Integration
Hermes Agent Slack Integration
Connect Hermes Agent to Slack for channel-scoped AI help, app mentions, thread replies, and team handoffs without broad workspace access.
Quick answer
Use Slack when Hermes should help an internal team from channels and threads. Create a Slack app with the smallest OAuth scopes, install it to a test workspace, route app mentions to one Hermes profile, and only then add workflow triggers or wider channel access. The dashboard helps you inspect gateway/provider state, but a real Slack setup is only proven after a reply lands in the target channel. If you do not want to run the gateway, bot token, server process, and channel uptime yourself, use FlyHermes for the managed path.
Managed cloud · API costs included · No gateway maintenance
Best for
Internal team assistance where Slack is already the source of truth
Workflow alerts from CI, GitHub, or scheduled Hermes jobs
Threaded handoffs that should stay visible to teammates
Teams that want a safer gateway profile than the full local CLI setup
Features
- ✓App mentions
- ✓Thread replies
- ✓Channel-scoped context
- ✓Workflow alerts
- ✓File handoffs
- ✓Permission-scoped team assistance
Setup path
- 1Create a Slack app and bot user in api.slack.com/apps.
- 2Grant only the scopes required for app mentions, posting, and the target channels.
- 3Store the bot token and signing secret in the active Hermes gateway profile.
- 4Install the app to one test workspace/channel and mention Hermes once.
- 5Review logs, then add workflow triggers or extra channels deliberately.
Slack is a gateway, not a second CLI
A Slack bot runs in a team context, so the safest design is a narrower profile than your personal terminal agent. Give it the specific tools needed for alerts, summaries, and handoffs.
- •Avoid broad file-system access for a general team bot.
- •Use channel allowlists and app mentions instead of always-on free response.
- •Send sensitive coding or credential work back to the CLI or a private profile.
When to choose Slack instead of Discord
Slack is usually the better fit for internal company workflows and operational alerts. Discord is better for public communities, hackathons, support servers, and slash-command-heavy community bots.
- •Slack: internal teams, workspace workflows, private channels.
- •Discord: communities, support threads, public project showcases.
- •Telegram: personal mobile access and lightweight approvals.
Channel-scoped assistance with app mentions and threads
Hermes joins Slack as an app you mention in a channel, replying in threads so conversations stay tidy. Scope it to the channels where it's useful rather than the whole workspace, and the same agent — with the same memory and skills — is available to the team without anyone leaving Slack.
Keeping the Slack agent reliably available
Because Slack access runs through the Hermes gateway, the agent is only as available as the process behind it. For a team that expects the bot to answer at any hour, the operational question is uptime, not setup — running the gateway on a managed host like FlyHermes avoids the agent going quiet when a self-hosted box reboots or an update interrupts it.
Common setup issues
- If Hermes does not answer mentions, check app_mentions:read, channel membership, and the signing secret before changing code.
- If Slack context is too broad, split team automation into a dedicated Hermes profile with fewer tools and skills.
- If alerts work locally but not after deployment, verify the service environment loads the same Slack token and Hermes config.
- Use the Hermes dashboard to inspect gateway logs and provider state, then verify one real Slack send/reply in the exact target channel before calling the integration healthy.
- Choose FlyHermes when the blocker is always-on channel uptime, provider plumbing, or server restarts rather than a one-time bot-token setup.
FAQ
What Slack scopes does Hermes Agent need?
Start with chat:write, app_mentions:read, and the narrow channel/history scopes required by your workflow. Add broader scopes only after the test channel works.
Should a Slack Hermes bot use my personal Hermes profile?
Usually no. Use a dedicated Slack profile with only the tools, memory, and skills that make sense for team-visible work.
Can Hermes send scheduled Slack alerts?
Yes. Scheduled Hermes cron jobs can send digests, CI summaries, or operational alerts into Slack when the gateway token and channel permissions are configured.