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Start an Agent from a Slack Thread

Mention @ellipsis in a channel or DM the bot, and an agent picks the conversation up as its prompt and answers in the thread. Configure your responder for the channels and DMs you choose, and let any session post its results back to Slack.

01

Ask in the channel, get the work back there

A mention starts a durable conversation in that thread, and replies continue it without mentioning again. The question, the answer, and the pull request it turned into all sit in the same place your team was already discussing it.

#platformone thread, one conversation
priya@ellipsis why does the retry queue drain so slowly on Mondays?
ellipsis👀
ellipsisThe backoff is per-tenant, so the weekend backlog serializes. Details and the two options in the thread.
priyatake the second one and open a PR
ellipsisOpened api-repo #491. Tests pass.
Replies continue it, no repeat mention needed

A mention, a thread, and the PR it produced

02

Configure your Slack responder

One slack.yaml in your .ellipsis repository defines your responder, with its repositories, model, prompt, permissions, and budget. Choose the channels and DM authors it answers; other conversations use the built-in responder.

.ellipsis/slack.yamlreplaces the built-in responder
ellipsis:  kind: slack  name: supportslack:  channels: [' #support']session:  harness:    type: codex  instructions: Answer from the code and cite relevant files.  environment:    repositories:      - name: api-repo
Your prompt, your repositories, your model, your budget

One file defines your Slack responder

03

Every agent can post back to Slack

Slack is an output, not only an input. Any session on a connected workspace can read a channel for context and post its result where the team reads, so a nightly job's findings arrive as a message on Monday morning instead of sitting in a log.

Slack tools in the session8 tools
slack_post_messagePost into a channel
slack_reply_to_threadAnswer in the thread it started
slack_get_channel_historyRead a channel for context
slack_get_thread_repliesRead the whole thread
slack_add_reactionAcknowledge a message
slack_list_channelsFind where to post
slack_get_usersResolve who is who
slack_get_user_profileLook up one person
Any agent can deliver its result where the team reads

Slack tools available in every session

Frequently asked questions

Works with the tools you already use