Slack Integration

Use Obvious from Slack to ask the agent for help in a channel conversation or start a quick meeting without leaving Slack. Connect your Obvious workspace to Slack and you can mention @Obvious in any channel thread to get agent help, keep your Slack conversations automatically linked to Obvious, and kick off a quick meeting with /obvious meet — all without leaving Slack. This guide walks you through connecting your workspace, adding Obvious to a channel, linking your personal account, and getting the most out of the integration.

Slack Integration is currently in beta. Contact help@obvious.ai to request access for your workspace.

Before you start

A few things need to be in place before you can use Obvious in Slack. You'll need Slack Integration beta access enabled for your workspace — if you haven't received that yet, reach out to help@obvious.ai.

Someone with workspace-settings access needs to connect the Slack workspace once. This is a one-time installation that makes Obvious available across your entire Slack workspace. After that, each person who uses Obvious in Slack links their own Slack account separately — the workspace installation covers the connection, not individual identities.

The Obvious bot also needs to be a member of any channel where you want to mention it. The sections below walk you through the workspace connection, adding the bot to a channel, and linking your personal account, in that order. Once those three things are in place, you're all set to use @Obvious and /obvious meet.

If you plan to use /obvious meet, you'll also want a calendar account connected in Obvious before saving your quick-meeting preferences.

Connect Slack to your workspace

A workspace admin completes this step once on behalf of everyone in your Obvious workspace.

Open your Obvious workspace settings and navigate to General.
Find Slack Integration and select Add to Slack.
Review the Slack permissions and approve the request.

Obvious typically connects the workspace and links the installer's Slack identity automatically during setup. If Slack was installed from the Slack App Directory instead of starting from Obvious, or if the automatic link doesn't complete, you'll land on an Almost there! page. Check Slack for a direct message from the Obvious bot — it contains a setup link. Open that link, choose your Obvious workspace on the Connect Slack to Obvious page, and select Connect Workspace to finish.

Add Obvious to a Slack channel

Once the workspace is connected, Obvious needs to join the specific channels where you want to use it. The method depends on whether the channel is public or private.

Public channels

From any Obvious project, ask the agent to add Obvious to the Slack channel you'd like to use. Obvious can join a public channel on your behalf. One thing worth knowing: joining the channel and linking it to a particular project are two separate actions. Adding Obvious to a channel doesn't automatically tie that channel to the Obvious project you currently have open. If you want the channel to use an existing project for context, you can set that up separately with /obvious link project — more on that below.

Private channels

Obvious can't join a private channel on its own, so someone who's already a member needs to invite it. From inside the private channel, enter:

/invite @Obvious

Slack will confirm once Obvious has been added. You can also add the bot through Slack's channel Apps settings if you prefer a UI-based approach.

Link your personal Slack account

The workspace installation connects Obvious to Slack at the workspace level, but Obvious also needs to know which Slack user you are. Your personal account link is what lets @Obvious recognize you and associate your Slack activity with your Obvious account.

If you installed the Slack Integration yourself, your account may already be linked during setup. For everyone else, the first time you mention @Obvious in a channel, Obvious sends you a prompt to connect your account — your mention is held briefly while you complete the link. Just follow the prompt to the Connect Your Slack Account page and select Connect Slack Account.

To link your account before your first mention, enter this command in any channel where Obvious is present:

/obvious link user

Obvious will send you a link to complete the connection. You can also find this option in your Obvious notification settings under Connect via Slack → when the workspace is connected but your personal account isn't linked yet.

Ask `@Obvious` for help in a Slack thread

Mention @Obvious with a question or a supported file in any channel where the bot is a member. For example:

@Obvious Please summarize the open decisions in this thread.

On the first mention in a thread, Obvious creates a linked conversation for that Slack thread. Before the agent starts working, it imports earlier messages from the thread (everything from real participants, not bot messages) and collects any supported files already shared there — so the agent has the full picture of what's been discussed. If your first mention doesn't include a question or a file, Obvious will ask you to add one.

Does Obvious respond automatically to everything in the thread? Once you've started a conversation with @Obvious, new messages in that Slack thread are automatically kept in sync with the linked Obvious conversation. Obvious stays aware of what's being discussed, but it won't jump in uninvited. Mention @Obvious any time you'd like a response.

Choose optional project context for a channel

You don't need to set up project context before your first @Obvious mention. When no project has been explicitly linked to a channel, Obvious creates a project for that Slack channel and uses it for all Slack-linked conversations there going forward.

If you'd rather have the channel use an existing workspace-shared project, enter this command from the channel in Slack:

/obvious link project

/obvious link project. Type the command exactly as shown — Slack will open a picker of your workspace-shared Obvious projects, and you choose the one you want from the list. No editing the command itself is needed. After you select a project, future conversations in that channel will connect to the project you chose.

A couple of helpful commands once you're set up:

Command	What it does
`/obvious status`	Shows the channel's current project link and linked Obvious threads.
`/obvious unlink project`	Removes the explicit project link. Future mentions fall back to an automatically created Slack-channel project.

Start a quick meeting with `/obvious meet`

/obvious meet lets you start a meeting from Slack without switching apps. Before it can create a meeting, your workspace connection, beta access, and personal Slack account link all need to be in place. You'll also need a connected calendar account in Obvious to save your meeting preferences.

The first time you use it: Enter /obvious meet in any channel. Slack will open a one-time setup where you'll choose three things:

Email account — which account hosts the meeting
Calendar — where the invitation goes
Meeting link provider — which video platform generates the join link (options typically include Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, depending on your connected accounts)

Save your preferences and you're ready to go.

Starting a meeting after setup: Enter /obvious meet and Slack will start creating the meeting. You'll briefly see Starting your meeting..., then a join link appears in the channel. The Obvious notetaker will join automatically to keep a record. If the meeting is created but the notetaker can't join, Slack returns an error — and includes a manual join link when one is available.

To update your meeting preferences at any point, enter:

/obvious meet configure

Troubleshooting and limits

If @Obvious or Slack commands aren't responding, work through these checks in order:

Confirm that Slack Integration beta access is enabled for your Obvious workspace. If not, contact help@obvious.ai.
Confirm that someone with workspace-settings access has completed General → Slack Integration → Add to Slack.
Confirm that Obvious is in the channel. For a private channel, enter /invite @Obvious from inside that channel.
Confirm that your personal Slack account is linked. If it isn't, enter /obvious link user to get a connection link.
For channel-specific issues, confirm that the Slack channel still exists and hasn't been archived.
For /obvious meet issues, confirm that your calendar and meeting-provider connections are still active, then reopen setup with /obvious meet configure.

For more help with connection errors, read Slack Integration Not Working. If the issue continues, contact help@obvious.ai with the channel name, the command or mention you tried, and the error message you received.