Integrating your app with Slack brings the conversations your team is already having into Aha! Builder. Instead of switching between tools, you can view key channel messages alongside the work you are planning.
This article explains how to connect your application to Slack.
Click any of the following links to skip ahead:
Prerequisites
Action |
Requirement |
|---|---|
Integration direction |
Read-only |
Credential type |
Bot User OAuth Token |
Aha! Builder plans |
All Aha! Builder plans |
Required Aha! Builder permissions |
Application owner |
Slack plans |
Any Slack plan, including Free (Free plan limits message history to 90 days) |
Slack permissions |
Ability to create a Slack app Note: A workspace owner or administrator may need to approve installation if app approval is enabled |
Slack enforces strict rate limits on custom apps. As of March 2026, the conversations.history method is limited to one request per minute, with a maximum of 15 messages per response. Set expectations accordingly. A custom Slack integration is best suited to lightweight feeds, not high-volume message retrieval.
Create a Slack app and get your bot token
You will need a Bot User OAuth Token from Slack to connect it to your Aha! Builder application.
Go to https://api.slack.com/apps and sign in.
Select Create New App -> From scratch.
Enter an App Name, such as Aha! Builder reader, and select your Workspace.
Select Create App.
In the left sidebar, select OAuth & Permissions.
-
Scroll to Scopes -> Bot Token Scopes and select Add an OAuth Scope. Add these two scopes:
channels:history: This scope allows you to view messages in public channels the bot is added to.
channels:read: This scope allows you to view basic channel information.
The scopes above only grant access to public channels. To pull messages from private channels, also add groups:read and groups:history, then invite the bot to each private channel.
Scroll back to the top and select Install to Workspace.
Review the permissions and select Allow.
Copy the Bot User OAuth Token (it starts with
xoxb-).In Slack, go to each channel you want the bot to read from and type
/invite @YourAppName. The bot can only read channels it has been explicitly invited to.
Note: Use the Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-), not a User OAuth Token (xoxp-). Bot tokens are simpler to manage and do not require per-user authorization.
Slack support resources |
|---|
Add your secret in Aha! Builder
Once you have your bot token, add it to your application in Aha! Builder:
Navigate to your application in Aha! Builder.
Select Configuration in the top navigation bar.
Select the Secrets tab.
Select Add secret.
In the Secret name field, enter a descriptive name, such as
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN.In the Value field, paste your bot token.
Click Ask Elle to integrate. This saves the secret and starts an AI chat.
Your bot token is now available to your application code. Secrets are encrypted and stored securely. They are never exposed in your application's frontend code.
Secrets are environment-specific. If you have both a preview and a production environment, you will need to add the secret to each one separately.
Use the integration
With your secret saved, you can use Ask Elle to build features that use Slack data. Here are some example prompts:
"Add a feed that shows the latest 10 messages from our #product-updates Slack channel."
"Create a page that displays recent messages mentioning 'release' from the #engineering channel."
"Show a summary of activity in our #customer-feedback channel over the last seven days."
Ask Elle generates the code to connect to the Slack API using your secret and display the data in your application.
Update a secret
You can update a secret's value at any time. For example, you might do this if you rotate your bot token:
Navigate to your application in Aha! Builder.
Select Configuration in the top navigation bar.
Select the Secrets tab.
Select Edit next to the secret you want to update.
Enter the new value and select Save.
Remove a secret
To remove an integration secret from your application:
Navigate to your application in Aha! Builder.
Select Configuration in the top navigation bar.
Select the Secrets tab.
Select the more options menu ( ... ) next to the secret you want to remove.
Select Delete.
Select OK to confirm.
Removing a secret will break any features in your application that depend on it. Review your application after removing a secret to confirm it still functions correctly.