Connecting a Custom Agent to Slack

this guide walks through setting up a custom charthop agent in slack these steps apply to any custom charthop agent note while charthop's official slack app store listing is pending approval, this is also the way to set up the charthop agent in the meantime step 1 create a custom app in slack the custom slack app acts as the conduit between slack and your custom charthop agent passing messages back and forth so users can interact with the agent directly in slack api slack com/apps go to the slack api site navigate to api slack com/apps http //api slack com/apps and sign in to the workspace where you want the agent to live create new app click create new app when prompted for a setup method, choose from scratch (you'll apply the manifest in the next step), or from an app manifest if you prefer to paste the manifest immediately name the app and select a workspace give the app a name matching your agent and pick the target workspace confirm creation once created, you'll land on the app's basic information page, where the app id , client id , client secret , and signing secret are available for later steps step 2 upload a slack app manifest obtain a manifest template use an existing app manifest as a baseline to ensure all boilerplate settings remain consistent you can use this manifest file https //drive google com/file/d/1p98qqtgg7dk1pe1mdxwfj7lxpq2lsssb/view?usp=sharing as your starting point update the key fields at the top of the json file, replace the name, short description, and hex color with the values for your specific agent use the same display name and short description as the charthop agent paste into slack in the slack web view, navigate to app manifest in the lower left menu and paste your customized document to replace the existing settings step 3 configure charthop settings link identifiers copy the slack app id , slack client id , client secret , and signing secret from the basic information section in your slack app settings, and paste them into the charthop agent edit form under slack app configuration (toward the bottom) add them one at a time, since each value must be copied and pasted individually connect the app go to the messaging tab in the agent side menu and select connect slack app step 4 enable direct messaging configure app home in the slack app configuration, go to app home allow messages check the box labeled allow users to send slash commands and messages from the messages tab and save the changes install the app perform an app install by navigating the app install menu item in slack and clicking install and choose your slack location step 5 verify event subscriptions and user matching check event subscriptions if the agent does not respond, go to event subscriptions in the slack app configuration if there is a failure message, click retry and then save sync user ids ensure the user's slack account is matched to their charthop profile by running a slack sync in the charthop apps menu for the sync to work, the user must have their work email in slack associated with a person record in the charthop org, and the email must match having a charthop user account with permissions is not enough — the user must be part of the org if the sync fails or connects to the wrong instance, uninstall and reinstall the slack app before running the sync again test the agent attempt to direct message (dm) the agent in slack if it still does not respond immediately, wait a few minutes for the person contact cache to update ai agents is an alpha feature available to ai pro users and is subject to change