Slack inbox: connect and provide support through the native channel

When to use

• You support customers in Slack channels (dedicated channels per customer, or Slack Connect channels shared with them) and you want every thread to become a conversation in CloudChat.

• You want ClaudIA to handle support in Slack, with the same queue, tag and automation design as the other channels.

• You want to move away from a separate ticketing tool in Slack and centralize support in CloudChat.

Prerequisites

• Be an administrator of the account in CloudChat.

• Be able to install apps in the Slack workspace. If your workspace requires admin approval for new apps, whoever authorizes it must be a Slack admin — otherwise the request goes into the approval queue and the connection is never completed.

• Know which Slack channels support happens in.

Step by step

Step 1 — Connect the Slack workspace

1. Go to "Configurações → Caixas de Entrada → Adicionar caixa de entrada" (Settings → Inboxes → Add inbox).

2. Choose the Slack block.

   

3. On the "Canal do Slack" (Slack channel) screen, click "Adicionar ao Slack" (Add to Slack).

   

4. You are taken to the Slack authorization screen. Choose the correct workspace and confirm with Allow.

5. Back in CloudChat, "Workspace do Slack conectado com sucesso!" (Slack workspace connected successfully!) appears. Give the inbox a name (for example, Suporte Slack) and click "Criar canal do Slack" (Create Slack channel).

6. Add the agents who will provide support and finish.

At this step you do not choose channels yet. That starts inside Slack, in step 2.

Step 2 — Invite the app into the channel, inside Slack

In the Slack channel that should generate conversations, type:

/invite @CloudChat

Repeat this in every channel you want to support. It is this invitation that gives CloudChat access to the channel — without it, the channel does not even appear in the list of available channels.

Step 3 — Activate the channel in CloudChat

1. Open the inbox and go to the "Canais do Slack" (Slack channels) tab.

2. The channel usually shows up on its own a few seconds after the invitation. If it did not, click "Sincronizar canais" (Sync channels).

3. Turn on the switch in the "Ativo" (Active) column.

From that point on the channel starts generating conversations. Before that, nothing is captured.

What each label in the list means:

• Slack Connect — channel shared with people outside your workspace.

• "Interno" (Internal) — channel marked as an internal team channel.

• "Sem acesso" (No access), with the switch locked — the bot left or was removed from the channel. Invite it again with /invite @CloudChat and click "Sincronizar canais" (Sync channels).

Step 4 — Choose when a message becomes a conversation

In the "Canais do Slack" (Slack channels) tab, click "Editar" (Edit) on the channel. The "Abrir conversa" (Open conversation) field has three modes:

• "Em toda mensagem" (On every message) (default) — every new message in the channel opens a conversation.

• "Só ao reagir com um emoji" (Only when someone reacts with an emoji) — nothing is captured until someone reacts with the configured emoji (default: ticket).

• "Só quando mencionarem o app" (Only when the app is mentioned) — nothing is captured until someone mentions @CloudChat in the channel.

How to choose: "Em toda mensagem" (On every message) is for a channel dedicated to one customer, where everything is support. Emoji and mention are for a busy channel, where only part of the conversation is support.

The emoji is its name in Slack, without the colons: ticket, eyes, sos. Do not paste the emoji, type the name.

Still in the same modal:

• "Tags das novas conversas" (Tags for new conversations) — every conversation opened in this channel is born with these tags. The most common use is one tag per customer, which leaves reporting and automation ready with no manual work.

• "Canal interno do time" (Internal team channel) — leave it unchecked (the default) when whoever opens conversations there is a customer. Check it only when it is a channel of your own team: in that case everyone is treated as a contact, and nobody is mistaken for an agent. In a Slack Connect channel the option does not appear, because a shared channel is always customer support.

Step 5 — Set up the internal team channel, if you want

Still in the "Canais do Slack" (Slack channels) tab there is the "Canal interno" (Internal channel) selector — a channel just for your team, chosen once for the entire inbox.

With it configured, every new conversation gets a thread in that channel, with a card that brings the contact, the message preview and two buttons: "Ver no Slack" (View in Slack), which opens the customer's original thread, and "Abrir no CloudChat" (Open in CloudChat).

It exists so the team can discuss the case without the customer seeing it:

• A private note written in CloudChat shows up in that internal thread.

• A reply written in the internal thread goes back into the conversation as a private note — it never reaches the customer.

The channel chosen as the internal one cannot be activated as a support channel; it exists only for this.

How it works

Who is treated as a customer and who is treated as an agent

CloudChat decides based on the source workspace of whoever writes:

• A guest or a person from another workspace — the Slack Connect case — becomes a contact, and their message is the customer's message.

• A member of your workspace is treated as an agent, and CloudChat matches by email: if there is an agent in CloudChat with the same email as in Slack, the message comes in as their official reply.

• A workspace member with no matching agent by email has their message recorded as a private note, not as a reply to the customer.

What changes in support

• The conversation shows the name of the Slack channel (#nome-do-canal) instead of the generic inbox name, both in the list and at the top of the conversation.

• The "Abrir no Slack" (Open in Slack) button, at the top of the conversation, opens the original thread already expanded, in the right workspace.

• To filter: conversation list → "Filtro" (Filter) → "Canal do Slack" (Slack channel).

• To route: when creating an automation rule, use the "Condições do Slack" (Slack conditions) group → "Canal do Slack" (Slack channel). That is how you send each customer to a different queue or team.

• The agent's reply goes out in the thread with their name, not as "CloudChat".

• ClaudIA works normally: set it up in the ClaudIA tab of the inbox, just like in any other channel.

Notes

• No history is imported. The channel is entirely event-driven: only what happens after you activate it comes through.

• There is no reply window. Unlike WhatsApp and Instagram, there is no 24-hour deadline to reply to a Slack conversation.

• Out of scope for this version: resolving and reopening by emoji in Slack, syncing message edits and deletions, CSAT inside Slack, slash commands, DM with the bot and history import.