Slack AI bot that knows your documentation
A Slack AI bot answers questions inside your workspace automatically, in channels and in direct messages. BotReply installs in one click, learns from the documentation you upload, replies when mentioned or in a support channel you nominate, and hands the conversation to a person when it should.
One-click OAuth install · No Slack app to create · Free plan available
How to add the bot to Slack
Four steps, and the first two are Slack’s own install screen.
Click Connect to Slack
From your BotReply workspace, pick Slack and click Connect. Slack shows its own permission screen — the same one you have seen installing any other Slack app.
Approve, and it is installed
There is no Slack app to create in the API dashboard, no signing secret to copy, and no bot token to paste anywhere. We operate the Slack application; your workspace's token is stored encrypted.
Upload what it should know
Add your policies, runbooks, onboarding guides, product documentation, or FAQs. The bot answers from that content rather than from a model's general knowledge of your business.
Decide where it answers
Out of the box it answers DMs and @mentions. Nominate a support channel and it answers everything posted there, so people do not have to remember to tag it.
Built for how Slack actually works
A bot that interrupts every thread gets muted in a week. These controls exist so yours does not.
Quiet until called
In channels it responds to @mentions only, so it never talks over a busy thread. DMs are always answered.
Or always-on in one channel
Point it at a #help or #support channel and every message there gets an answer without anyone needing to mention it.
Shows its working
An hourglass reaction and a typing placeholder appear straight away, then the placeholder is edited into the answer. Nobody is left staring at silence.
Formats like a Slack native
Answers convert to Slack mrkdwn so bold, links, and lists render properly, and long replies split cleanly at Slack's 4000-character limit.
Answers from your docs
Retrieval over your uploaded content means the bot quotes your actual policy or runbook step instead of improvising something plausible.
One inbox with every channel
Slack threads land in the same inbox as WhatsApp and your website, and a person can reply from the dashboard straight back into Slack.
Internal helpdesk, customer support, or both
What this looks like in practice
Someone asks how to claim expenses, for the fourth time this month. The bot answers from your handbook in seconds, and the ops team never sees the message.
An on-call engineer asks how to roll back a deploy at 2am. The bot returns the documented steps immediately instead of them scrolling through pinned messages.
A client asks about their plan limits in a shared channel. The bot answers from your product documentation and escalates to the account manager when the question turns commercial.
Building your own Slack bot vs BotReply
Slack’s API is excellent. The work is everything around it — an events endpoint that is always up, signature verification, and giving the bot something worth knowing.
| Capability | Building it yourself | With BotReply |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Create a Slack app, host an events endpoint, verify signatures | One-click install, nothing to host |
| Knows your documentation | Build your own retrieval pipeline | Upload content, indexed automatically |
| Slack-native formatting | Write your own mrkdwn conversion | Handled, including message splitting |
| Human takeover | Someone watches Slack | Shared inbox, reply from the dashboard |
| Same brain on other channels | A separate build per platform | One agent across every channel |
| Ongoing maintenance | Yours — uptime, API changes, token rotation | Managed |
Slack AI bot FAQ
Install, permissions, and where the bot answers.
How do I add an AI bot to my Slack workspace?
Click Connect to Slack in your BotReply workspace and approve the standard Slack permission screen. The bot is installed immediately — there is no Slack app to create, no signing secret to copy, and no bot token to paste. BotReply operates the Slack app and stores your workspace's token encrypted.
Where does the bot reply in Slack?
In direct messages it always replies. In channels it replies only when someone @mentions it, unless you nominate a support channel — paste that channel's ID and it answers every message posted there. This keeps it useful in a busy workspace instead of noisy.
Can my team see the bot working?
Yes. When a question arrives the bot adds an hourglass reaction and posts a typing placeholder, then edits that message into the answer once the AI responds. Nobody is left wondering whether it heard them.
Does the bot format replies properly in Slack?
Yes. Answers are converted from markdown into Slack's mrkdwn format so bold, italics, links, and lists render natively, and long answers are split across messages at Slack's 4000-character limit rather than being truncated.
Can the Slack bot answer from our internal documentation?
Yes. Upload your policies, runbooks, product docs, or FAQs to the knowledge base and the bot answers from that content. Because agents are shared across channels, the same answers are available to customers on WhatsApp or your website if you want them to be.
Is this for internal teams or for customers?
Both, and the difference is which knowledge base you connect. An internal helpdesk agent answers staff questions about policies and tooling; a customer-facing agent in a shared Slack Connect channel answers client questions. You can run separate agents for each.
Can a person take over from the bot?
Yes. Slack conversations appear in the BotReply inbox alongside every other channel, and your team can reply as a human from the dashboard — the message routes back to the Slack channel or DM it came from. Rules can also escalate automatically.
Is Slack included on the free plan?
Yes. Slack is available on every BotReply plan including the Free plan, which needs no credit card. Plans differ by monthly message volume and advanced features, not by which channels you may connect.
Stop answering the same question in Slack
Install in one click, upload your docs, and let the bot handle the questions your team answers every week. Free plan available.