You’re testing agent Slack apps, a new feature in alpha. Each agent can run in Slack as its own app:
- The agent’s own identity: the Slack app uses the agent’s name, description, and image, and picks up a new name or image when you save it.
- Direct messages: people DM the agent’s app, and the conversations land in a Ravenna channel made for the agent.
- Channel takeover: the agent’s bot answers in the Slack channels connected to the Ravenna channels the agent is assigned to.
- As many agents as you need: deploy any number of agents, each as its own Slack app. One deploy installs an agent’s app in every connected workspace, including workspaces that join later.
How to test
How to test
1
Prepare the agent
Open an agent. On Identity, give it a name and a PNG, JPG, or GIF image. On Connections, assign it to a Ravenna channel that has a connected Slack channel.
2
Connect app management
In the Slack section of Connections, click Connect privileged access on any Slack organization that shows Needs Slack admin approval to deploy, and grant App management. See Connect privileged access.
3
Deploy
Click Deploy. Check that each workspace turns Installed and that the toast says the agent is now live in Slack. Check the sidebar for a new channel named after the agent with the agent’s image. See Deploy the agent.
4
DM the agent
In Slack, open a DM with the agent’s app and ask for help. Check that the agent answers as itself and that the conversation shows up in the agent’s channel in Ravenna. See What changes in Slack.
5
Post in a connected channel
Post a request in the Slack channel connected to the agent’s Ravenna channel. Check that the agent’s bot replies, not the main app.
6
Rename the agent
Change the agent’s name on Identity. Check that the Slack app shows the new name.
7
Remove from Slack
Click Deprovision, type the agent’s name in Remove from Slack, and confirm. Check that the Slack channel goes back to the main app. See Remove the agent from Slack.
Known limitations
Known limitations
These work as designed. Don’t report them as bugs:
- Each deployed agent has one app per Slack organization. On Enterprise Grid, that app is shared across the organization’s workspaces rather than created per workspace.
- Threads started before a takeover finish with the bot that started them, because Slack only lets an app edit its own messages.
- A private channel the Ravenna app isn’t in, or an archived channel, stays with the main app until someone adds the Ravenna app to it.
- The agent’s own channel stays in the sidebar while the agent exists, and its delete option is hidden. The agent stays assigned to it while its app is deployed.
- Removing an agent’s app ends its open DMs. Redeploying creates a new app.