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KEIKI

Slack agents

Setup guide

How to connect an AI agent to Slack

Pick the agent in Keiki, open the Slack setup it generates, and create the Slack app from that manifest in your workspace. Install it, paste the bot token and signing secret back into Keiki, then invite the bot to a channel and make that channel its home. The agent answers where it is mentioned from that point on.

Takes about 20 minutesUpdated

Before you start

What you need before you start.

  • A Keiki account, which is free to create
  • Permission to create and install an app in your Slack workspace
  • The bot token (xoxb-…) and signing secret Slack shows after installing
  • A channel to invite the bot to and make its home, so it starts in one place instead of everywhere
  • Client ID and secret only if you plan to distribute the app to other workspaces

Step by step

Six steps from an empty channel to an agent that answers.

  1. Step 1

    Create a Keiki account

    Sign up at onkeiki.com. Slack costs nothing to connect: no phone number, no per-message fee from the channel itself.

  2. Step 2

    Start from a template instead of a blank agent

    Open the Company Brain template. It arrives able to answer from the docs your team already wrote, say when it does not know, and stay out of threads it was not asked into.

  3. Step 3

    Let Keiki generate the Slack app

    On the Channels page, add a Slack app and pick the agent. Keiki builds an app manifest with exactly the scopes and event subscriptions the agent needs and opens Slack with it, so you are not hand-checking a permissions grid.

  4. Step 4

    Install the app in your workspace

    Create the app from the manifest and install it. Slack then shows a bot token starting with xoxb- and a signing secret; both belong to your workspace, and the agent needs both to read events and prove requests came from Slack.

  5. Step 5

    Paste the token and signing secret into Keiki

    Back in Keiki, paste the bot token and signing secret. It checks them against Slack live and reports which scopes are granted. Add a client ID and secret too if you want the app installable in other workspaces.

  6. Step 6

    Invite it to one channel, then make that channel its home

    A freshly installed bot is in no channels, and Keiki only offers channels it belongs to — so invite it to one first, then pick that channel as its home and mention the bot there to prove the signing secret. Ask it something real while you are in there.

More on what your Slack agent does

Questions

Questions people ask while connecting an agent to Slack.

Do I have to configure Slack scopes by hand?
No. Keiki generates an app manifest for the agent with the scopes and event subscriptions it needs, and you create the Slack app from that manifest. You review one screen instead of assembling permissions yourself.
Which Slack credentials does Keiki need?
The bot token (it starts with xoxb-) and the signing secret from your installed app. The token lets the agent read and post; the signing secret proves each incoming event actually came from Slack.
Will the agent reply to every message in a channel?
No. It answers when it is mentioned and inside threads it has been brought into. A bot that comments on everything gets muted, so the default is deliberately quiet.
Can I install it in more than one workspace?
Yes, if you add the app’s client ID and secret when connecting. That turns the app into a distributable one, and each workspace that installs it shows up in Keiki against the same agent.
What is the home channel for?
It is where the agent posts when it has something to say that is not a reply — a digest, a heads-up, an escalation. Keiki only lists channels the bot has already been invited to, so invite it somewhere before you pick one.
How do I check the connection is healthy?
Keiki verifies the identity from the Channels page and reports routing status, including whether Slack is actually delivering signed events. If a token is rotated or an install is removed, you reconnect from the same row.

One channel, then the rest.

Generate the app, install it, paste two values back. The question your team asks twice a week gets answered without a person reading it again.