What You'll Set Up
By the end of this guide, your AI agent will be able to interact with your Slack workspace on your behalf. It can send and search messages, manage channels, reply in threads, pin important updates, add reactions, upload files, and look up team members — all through a simple conversation.
This integration is especially useful for operations teams, project managers, and anyone who needs to stay on top of team communication without constantly switching between tools. Instead of manually posting updates, searching for information, or managing channels, your agent handles it for you.
Before You Begin
Make sure you have:
- A Slack workspace where you have admin or owner access — you'll need permission to install apps
- A Pipeworks workspace — Sign up at pipeworks.ai if you haven't already
You'll create a Slack App to generate a Bot Token. This takes a few extra minutes the first time, but you only need to do it once per workspace.
Steps
Create a Slack App
Go to the Slack API dashboard and click Create New App. Choose From scratch, give your app a name (e.g., "Pipeworks Agent"), and select the workspace you want to connect.
Configure bot permissions
In your app's settings, go to OAuth & Permissions in the left sidebar. Scroll down to Scopes and add the following Bot Token Scopes:
channels:read— View basic channel infochannels:history— Read message history in public channelschannels:manage— Create and manage channelschannels:join— Join public channelschat:write— Send messagesgroups:read— View private channels the bot is ingroups:history— Read message history in private channelsim:read— View direct messages the bot is inim:history— Read direct message historypins:read— View pinned messagespins:write— Pin and unpin messagesreactions:read— View emoji reactionsreactions:write— Add and remove reactionssearch:read— Search messages and filesusers:read— View users and their basic infousers:read.email— View email addressesbookmarks:read— View channel bookmarksbookmarks:write— Add bookmarks to channelsfiles:write— Upload files
You can always add more scopes later if needed. These cover all 27 tools in the Pipeworks Slack integration.
Install the app to your workspace
Scroll back up to the top of the OAuth & Permissions page and click Install to Workspace. Review the permissions and click Allow.
After installing, you'll see a Bot User OAuth Token starting with xoxb-. Copy this token — you'll need it in the next step.
Open your Pipeworks console
Log into your Pipeworks workspace and go to the Integrations page. Find Slack in the list and click on it.
Enter your Bot Token
Paste your Slack Bot Token into the Bot Token field and click Connect.
Pipeworks encrypts your credentials with AES-256-GCM before storing them. The plaintext is never saved to disk and is only decrypted when your integration container starts.
Start the integration
Click Start to launch the Slack integration container. This takes a few seconds. Once the status shows Running, your agent is ready to communicate with Slack.
Test the connection
Use the Test button in your Pipeworks console to verify the connection. This sends a simple request to confirm your Bot Token is working and has the right permissions.
What Your Agent Can Do
Once connected, your AI agent has access to 27 tools for working with Slack:
- Channels — List, create, and archive channels; set topics and purposes; invite members
- Messages — Send messages, reply in threads, update or delete messages, search across channels
- Users — List workspace members, look up users by ID or email
- Reactions — Add and remove emoji reactions on messages
- Pins — Pin and unpin important messages in channels
- Bookmarks — Add and list bookmarks at the top of channels
- Files — Upload text files, code snippets, and CSV data to channels
- Permalinks — Get shareable links to specific messages
Connecting from Your AI Agent
Add the Pipeworks tools endpoint to your agent's configuration. Here's an example for Claude Desktop:
{'{'}
"mcpServers": {'{'}
"pipeworks-slack": {'{'}
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://app.pipeworks.ai/tools/slack"]
{'}'}
{'}'}
{'}'}
Claude Desktop will prompt you to sign in through Pipeworks when you first connect. No access key needed.
Troubleshooting
Connection test fails? Double-check that you copied the full Bot Token (it should start with xoxb-) from your Slack app's OAuth & Permissions page.
Getting "missing_scope" errors? Your bot is missing a required permission scope. Go back to your Slack app's OAuth & Permissions page, add the missing scope, and reinstall the app to your workspace.
Bot can't see a channel? The bot needs to be a member of private channels to read or post in them. Use the invite_to_channel tool or manually invite the bot from Slack.
Agent can't find tools? Verify your Pipeworks session is authenticated and that the integration status shows "Running" in your Pipeworks console.