Building Your Scout Slackbot

🎯 What is a Scout Slackbot?

• A Slackbot connects your Scout workflows directly to Slack, allowing team members to interact with your AI assistant through direct messages or channel mentions. It's like having an expert team member who knows all your documentation and data.

Perfect For:

• Internal Knowledge Base: Quick access to company docs and procedures
• Customer Support Training: Help support teams find answers fast
• Product Information: Instant access to product specs and details
• HR Assistance: Answer common employee questions
• Project Documentation: Search through project files and notes

📋 Step-by-Step: Create Your Slackbot Workflow

• There are a couple of ways to get your Slackbot up and running. If you’re feeling confident with workflows, you can build a custom one from scratch. Or, if you want to get started quickly, just use one of our ready to go templates.
  • We recommend starting with the AI Slack RAG Bot (Simple), it’s easy to set up and only takes a few clicks to add to your workspace.
• A few things to keep in mind if building your Slackbot from scratch
  • A Slackbot workflow uses a different trigger/input than a traditional workflow. Your first block should be the "Slack Message" input block. This special block receives messages from your Slack workspace.
  • You will also need to add a "Post Slack Message" block to the end of your workflow. This takes the LLM response and sends it back to your workspace.

Configuring the AI Slack RAG Bot template:

• After adding the template to your workspace you can now configure this workflow for your use case.

Step 1: Connect Scout to Your Slack Workspace:

1. Open the "Slack Trigger Block" and hit "Connect"
   1. This will add Scout to your workspace

Step 2: Configure Workspace, Channel and Listening Mode:

1. With Scout connected to your Slack Workspace you will be prompted to "Select Slack Workspace" as well as the "Channel" where the slackbot will be located.
2. Select the "Listening Mode"

Step 3: Add Documentation:

1. Add your documentation
2. Configure the "Search Table" block by selecting the collection and table where the documentation is located.
   1. Keep in mind the search term should match the ID from the Slack Trigger block: {{inputs.user_message}}

Step 4: LLM Block:

1. Configure the "LLM" block by adding your system message & user message.
   1. Remember your system message guides how the Slackbot should respond.
   2. Your user message is telling the AI who/where the user message is coming from, in this case it will be {{inputs.user_message}}
2. Set your temperature to control the randomness/creativity
3. Set an appropriate "Maximum Tokens" to ensure you're receiving the full LLM response. If you see an answer being cutoff you should raise your max tokens.

Step 5: Configure the Post Slack Message Block:

1. If using the template these values will already be filled in for you.
   1. The channel_ID and thread_ID will be passed in as metadata from the Slack trigger block.

Step 6: Add Scout to Your Desired Slack Channel:

1. Navigate to the Slack channel you want to integrate the AI chatbot for Slack and @ mention @Scout to add Scout to that channel.

After Deployment:

• ✅ Monitor user interactions
• ✅ Update your collection based on common questions
• ✅ Refine your workflow prompts for better responses

🎉 Your Team Assistant is Ready!

Congratulations! You've successfully:

• ✅ Built a Slack workflow with specialized Slack blocks
• ✅ Connected it to your workspace with proper permissions
• ✅ Gave your team instant access to your knowledge base
• ✅ Created a conversational interface that fits naturally into team workflows

Your team now has 24/7 access to institutional knowledge without leaving Slack. No more hunting through documents or waiting for answers, your AI assistant is always ready to help!