Slack Setup Guide
Add your AI assistant to your Slack workspace as a fully functional bot. You will create a Slack App, configure the right permissions, install it to your workspace, and connect it to your FixedCostAgents assistant. Your AI assistant will be able to respond to direct messages and mentions in channels.
What you'll need
- Admin access to a Slack workspace
- A FixedCostAgents account (Premium or Pro tier)
Step-by-step instructions
Create a new Slack App
Go to api.slack.com/apps and click “Create New App”.
Choose “From scratch”. Give the app a name (e.g., your AI assistant's name, like “Rose”) and select the workspace you want to install it to.
Configure bot permissions (OAuth Scopes)
In your app's settings, go to OAuth & Permissions in the left sidebar.
Scroll down to “Bot Token Scopes” and add these scopes:
chat:writeSend messages as the botapp_mentions:readRead messages that mention the botim:historyRead direct message historyim:readView direct messagesim:writeSend direct messagesInstall the app to your workspace
Scroll back to the top of the OAuth & Permissions page and click “Install to Workspace”.
Slack will ask you to authorize the permissions. Click “Allow”.
Copy the Bot User OAuth Token
After installation, you will see a Bot User OAuth Token on the same page. It starts with xoxb-.
Copy this token. You will paste it into the FixedCostAgents portal.
Copy the Signing Secret
Go to Basic Information in the left sidebar. Under “App Credentials”, find the Signing Secret and copy it.
The signing secret is used to verify that incoming webhook requests are genuinely from Slack.
xoxb-...) is used for your AI assistant to send messages. The Signing Secret is used to verify incoming messages. Both are entered in the FixedCostAgents portal.Add credentials to the FixedCostAgents portal
Log into your FixedCostAgents portal and navigate to:
Assistants → [your AI assistant] → Integrations → Slack
Enter the following:
- Bot Token — the
xoxb-token from Step 4 - Signing Secret — from Step 5
Click Save. The portal will display your AI assistant's webhook URL for Slack events.
Enable Event Subscriptions in Slack
Back in the Slack App settings, go to Event Subscriptions in the left sidebar. Toggle it On.
In the “Request URL” field, paste your AI assistant's Slack webhook URL from the FixedCostAgents portal. Slack will send a challenge request to verify the URL — it should show a green checkmark.
Under “Subscribe to bot events”, add:
message.imDirect messages to the botapp_mentionMessages that @mention the botClick “Save Changes”.
Test the connection
In Slack, find your bot in the direct messages sidebar (or search for it). Send a message like “Hi, what can you do?”
Your AI assistant should respond within a few seconds. You can also @mention the bot in any channel it has been invited to.
Common issues
- The bot must be invited to a channel before it can see messages there. Type
/invite @YourBotNamein the channel. - In channels, the bot only responds to @mentions (not all messages). Send
@YourBotName your message here.
- Make sure your AI assistant is running (check status in the portal dashboard).
- Verify the webhook URL is correct — it should be the exact URL shown in the FixedCostAgents portal.
- Wait 30 seconds and try again — the AI assistant may still be starting up.
What to do next
Follow the First Week checklist — start building a working relationship with your AI assistant through Slack DMs.
Connect a mobile platform (Telegram or Telegram) so you can reach your AI assistant from your phone.
Set up email integration so your AI assistant can send and monitor emails.
Your Slack credentials are encrypted at rest and stored securely. Incoming webhook requests are verified using Slack's signing secret to prevent spoofing. Your AI assistant only responds to authorized users.
Stuck? Reach out at support@fixedcostagents.com or join our Discord community.
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