Connect Slack

Connect a project's Director to Slack so your team can ask it questions there. It also posts its Daily digests, Stall alerts and Unanswered alerts in a channel you pick.

Each project uses its own Slack app, so every Director has its own name in Slack, such as "Support Director". The app connects in Socket Mode. Repile opens the connection, so you need no public URL and no signing secret.

Before you start

You need:

• A Repile workspace admin account. Only a workspace admin can set up Slack.
• Permission to create and install apps in your Slack workspace.
• A standard project. Only standard projects have a Director.

Create the Slack app

1. In Repile, open Settings, then your project under Projects.
2. Open the Slack tab.
3. Under Slack app, click Generate manifest.
4. Click Copy manifest.
5. Open api.slack.com/apps, choose Create New App, then From a manifest.
6. Pick your workspace and paste the manifest.

Get the two tokens

1. In the Slack app, open Basic Information.
2. Under App-Level Tokens, generate a token with the connections:write scope. This is the app token. It starts with xapp-.
3. Open Install App and install the app to your workspace.
4. Copy the Bot User OAuth Token. This is the bot token. It starts with xoxb-.

Invite the bot to a channel

In Slack, open the channel for digests, alerts and Director tags. Type this, with your app's name:

/invite @<app name>

Connect the app in Repile

1. Go back to the Slack tab in Repile.
2. Paste the Bot token and the App token.
3. In Allowed Slack user IDs, add the Slack user IDs that may talk to the Director. Separate them with commas or new lines. An empty list allows everyone.
4. In Channel, enter the channel ID, for example C0123456789. Once the app is connected, you can click Pick to choose from the channels the bot sees.
5. Click Save.

Saving reconnects only this project's Slack app. The status next to Connection changes to Connected.

Link members (optional)

Repile matches a Slack user to a project member by email. If a member's Slack email is different, use Members in Slack to set their Slack user ID. A Slack message from that user then counts as that member, and tags to that member use it too.

What happens after you connect

• Ask the Director. Mention the bot in a channel, reply in a thread it answered, or send it a direct message. The answer comes back in the same Slack thread.
• Thread context. Tag the bot in the middle of a thread and it reads the earlier messages, screenshots included.
• Live answers. While the Director works, the thread shows what it is doing, and the answer appears as it is written.
• Files. Ask for a build zip, a log or a CSV and the Director uploads it into your thread, up to 25 MB.
• Tags. Ask the Director to tag someone and it mentions them in Slack, even if they have no Repile account. It finds people by email, then by an exact Slack name. @channel and @here never become real mentions.
• Digests and alerts. When the project's Daily digest, Stall alerts or Unanswered alerts are on, they also post to your channel, with the right people tagged and an Open in Repile button. Alerts have a Snooze… menu.
• Approval pings. When a thread in the project waits on an approval card or a question for a minute, the Director posts a message in the channel that tags who should answer.

There is no Slack command to stop the Director. Use Stop in Repile.

Troubleshooting

• "The bot token starts with xoxb-." or "The app token starts with xapp-.": you pasted the tokens in the wrong fields, or copied the wrong token.
• The bot ignores a message: check that the sender's Slack user ID is in Allowed Slack user IDs.
• "The bot sees no channels.": invite the bot to a channel first, then click Pick again.
• Answers only appear at the end: the app was made before live answers. In OAuth & Permissions, add the assistant:write bot scope, then reinstall the app from Install App.
• The Director cannot see images: add the files:read bot scope the same way and reinstall.
• The Director cannot post files or screenshots: add the files:write bot scope the same way and reinstall.
• To remove Slack: click Disconnect. This removes the saved tokens.