Slack

One xpander app for your whole Slack workspace: DM your Omni, mention it anywhere, and route channels to your agents

xpander connects to Slack through a single workspace app. Once your workspace is connected, everyone gets their own AI assistant in Slack, and any channel can be routed to one of your organization’s agents.

How it responds

The app decides who answers based on how a message arrives:

You…	Who answers
DM the app	Your personal Omni - the same assistant and conversation history you have in the xpander app
@mention the app in any channel or thread	Your personal Omni, replying in a thread as “your-name’s Omni” so everyone sees whose assistant is speaking
Post an untagged message in a routed channel	The agent routed to that channel, when the message matches its engagement rules

Replies from a routed agent are posted under that agent’s name and icon, and channel replies from a personal Omni are posted as “‹name›‘s Omni” - a channel always shows exactly who answered. DMs keep the app’s own identity. After you @mention the app in a thread, your follow-up replies in that thread keep reaching your Omni for a few minutes - no need to re-mention it on every message.

Everyone always talks to their own Omni, with their own context and permissions - even in a shared channel or the same thread. If two people are chatting with the app in one thread, each reply is labelled with that person’s name (“Dana’s Omni”, “Sam’s Omni”), and neither person’s Omni sees or acts on the other’s private data. There is no shared or company-wide Omni.

Connect the workspace

A Slack workspace connects to your xpander organization once, workspace-wide, by an organization admin. After that, no per-user or per-agent setup is needed.

1. Open Channels settings

   In the xpander app, open Settings and pick the Channels tab (admins only).

2. Connect Slack

   Click Connect Slack. A Slack window opens asking you to authorize the xpander app for your workspace - review the permissions and click Allow.

3. Done

   The window closes on its own and the Channels tab shows your workspace as connected. Members can start DMing the app immediately.

A Slack workspace can be connected to one xpander organization at a time. Admins can disconnect from the same place - this uninstalls the xpander app from the Slack workspace, so it disappears from everyone’s sidebar (past DM history remains visible, per Slack’s retention). Your channel routing is kept on the xpander side, and reconnecting the same workspace restores it. If you are not an admin and Slack shows as not connected, ask an organization admin to connect it.

Talk to your Omni

1. DM the app

   Find the xpander app in your Slack sidebar and send it a message.

2. Automatic sign-in

   If your Slack email matches your xpander account, you’re linked automatically and the answer arrives right away. Otherwise you’ll get a Link account button - one click connects your Slack to your xpander profile.

3. Work as usual

   Your Slack DM is a real Omni conversation: it appears in the xpander app’s sidebar, remembers context, runs tools, and builds dashboards. Replies stream in as the agent works. Send new chat (or reset) to start a fresh conversation.

Voice notes are transcribed, images are read, and attached files are processed automatically. When an agent builds a dashboard or visual, the reply carries a View here button that opens it full-screen in the browser - no sign-in needed.

You can also build and update agents right from the DM: Omni asks its setup questions with tappable buttons, sends you authorization links for the accounts your agent needs, and creates the agent the moment you tap Approve & build - it appears in the xpander app right away. Connectors that require MCP setup are the one exception: Omni hands you a link to finish those in the app.

Route a channel to an agent

Untagged channel messages can be handled by one of your organization’s agents. Any member can set this up.

1. Open Slack channel settings

   In the xpander app, open your agent’s settings and find Slack channels, or use the channel selector under the Omni composer. Both open the same surface.

2. Pick a channel and an agent

   Choose the Slack channel and the agent that should own its untagged traffic, then click Add. The app joins public channels automatically; for private channels, invite it with /invite so it can see messages.

3. Write engagement rules

   Expand Rules on the channel row. Each rule is a plain-language description of when the agent should step in - the agent engages when a message matches any rule. Rules apply within a minute; no publish step is needed.

Write rules as specific intent descriptions, not keyword lists:

• ✅ “When someone reports a bug, error, or outage”
• ✅ “When a question about pricing or plans goes unanswered”
• ❌ “bug, error, pricing” (too broad - triggers on most messages)

A routed agent answers in a thread, acting on behalf of the message author. Direct @mentions in a routed channel still go to the author’s own Omni - routing only applies to untagged messages. Once the agent engages in a channel, it follows the conversation for a few minutes without re-checking the rules on every message.

Routing looks at top-level channel messages. Untagged thread replies don’t engage the agent unless you turn on Also engage in thread replies on the channel row - an @mention inside a thread always works.

Where conversations live

• DM conversations appear in your xpander sidebar like any other Omni conversation.
• Channel conversations (mentions and routed replies) stay out of the personal sidebar but are visible under the organization’s Tasks, where every run is tracked.

Troubleshooting

The routed agent doesn't respond in a channel

The app must be a member of the channel - check the member list and /invite it if needed (always required for private channels). Then check that the channel row’s auto-engage toggle is on and that a rule actually matches your message. If the message was a reply inside a thread, note that thread replies only engage when Also engage in thread replies is enabled on the channel row (or when the app is @mentioned). Rule edits take up to a minute to apply.

The app says the organization is out of credits

Runs stop with a billing notice when your organization’s credits run out. An organization admin can top up under Settings in the xpander app - then send your message again.

The agent responds when it shouldn't

Tighten the rules: overly broad conditions like “when someone asks a question” match most messages. Note that after an engagement, follow-ups in the same channel may engage without re-checking rules for a few minutes.

I get a link-account prompt instead of an answer

Your Slack email doesn’t match an xpander account in this organization. Tap Link account to connect, or ask your admin to invite that email to the organization.

The previous per-workspace Slack Agents flow (creating a Slack agent with configuration tokens under app.xpander.ai/slack_agents) is deprecated. Existing Slack agents created that way keep working until you migrate them to channel routing.

Next Steps

Chat Widget

Share a chat URL or embed in your website

Webhooks

Trigger agents from external systems