Install and configure the Slack integration

Connect your Slack workspace to Rootly for automated incident channels, notifications, slash commands, message actions, and bookmark management.

Connect Rootly to your Slack workspace to automatically create incident channels, send notifications, and manage collaboration during incidents.

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Prerequisites

You’ll need:

• Rootly account with admin permissions
• Slack workspace admin or owner access
• For Enterprise Grid: Org Owner or Org Admin role

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Required Permissions

Rootly requests the following Slack permissions during installation.

Bot Scopes (Core)

Scope	Purpose
bookmarks:write	Add bookmarks to incident channels
channels:manage	Create public incident channels
channels:read	View public channel information
chat:write	Send messages to incident channels
chat:write.public	Post to channels without joining
commands	Add /rootly and /incident commands
files:read	Save pinned/reacted files to timeline
files:write	Upload files via workflows
groups:read	View private channels Rootly is added to
groups:write	Create private incident channels
pins:read / pins:write	Pin messages to incident channels
reactions:read / reactions:write	Add timeline events via emoji reactions
usergroups:read / usergroups:write	Manage on-call user groups
users:read / users:read.email	View user info for invitations
users.profile:read	Display full names instead of usernames

Bot Scopes (AI & Assistant)

Scope	Purpose
app_mentions:read	Respond to @rootly mentions
channels:history	Read public channel history for AI features
groups:history	Read private channel history for AI features
assistant:write	Enable Rootly AI Assistant
im:history	Read DMs for AI Assistant interactions

User Scopes

Scope	Purpose
usergroups:write	On-call user group management

When bot cannot create channels (some workspaces restrict this):

Scope	Purpose
channels:write	Create public channels on behalf of admins
groups:write	Create private channels on behalf of admins

Enterprise Grid Scopes

Scope	Purpose
conversations.connect:write	Connect channels across workspaces
admin.conversations:write	Manage conversations at org level

For details on Slack scopes, see Slack’s permission documentation.

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Choose Your Plan

Slack Free, Pro, or Business+

Single workspace installation. Most common setup for teams on standard Slack plans.

Slack Enterprise Grid

Organization-level installation with multi-workspace support. Requires Org Owner/Admin.

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Slack Free, Pro, and Business+

1. Open Integrations

   In Rootly, go to Configuration → Integrations and search for Slack. Click Setup.

   
2. Select Your Plan

   Choose Other Slack Plans (this covers Free, Pro, and Business+).

   
3. Authorize in Slack

   You’ll be redirected to Slack. Verify you’re installing to the correct workspace (check the dropdown in the top right), then click Allow.

   
4. Confirm Connection

   You’ll be redirected back to Rootly. The integration should show as Connected.

   

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Slack Enterprise Grid

You must be an Org Owner or Org Admin to complete Enterprise Grid setup. The install happens at the Slack organization level, so workspace-level roles (Workspace Owner, Workspace Admin) don’t have the required permissions on their own.

With Enterprise Grid, you install Rootly at the organization level, then add it to specific workspaces. This lets you manage incidents across multiple workspaces from a single Rootly account.

1. Open Integrations

   In Rootly, go to Configuration → Integrations and search for Slack. Click Setup.

2. Select Enterprise Grid

   Choose Slack Enterprise Grid.

   
3. Install at Organization Level

   You’ll be redirected to Slack. Before clicking Allow, verify you’re installing at the organization level (not a single workspace).

   Click Allow to approve Rootly as an organization-wide app.

4. Add Rootly to Workspaces

   After authorization, switch to your Slack Enterprise Grid admin portal:

   1. Go to Organization Settings → Integrations → Installed Apps
   2. Find Rootly in the list
   3. Click the menu and select Add to more workspaces
   4. Select which workspaces should have access to Rootly
   5. Click Next and Allow

   Rootly will now be available in those workspaces.

