Connecting to Slack

Town has two Slack connections. They do different jobs — use either or both.

	Slack Bot	Slack Persona
Posts as	The Town bot (its own name + avatar)	You (your name + avatar)
Best for	Team / shared channels	Your DMs and private channels
Can reach	Any channel @Town is invited to	Anywhere you are in Slack
Scope	Workspace / team-level	Personal to you

The bot model is the default. Persona is optional and complements the bot model.

Slack Bot — what it can do

Posts and reads as the Town bot in shared channels. Best when a message should come from a team tool, not from you personally.

Post updates to a channel — a weekly lunch menu to #sf-office, a digest to #team.
Read & summarize a channel — catch up on a busy channel without scrolling.
Triage feedback — pull user feedback from a channel and turn it into a reply or a Linear issue.
React to messages — mark something done with an emoji.

The bot can only act in channels it’s been invited to — add it to any private channel you want it to reach.

Tag @Town in a channel or thread (Bot only)

The most direct way to use the Town bot: mention @Town in any channel it’s in, and it replies right there in thread. The Slack Bot integration is required to add Town to your Slack workspace.

Ask it something in context — “@Town summarize this thread” or “@Town turn this into a Linear issue.”
It answers in-thread — the reply lands in the same conversation, so everyone following along sees it.
It has your full context — the same memory, profile, and connected tools as anywhere else; the thread just gives it a starting point.
Works wherever the bot is — invite @Town to a channel first, then mention it.

When you @mention the bot, your assistant will:

Reply with a “Working on it…” message and a link to the full session
Show live progress as it works (searching emails, browsing the web, etc.)
Post the final response directly in the thread

The @mention feature uses your Personal Assistant — the same assistant you chat with in Town. It has access to all the same tools and integrations.

Slack Persona — what it can do

Operates through your Slack access, the same way your Townie works in your email. Best when a message should come from your account, or needs to reach a private channel or DM.

Send a message as you — nudge a teammate or share a link in your own voice.
Reach your DMs and group DMs — these are only available through Persona (the bot can’t see them).
Work in your private channels — anywhere you already have access.
Read & search your conversations — including all of your channels, DMs, and private channels.

Sending as you always requires your explicit approval. Use Persona when identity and private Slack context matter; use the bot model for broad workspace automations.

Connecting Slack

The two connections are separate tiles in the Integrations catalog — Slack Bot and Slack Persona sit side by side, and each connects on its own. There is no Persona toggle inside the Slack Bot card.

Connecting the Slack Bot

The Slack Bot installs for a team, not an individual account — you need a Town team first. (If you don’t have a team yet, the Slack Bot page prompts you to create one.) By default any team member can connect it; if your team’s Access Rules restrict Manage integrations, only members with that permission (such as Admins or the Owner) see the connect option.

Go to Integrations
Open the Slack Bot tile, then click Connect account
Authorize Town in your Slack workspace
Return to Town

Setting up @mentions

To use @mentions, invite the Town bot to any channel where you want to use it. Type /invite @Town in the channel to add it.

Connecting Persona (optional)

Connect Persona when you need actions to appear as sent by your user identity, or when your assistant should read and search your DMs:

Go to Integrations
Open the Slack Persona tile (next to Slack Bot), then click Connect account
Confirm the requested permissions — Persona uses your own Slack user access, so it authorizes as you

Capabilities at a glance

Capability	What it does	Makes changes?
Send you a DM	Direct message to you — for alerts and notifications	Yes
Post in a channel	Send a message to a channel as the Town bot	Yes
Send group message	DM one or more users as the Town bot	Yes
Send as you	Post a message that appears from you (requires approval)	Yes
Search messages	Find messages across your workspace (requires Persona)	No
List channels	See channels in your workspace	No
List users	See members and their details	No
Get thread	Read a full message thread	No

Searching Slack

Message search in Town runs through your Persona connection — it searches with your own Slack access, so connect Persona before asking your assistant to search Slack.

Search queries are passed straight to Slack’s own search, so anything that works in Slack’s search box works here too:

What you want	How to describe it
Messages in a channel	”in:#general budget”
Messages from someone	”from:@john meeting”
Messages before a date	”before:2026-08-20 launch”
Messages after a date	”after:2026-08-17 launch”

Slack treats after: and before: as exclusive — after:2026-08-17 starts at the 18th, and before:2026-08-20 ends at the 19th. To include a specific day, set after: to the day before it (or before: to the day after it).

Use cases

Quick questions from Slack

Ask your assistant directly without leaving Slack:

@Town what emails did I get from Acme Corp today?

@Town summarize the thread about the product launch

Real-time alerts

Get important notifications in Slack instead of email:

Critical alerts that need immediate attention
High-priority email notifications
Urgent approval requests

Channel updates

Post automated updates to team channels:

Daily standup summaries
Weekly metrics reports
New customer notifications

Faster notifications

Slack notifications can be faster and less cluttered than email:

Mobile push notifications
Desktop alerts
No inbox noise

Best practices

Use @mentions for quick questions. Asking in Slack is faster than switching to Town or emailing your assistant. The response posts right in the thread.

Use Slack for urgent alerts. Slack is great for time-sensitive notifications. Use email for longer summaries and reports.

Don’t over-notify. Too many Slack messages can be as overwhelming as email. Be selective about what triggers Slack notifications.

Combine channels. A routine can send a Slack alert AND an email. Use Slack for the quick ping, email for the details.

Limitations

Single workspace — One Slack workspace per account.
@mentions require the bot in the channel — The bot must be invited to channels where you want to @mention it.

Troubleshooting

Messages not arriving

Check that Slack is connected in Integrations
Verify your Slack notifications are enabled
Check Slack’s Do Not Disturb settings

@mention not working

Ensure the bot is invited to the channel (type /invite @Town)
Verify Slack is connected in Integrations

Rate limits

Slack limits how many messages can be sent in a short period. If you hit limits:

Reduce notification frequency
Batch notifications together
Use email for less urgent items