Slack

Connect your Slack workspace to Canary to receive real-time alerts when automation rules complete or fail. Once connected, you can route notifications to any channel in your workspace.

01What you can do

• Receive organization notifications in Slack channels for workflow test suites, QA runs, crawls, and release QA
• Choose Slack as a personal notification destination when your account is linked
• Test Slack channel delivery and personal Slack delivery directly from Notifications settings
• Receive alerts when automation rules succeed or fail
• Choose which Slack channel receives notifications
• Configure per-rule alert routing to different channels
• Test the connection with a single click
• Build, revise, re-run, and troubleshoot workflows directly from Slack conversations
• Start ad-hoc test runs from Slack conversations and keep the request, progress updates, and results in one thread
• Write ad-hoc test results back to linked Jira tickets, including comments and replay attachments for verified issues
• Follow workflow build and run progress in the same Slack thread with automatic updates
• Search Jira and Linear tickets directly from Slack assistant threads
• See in-progress Slack assistant status updates while Canary works through a request
• Turn a channel message into a task by adding a 🎫 reaction in Slack
• Capture follow-up work from Slack conversations without leaving the channel

02Prerequisites

• A Slack workspace where you have permission to install apps
• Admin role in your Canary organization

03Connecting Slack

1. Go to Settings > Slack in the sidebar under Integrations
2. Click Add to Slack
3. Slack will ask you to authorize Canary for your workspace. Review the permissions and click Allow
4. You will be redirected back to Canary. Select a Notification Channel for alerts
5. Click Send Test Message to verify the bot can post to that channel
6. Review the Account Linking setting and choose whether Slack users must link their Canary account before write actions
7. Confirm the workspace shows a green Connected badge with your workspace name

If the channel you want is not listed, invite the Canary bot to the channel first using /invite @Canary in Slack.

Note: Only organization admins can connect or disconnect the Slack integration.

04Choosing a notification channel

After connecting Slack, choose how notifications should reach your team and individual users from Settings > Notifications.

1. Go to Settings > Notifications
2. In the organization notification sections, choose Slack as the destination where available
3. Select the Slack channel that should receive alerts for that notification type
4. For personal notifications, link your Slack account if prompted and choose Slack as your delivery method
5. Save your changes and send a test notification to confirm delivery

Use Slack channels for shared team alerts such as workflow test suites, QA runs, crawls, and release QA. Use personal Slack notifications when you want direct messages tied to your own account preferences.

If the channel you want is not listed, invite the Canary bot to the channel first using /invite @Canary in Slack.

Tip: Create a dedicated channel like #canary-alerts to keep organization notifications organized and separate from team conversations.

05Automation alerts

The main use of the Slack integration is receiving alerts from automation rules. When creating or editing an automation rule:

1. In the Alerts section of the rule, click Add Alert Step
2. Set the Channel to Slack
3. Choose which Slack channel should receive the alert
4. Select when to send alerts: on success, failure, or both
5. Click Join & Send Test to verify the bot can post to that channel

Each automation rule can have multiple alert steps, so you can send alerts to different channels or combine Slack with email notifications.

What alerts look like

Slack alerts include:

• The automation rule name
• Whether the run succeeded or failed
• A summary of results (when available)
• Error details for failed runs

06Usage

Important: Slack-triggered write actions can now require account linking. If your admin enables this setting, link your Canary account before you create tasks, update work, or start actions from Slack that change data.

Use Slack in four ways: send automation alerts to a channel, work with the Slack assistant in a thread, build and troubleshoot workflows from Slack conversations, or turn a Slack message into follow-up work by reacting with 🎫.

Slack also delivers organization notifications for release QA. In multi-repo release QA updates, Slack messages now include clearer compare links so you can open the relevant code changes for each repository faster during review.

Use the Slack assistant in threads

Use the Slack assistant when you want quick answers or progress updates without leaving Slack. Start a thread where the Canary app is available, ask a question, and continue in the same thread so Canary can keep the conversation and updates together.

Slack assistant threads can now search Jira and Linear tickets directly. Ask about a known issue, paste a ticket key or link, or request related ticket context to pull the latest details into the thread.

While Canary works, the assistant now posts more visible in-progress updates in the thread. These status messages help you confirm that the request is still running before the final answer appears.

Use this flow when you need to check issue status, gather ticket context for a discussion, or answer a question without switching to Jira or Linear.

Build and troubleshoot workflows from Slack

Use Slack conversations to work with Canary without leaving the thread. You can ask Canary to create a new workflow, revise an existing workflow, re-run the latest version, explain why a run failed, or trigger an ad-hoc test run for the scenario you are discussing.

When your workspace uses account linking, complete the link flow the first time Canary asks you to confirm your identity. Follow the guided prompt, sign in to Canary if needed, and return to Slack after the confirmation succeeds.

After you link your account, Canary attributes Slack-triggered tests, workflow actions, and task updates to your Canary user instead of a shared admin identity. This makes Slack activity easier to review and keeps changes tied to the person who requested them.

Start in a channel or thread where the Canary app is available. Describe the workflow you want to build, update, or test, then continue the conversation in the same thread as Canary refines the steps, runs the requested test, and shares the results back in Slack.

If your property has a default sandbox configured, Slack-launched ad-hoc tests use that sandbox automatically. If no default sandbox is set, Canary runs the test against the property's live URL unless you choose a different sandbox when starting the test.

Slack builder threads automatically post progress updates when a workflow finishes building or a run completes. These updates include success confirmations, failure diagnostics, and more in-progress status messages while Canary is still working so you can quickly see what is happening and decide what to change next.

