Slack App

A Slack app is an integration built on the Slack platform that extends workspace functionality through bots, interactive messages, slash commands, and event-driven workflows. Slack apps connect to the Slack API using OAuth tokens and can listen for events via webhooks or socket connections.

Why It Matters

Slack is the default communication hub for millions of professional teams. Deploying an AI assistant as a Slack app means it becomes a native part of the team's workflow. Developers can ask coding questions, managers can request summaries, and anyone can leverage AI capabilities without leaving the tool they already use all day. The assistant lives where the work happens, reducing context switching and increasing adoption.

How It Works

Slack apps are created through the Slack API portal at api.slack.com. The setup involves defining bot scopes (permissions like chat:write, app_mentions:read, and channels:history), configuring event subscriptions, and installing the app to a workspace. Slack issues a Bot User OAuth Token that your AI gateway uses for all API interactions.

Slack delivers events to your application through two mechanisms: the Events API, which sends HTTP POST requests to a webhook URL, and Socket Mode, which uses a WebSocket connection that does not require a public URL. The Events API is preferred for production deployments because it scales more reliably and integrates naturally with reverse proxy architectures.

In Practice

When configuring a Slack app for your AI assistant, you typically provide the bot token and signing secret. The signing secret is used to verify that incoming requests genuinely originate from Slack. The gateway processes incoming messages, sends them through the AI model, and posts responses back to the appropriate channel or thread using the bot token.