5. Configure Incident Workspace

   Return to Rootly and go to Integrations → Slack → Configure:

   1. Select incident workspace — Choose which workspace will host your dedicated incident channels
   2. Set announcement channel — Choose where new incidents are announced
   3. Set alerts channel — Choose where alerts are posted
   4. Click Save Settings
6. Set Up Shared Channels (Recommended)

   For cross-workspace visibility, create a shared incident channel:

   1. In Slack, create or select a channel (e.g., #incidents)
   2. Click the channel name → Settings → Workspaces with access
   3. Add all workspaces that should see incident announcements

   This way, users in any workspace can see incidents declared from any other workspace.

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Switching From a Workspace Install to Enterprise Grid

If Rootly was originally installed at the workspace level (Slack Free / Pro / Business+) and you now want Enterprise Grid features — multi-workspace channel selection, Forms across workspaces, pin-to-timeline, shared cross-workspace incident channels — you need to disconnect and reinstall Rootly with the Enterprise Grid option selected.

The install-mode choice (workspace install vs Enterprise Grid install) is set once during installation. There is no setting in the Rootly UI to switch between the two modes after the fact. If you dismissed the install-mode prompt or originally picked workspace install, the only way to access Enterprise Grid features is to disconnect and reinstall.

Slack-driven automation is unavailable during the disconnect-reinstall window. Between the disconnect and the completed Enterprise Grid reinstall (including Add-to-Workspaces and channel reselection), the following stop working: /incident and other Slack slash commands, incident channel auto-creation, Slack notifications from workflows, /rootly alert commands, and any workflow action that posts to or invites into a Slack channel. Web-based incident creation and non-Slack integrations remain fully functional. Plan the switch during a quiet operational window — most teams schedule it outside of business hours or during a maintenance window so an active incident doesn’t collide with the reinstall.

What’s Preserved Across The Reinstall

Disconnecting and reinstalling the Slack integration only resets the Slack integration’s own settings — the broader Rootly configuration around it stays intact. Specifically:

Stays intact	Resets and needs to be re-set
Incident workflows (triggers, conditions, actions)	Slack incident workspace selection
On-call schedules and escalation policies	Announcement channel
Other integrations (Jira, Datadog, PagerDuty, etc.)	Alerts channel
Channel and user references stored on existing Rootly records	Slack Smart Defaults
Historical incidents, timelines, retrospectives	App scopes (re-authorized during install)

Existing workflow actions that reference specific Slack channels or users do not need to be edited after the reinstall — as long as Rootly is re-added to every workspace that hosts those channels or users during the Enterprise Grid install. Channel and user references are stored on the Rootly side and continue to resolve correctly once Rootly is present in the workspace again. You gain the ability to change which workspace a channel is selected from going forward, but you don’t have to retroactively update anything. If Rootly is not added back to a workspace, actions that reference channels or users in that workspace will fail at execution time — this is the biggest reason to be deliberate about which workspaces you add Rootly to during Step 2.

Procedure

1. Disconnect The Existing Slack Integration

   In Rootly, go to Configuration → Integrations, find Slack, click Connected to reveal the disconnect option, then click Disconnect.

   See Uninstall for the full disconnect steps, including how to also remove Rootly from your Slack workspace (recommended before reinstalling to avoid lingering app state).

2. Reconnect And Choose Enterprise Grid

   Restart the installation flow from Configuration → Integrations → Slack → Setup. When the install-mode prompt appears, choose Slack Enterprise Grid and follow the Enterprise Grid install steps above.

   You must be an Org Owner or Org Admin to complete the Enterprise Grid setup — the install happens at the Slack organization level, so workspace-level roles aren’t sufficient on their own. If your account doesn’t have the required role, ask an Org Owner or Org Admin to complete this step.

3. Reconfigure Slack-Specific Settings

   After the Enterprise Grid install completes, set:

   • The incident workspace (which workspace hosts dedicated incident channels)
   • The announcement channel
   • The alerts channel
   • Smart Defaults as needed

   These are the settings that were reset during the reinstall. Your workflows, schedules, and other integration configurations are unchanged.

