Slack Integration

Obvious brings the agent into Slack: mention @Obvious in a channel thread, put multiple agents to work in a shared channel, and start quick meetings with /obvious meet. This guide covers connecting your workspace, adding Obvious to a channel, linking your personal account, and getting the most from the integration.

Before you start

A few things need to be in place before you can use Obvious in Slack.

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 Slack representative in your channels is named Obvi. 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.

1. In your Obvious workspace, open Workspace settings → General → Data Governance.

2. Find the Slack Integration row and select Add to Slack.

3. 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 Agents & 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 kept in a pending state for up to one hour while you finish linking, and the agent handles it after you connect. 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.

Work with multiple agents in a channel

Agents work in your Slack channels, and more than one agent can share a channel: each one posts as itself, so you always know who said what. Agent posts carry the Obvious app icon, so they are easy to spot in the channel. Agents you've built that share a channel can call on each other by name: when one agent names another in a message, that agent responds. An agent posts a short acknowledgment before it starts working on your message, and it shows an "is working..." status while it answers. Each agent decides whether to add an eyes reaction, and it adds one only to a top-level message it will answer.

See Obvious content in Slack

When an agent shares a thread, an artifact, or a project, it arrives as a native Slack card. Share an artifact or a project in Slack, including a specific thread or artifact inside it, and the link renders as one rich preview. Slack task cards show the project each task belongs to, so you always know where the work lives.

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

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:

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 and personal Slack account link 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

Coordinate Autobuild roots through Slack

You can run an Autobuild root without leaving Slack. Ask the Slack representative in your channels to start one, and the root runs from that conversation. While the root works, the representative follows its progress and relays questions and approvals between you and the root. Plans and results come back to the same conversation as messages, so you can follow the work and answer what it needs without switching tools.

Troubleshooting and limits

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

1. Confirm that someone with workspace-settings access has completed Workspace settings → General → Data Governance → Slack Integration → Add to Slack.

2. Confirm that Obvious is in the channel. For a private channel, enter /invite @Obvious from inside that channel.

3. Confirm that your personal Slack account is linked. If it isn't, enter /obvious link user to get a connection link.

4. For channel-specific issues, confirm that the Slack channel still exists and hasn't been archived.

5. 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.