
• Use the   Agents & tools tab to discover the agents available to you, pick up sessions where you left off, and check in on the status of multiplayer AI conversations. All your agent sessions appear in the tab sidebar (including those with Slackbot).
• Apps with agents can be built by third-party developers or by developers in your organization. Custom Agentforce agents can also be created in Salesforce and added to Slack. Agents and their output are subject to Slack’s Acceptable Use Policy.

Note: Because agents use AI, they can be wrong. Use human judgement when appropriate. 

Browse and install available agents

By default, members can install apps with agents, but owners and admins can enable app approval for their workspace or Enterprise organization to review apps before they’re installed. In all cases, guests can't use AI apps or agents. 

1. From your desktop, click   Agents & tools in the sidebar. If you don't see this option, click   More to find it.
2. Browse agents you already have access to in your workspace under Popular agents and Installed agents. 
3. To install new agents for your workspace, click AgentExchange and search for an app.
4. Click the app you want to add. You’ll be taken to the Slack Marketplace.
5. Click Add to Slack.
6. Click Allow. (If you need to request permission, add a message for your Slack admin, then click Submit Request.)

Note: Apps installed from the Slack Marketplace follow our policies and guidelines. You can review any app’s privacy policy and security and compliance information from the listing page in the Marketplace.

Start a conversation with an agent

To begin interacting one-on-one with an AI agent like Slackbot, you can open a conversation in your main Slack view or open a session in split view to do work alongside the agent. 

Open in primary view

Open in split view

1. From your desktop, click   Agents & tools in the sidebar. If you don't see this option, click   More to find it.
2. Click   Apps, then search for and select an app.
3. Click   New Chat in the top-right corner, or click the   Chat tab to resume a conversation.
4. To view your chat history, click the   History tab.

1. From your desktop, click   Add agent in the top-right corner of Slack. If there are multiple agents available, click   More agents to choose the one you want.
2. Select a prompt if available, or send a message to get started.
3. To view your message history, click the   clock icon.

Work with agents in channels

You can add an AI agent or app to a channel to ask it questions or include it in discussions with your team. Interactions can be public for all channel members to view or private so only you can see them. Once added, you can mention the agent in any message in that channel to start chatting.

Add an agent or app to a channel

Third-party agents

Agentforce agents

1. From   Home on desktop, select a channel in your sidebar to open it.
2. Click the channel name in the header.
3. Click the Agents & apps tab.
4. If there are no other apps or agents in the channel, click the Add Agent or App button. Otherwise, click the Add more link.
5. Click Add next to the apps and agents you want to add, then click the   close button.
6. Click the   close button on the channel details.
7. In the channel message composer, type @ followed by the app or agent’s name. If you’d like, add a message.
8. Click   Send to start chatting.

1. From   Home on desktop, select a channel in your sidebar to open it.
2. Click the channel name in the header.
3. Click the Agents & apps tab.
4. If there are no other apps or agents in the channel, click the Add Agentforce Agent button. Otherwise, click the Add agent link.
5. Type the name of the agent you want to interact with, then click Add.
6. Click the   close button on the channel details.
7. In the channel message composer, type @ followed by the app or agent’s name. If you’d like, add a message.
8. Click   Send to start chatting.

Remove an agent or app from a channel

1. From   Home on desktop, select a channel in your sidebar to open it.
2. Click the channel name in the header.
3. Click the Agents & Apps tab.
4. Open the   More menu next to the agent or app’s name. 
5. Select Remove from this channel. 

Tip: You can also quickly remove an agent from a channel by clicking on the   More actions button on any agent message and click Remove this agent from [#channel-name].

Start a code channel

Code channels are dedicated, temporary spaces to work on a project with an AI agent alongside your teammates. Keep track of multiple code channels at once by monitoring them in the   Code channels section of the   Agents & tools tab. You’ll be able to see the status of each code channel so you know whether the agent is working or whether it needs your attention. 

Desktop

mobile

1. From your desktop, click   Agents & tools in the sidebar. If you don't see this option, click   More to find it.
2. Click   Code channels.
3. Click   New.
4. Select an agent from the dropdown, choose a workspace if you're on an Enterprise plan, and select your code channel visibility: Public or Private.
5. In the Prompt field, describe the task you’d like the agent to help with, then click Create.

1. Navigate to a channel with a supported agent or add the agent to a channel.
2. Mention the agent and describe what you want created or coded.
3. Once the agent starts a session, tap the link to the code channel in the message.

Manage agent display

Owners and admins can hide or show agents for everyone in their workspace or org. Members can set a preference to determine whether they see agents and assistants at the top of Slack, and decide which ones are visible. 

Set your preference

1. From your desktop, click your profile picture in the sidebar.
   
2. Select Preferences from the menu, then click Navigation.
3. Below App agents & assistants, check or uncheck the box next to Show AI Agents in top bar. 

Choose agents

1. From your desktop, click   More agents at the top of Slack. 
2. Click   Manage. 
3. Check or uncheck the box next to an agent to show or hide it.

Tip: Once an agent responds in a channel or DM thread, it may give that thread a name to easily distinguish it from other threads. Once a thread has a name, you can edit it by clicking the edit icon and edit the name.

App security

Apps you add to Slack that include AI capabilities use the AI functionality specific to the third-party service.

• Apps with AI agents or assistants are built with specific scopes and API methods. Before installing an app, it’s important to consider its scopes to understand the actions the app can take, the data the app can access, and what it can do with that data. Owners and admins can enable app approval (for a workspace) or set an app management policy (for an Enterprise organization) to ensure that apps are reviewed before members can install them.
• The data that an AI app in Slack can access depends on its scopes. By default, an app will have access to the data in your messages with the app. To grant it access to data in your channels or direct messages, you can add the app to any conversation.
• In accordance with the Slack app guidelines, no customer data is used or retained to train third-party LLMs. Instead, we use a technique called Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) that sends the data necessary for each task to an LLM at the time of inference — no training required. Because this data is sent in the context of a single request, the LLM does not retain any of the data.
• All apps available in the Slack Marketplace are reviewed by our team against our submission guidelines and must adhere to a zero copy and zero LLM training policy.

Who can use this feature?

• All members
• Available on all plans