Workflow Builder helps you automate routine tasks and processes in Slack. You can use AI in Slack to help you build workflows, and add an AI step to workflows to generate channel summaries automatically.
When you use AI to create a workflow, you can write a simple natural language prompt like “Send a welcome message to people that join a channel.” Slack will automatically generate a workflow for you to customize and publish.
Step 1: Open Workflow Builder
From your desktop, hover over More, then select Automations.
Click New Workflow in the top right.
Step 2: Start with a prompt
When you create a new workflow, you’ll have the option to use AI to help. You can select a pre-written prompt, or write your own.
In the AI section, choose a prompt from the list, or write your own. Here are some examples to get you started:
From a link “When someone clicks a link, ask for feedback in a form and then share the feedback in #proj-feedback.”
On a schedule “Every Thursday at 10am, summarize the last 7 days in #proj-feedback and send it to #feedback-summary.”
When an emoji reaction is used “Send me a message when someone reacts with ✅ in #help.”
When a person joins a channel “Welcome new members to #onboarding and ask them to introduce themselves.”
Click the paper plane icon to submit your prompt so AI can generate your workflow.
Note: It’s not possible to use When a list item is updated or From a webhook to start AI-generated workflows.
Step 3: Customize and publish your workflow
Review your AI-generated workflow. If you'd like, you can add, remove, or edit steps to customize your workflow.
When you’re done, click Finish Up. Review the workflow details and permissions, then click Publish.
Summarize channels with a workflow step
To generate a channel summary automatically, you can build a workflow with a Summarize public channel step. When the summary is ready, the workflow can send the it to a channel or add it to a canvas for you to refer back to later.
From your desktop, hover over More, then select Automations.
Click New Workflow in the top right.
Choose how your workflow should start, then search for AI and select the Summarize public channel step.
Select the channel you’d like to summarize, then choose a duration and click Save.
To send the summary as a message, search for and select Messages, then select Send a message to a channel. To add the summary to a canvas, search for and select Canvas, then select Update a canvas.
Follow the prompts to configure the step, then click Insert a variable and select Summary.
Click Save.
If you’d like, add more steps to your workflow. When you’re ready to publish, click Finish Up.
Update the workflow details and permissions, then click Publish.
Note: Summaries generated by a workflow will appear in the default language set for your workspace or organization.
Customers who purchased the Slack AI add-on will continue to have access to building workflows with AI and the other AI features included with the add-on.
Customers who did not purchase the add-on will only have access to conversation summaries and AI huddle notes unless they switch to the new version of Business+ or upgrade to Enterprise+ in order to access additional AI features.