4. Verify Existing Workflows Still Reference Valid Channels

   Open a few of your most-used incident workflows and confirm their Slack actions still resolve to the expected channels. In almost every case they will — references are preserved across the reinstall — but spot-checking a couple of high-traffic workflows gives you a sanity check before the next incident.

If your organization isn’t on a Slack Enterprise Grid plan, the Enterprise Grid option won’t appear during the install flow. See the Enterprise Grid option not showing accordion in Troubleshooting below for the most common causes.

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Re-Claiming the /incident Command

During the transition to Rootly, you may experience issues where Rootly’s bot claims the /incident Slack command from your existing bot. When multiple bots use the same command, Slack will always invoke the one that was installed most recently. If this interrupts your transition, follow the steps below to reclaim the /incident command from Rootly.

Option 1 (Recommended)

This is the safest method — it does not result in a blackout period where your old bot is unusable.

1. Ensure Rootly is already installed on your Slack workspace.
2. Update your old bot’s Slack command from /incident to a placeholder (e.g., /incident-1).
3. Save the change.
4. Change the command of your old bot back to /incident.

Slack recognizes an update to the command as a new installation. This should make your old bot the “most recently installed bot” that uses the /incident command.

Option 2

If Option 1 does not work, try this option. There will be a brief blackout period where your old bot is unusable.

1. Ensure Rootly is already installed on your Slack workspace.
2. Uninstall your old bot.
3. Reinstall your old bot.

This is effectively the same as Option 1 — the reinstallation reclaims the /incident command from Rootly.

Enterprise Grid Consideration

If the issue persists after trying the above, check your installation scope. If Rootly is installed at the Slack organization level (Slack Enterprise Grid), you must also reinstall your old bot at the Slack organization level, not just at the workspace level.

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Uninstall

To remove the Slack integration:

1. Go to Configuration → Integrations and find Slack
2. Click Connected to reveal the disconnect option
3. Click Disconnect

Disconnecting from Rootly does not remove Rootly from Slack. To fully revoke access:

1. In Slack, go to Settings & Administration → Manage Apps
2. Find Rootly and click Remove

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Troubleshooting

Workspace not showing during installation

Causes:

• You’re not an Admin or Owner of the workspace
• Workspace doesn’t allow members to install apps
• Logged into wrong Slack account

Solutions:

• Ask a Slack Admin/Owner to install Rootly
• Check Slack → Settings & Permissions → App Management
• Try in a private browser window with the correct Slack account

Enterprise Grid option not showing

Causes:

• Your org isn’t on Enterprise Grid
• You’re not an Org Owner/Admin
• Logged into a non-Grid workspace

Solutions:

• Verify your plan at Slack’s pricing page
• Ask an Org Owner/Admin to complete installation
• Log into your Enterprise org, not a standalone workspace

Channels not being created

Causes:

• Rootly bot lacks channel creation permissions
• Workspace restricts channel creation to admins

Solutions:

• Enable Bypass Slack permissions in Smart Defaults
• Verify Rootly has channels:manage and groups:write scopes
• Check workflow logs for specific errors

Can't see incidents from other workspaces (Enterprise Grid)

Causes:

• Announcement channel isn’t shared across workspaces
• Rootly not added to all required workspaces

Solutions:

• Create a shared channel for incident announcements
• Add Rootly to all workspaces via Organization Settings → Installed Apps

Can't pin messages to incident timelines 📌

If you’re on Slack Enterprise Grid and pinning messages to the incident timeline isn’t working, this is a sign that your Slack integration was installed as a non-Grid (single-workspace) installation rather than at the organization level.

Solutions: 

• Disconnect the Slack integration from Rootly 
• Reconnect it, making sure to select Slack Enterprise Grid during installation and authorize at the organization level (not a single workspace)