Use this workflow when you want to iterate quickly with your team, confirm the latest run status, or troubleshoot issues without switching back to the app. For deeper inspection, open the related workflow or run details in Canary after the thread gives you the latest status.

07Running workflows from Slack

Run ad-hoc tests from Slack when you want to validate a fix, reproduce an issue, or verify a workflow result without leaving the conversation.

Note: If your property has a default sandbox configured, Slack-launched ad-hoc tests use that sandbox automatically. This changes the execution target from the live property URL to the default sandbox unless you choose a different sandbox when starting the test.

1. Open a channel or thread where the Canary app is available
2. Ask Canary to run the workflow or test the scenario you want to verify
3. Complete account linking if Canary prompts you
4. Confirm or choose the execution target if Canary offers sandbox selection
5. Stay in the same thread while Canary posts in-progress updates and completion status
6. Review the final result in Slack and open the linked run details in Canary if you need deeper investigation

Keep the request and follow-up questions in one Slack thread. Canary uses the thread to post progress, final status, and result context back to everyone following the conversation.

When a default sandbox is available, you can use Slack for one-click ad-hoc test launches without manually setting the environment each time. Review the run details in Canary if you need to confirm which sandbox or URL the test used.

Sharing results back to Jira

If your Slack conversation references a Jira ticket, Canary can write ad-hoc test results back to Jira after the run completes. Use this flow when you want the ticket to show what was tested, what passed or failed, and which artifacts support the result.

Result sharing back to Jira can include:

• A Jira comment with the ad-hoc test verdict and a clearer result summary
• Verified issue details when Canary confirms a problem during the run
• Direct links to the Canary run and replay artifacts for follow-up investigation
• Replay attachments for verified issues when evidence is available

Use Slack to start the run, then review both the Slack thread and the Jira ticket after completion. Slack gives your team the live progress and final outcome, while Jira keeps the issue record up to date with a richer summary and evidence links.

08Alerts and workflow actions

Canary posts ad-hoc run updates in the same Slack thread from the original request. Use these thread updates to follow the request from launch through completion.

When a Slack-triggered ad-hoc test is tied to Jira, the Slack thread and the Jira ticket stay aligned. Slack shows progress and the final outcome in the thread, and Jira receives the richer write-back with the result summary, verified issue details, and Canary links.

Slack also sends release QA notifications to your selected channels. For multi-repo release QA, those Slack messages now use clearer compare links so you can review code changes across repositories with less guesswork.

Use the thread updates to track:

• When Canary starts the ad-hoc run
• In-progress status while the run is still active
• Final success or failure details
• Links to run details, Jira comments, or replay evidence when available
• Release QA compare links for each repository when a release QA notification includes multi-repo updates

Completion delivery is more reliable, so you can depend on the thread to receive the final status even after a longer-running request.

Create tasks from a 🎫 reaction

Add a 🎫 reaction to a channel message to create a task automatically in Canary. Use this flow when a conversation uncovers work you want to track without copying details into another tool.

If your admin requires account linking for write actions, link your Canary account before Canary creates the task. If you have not linked your account yet, Canary prompts you to complete the confirmation flow first.

1. Open a public channel or a private channel where the Canary bot is available
2. Find the message you want to turn into follow-up work
3. Add a 🎫 reaction to that message
4. Complete account linking if Canary prompts you
5. Wait for Canary to create the task from the message and conversation context

Use this workflow for messages that clearly describe a bug, request, question, or next step. The message should give enough context for someone to understand what needs follow-up, either on its own or with nearby thread replies.

Message and thread behavior

Canary creates the task from the original channel message where you add the 🎫 reaction. If that message has a thread, Canary can use the surrounding conversation to capture helpful follow-up context.

For workflow building, troubleshooting, assistant searches, and ad-hoc test runs, keep working in the same Slack thread so Canary can post progress updates, share the latest outcome, and explain results in context. If your property uses a default sandbox, that same thread flow still applies while Canary runs the test against the default sandbox unless you choose another execution target. When the request is linked to Jira, that same thread is also where you will see the completion context that matches the Jira write-back. Use one thread per workflow discussion or ticket question when possible to keep updates easy to follow.

Use the top-level message to anchor the task. If the conversation happens in replies, add the 🎫 reaction to the parent message so Canary can create one task tied to the full discussion.

If a message is too short or does not describe actionable follow-up work, it may not be a good candidate for task creation. React to messages that identify a problem, decision, request, or next step.

09Testing the connection

You can test Slack delivery from Settings > Notifications before you rely on it for alerts.

1. Go to Settings > Notifications
2. Choose a Slack destination for the organization notification or personal notification you want to verify
3. Click Send Test for that notification setting
4. Check the selected Slack channel or your Slack direct messages for the confirmation message

If the test does not arrive, confirm that Slack is still connected, the Canary bot is in the selected channel, and your account is linked if you are testing personal Slack notifications.

10Disconnecting Slack

1. Go to Settings > Slack
2. Click Disconnect
3. Confirm the disconnection

Disconnecting removes the integration from Canary. Existing automation rules with Slack alerts will no longer send notifications until you reconnect.

11Permissions

Action	Required role
Connect Slack	Admin
Choose Slack channels for organization notifications	Admin
Send test notifications to Slack channels from Notifications	Admin
Choose Slack as a personal notification destination	Linked user account
Send a personal Slack test notification	Linked user account
Change notification channel	Admin
Disconnect Slack	Admin
Configure automation alerts	Admin
Build, revise, re-run, and troubleshoot workflows from Slack	Member in Slack channel with access to use the Canary app
Create tasks from a 🎫 reaction	Member in Slack channel with access to use the Canary app

12Related

• Notifications
• Automations
• Jira Integration
• Linear Integration
• Tasks
• Sandboxes
• Workflows