Slack

Ask the Zexr assistant from Slack, work inbox replies in a Slack channel, and route notifications to the right channels.

Zexr for Slack brings the AI assistant, your inbox replies and Zexr notifications into the Slack workspace your team already uses.

Connect Slack

Open Integrations > Slack and select Connect.

Pick the Slack workspace and approve the app's permissions.

Mention @Zexr or message it to link your Slack account. When your Slack email matches your Zexr account, it links you automatically.

Under Integrations > Slack, pick a Default channel for notifications and, if you want, an Inbox channel.

Good to know

  • Connecting and changing Slack settings need the Manage settings permission.
  • The assistant acts as you, with your permissions, and asks before changing anything. In a DM, an action your workspace has set to Always allow can go ahead without asking again.
  • Anything that sends mail to a real recipient needs your approval every time.
  • Every member of the inbox channel can read the mail posted there.

Zexr for Slack brings three things into the Slack workspace your team already lives in:

  • The assistant. Ask the same AI assistant you use in the dashboard by mentioning @Zexr or messaging it, the way you would ask a teammate. It is the same assistant, with the same tools and the same answers, and it acts as you, with your permissions, and asks before changing anything.
  • Inbox in Slack. Replies from the Unibox land in a channel of your choice, one thread per conversation, where the team can discuss, label, draft and reply.
  • Notifications. Post Zexr notifications to a default channel, route each category to its own channel, and optionally get your own as DMs.

The app's Home tab shows whether your Slack account is linked, with buttons to link or unlink, ask Zexr, and open Zexr.

Open Integrations > Slack and select Connect. Slack asks you to pick the Slack workspace and approve the app's permissions, then returns you to Zexr. Connecting and changing Slack settings need the Manage settings permission.

When the connection was made before Zexr asked for a permission it now uses, the Slack panel lists the missing permissions and a Reconnect button. Reconnecting grants them and keeps your settings and linked accounts.

The assistant and the inbox buttons do things in Zexr on your behalf, so Zexr has to know which Zexr member you are. Linking ties your Slack account to your Zexr account in this workspace. Until you link, the bot can post notifications and inbox replies but will not act for you.

Most members never see a link step. When the email on your Slack profile is the email of a Zexr account that is a member of the connected workspace, Zexr links the two the first time you mention @Zexr, message it, press one of its buttons or open its Home tab. It answers straight away and sends you a DM saying it linked you. The member who connects Slack is linked the same way to the Slack account that approved the install.

When the emails differ, or Slack does not share yours, you link once:

  1. Ask the bot something: mention @Zexr or message it. The bot sends you a Link your Zexr account button in a DM. In a channel it also replies in the thread to say it is waiting for you, and the button itself is only ever sent to you.
  2. The button opens Zexr. Sign in if you need to, and check the Slack account and the Zexr account it shows.
  3. Select Continue with Slack. Slack asks you to sign in to the Slack account the button was made for, which proves the account is yours whatever email it uses. When your Slack and Zexr emails already match, the button is Connect account instead and needs no Slack sign-in.
  4. The bot confirms in that account's DM and answers the question you asked, where you asked it. You do not have to ask again.

The link button works once and expires after 15 minutes; ask the bot for a new one if it lapses. A question waiting for the link is dropped with it. You can only link to a Zexr workspace you are a member of.

A link button only ever links the Slack account it was made for: either its Slack email is your Zexr email (capitalization does not matter), or you signed in to that Slack account with Continue with Slack. Signing in to a different Slack account is refused.

Automatic linking needs Slack emails

Matching by email needs the users:read and users:read.email permissions. A connection made before Zexr asked for them lists them as missing under Integrations > Slack. Until someone with Manage settings selects Reconnect, members link with Continue with Slack. Links made before then keep working.

A Slack account links to one Zexr account at a time. Linking again replaces the previous link. Unlink from the app's Home tab or from Integrations > Slack in Zexr. If your membership in the workspace ends, the link stops working and the bot asks you to link again.

Where to ask

WhereHow
Direct messageOpen the Zexr app in Slack and write in its Messages tab
Assistant paneOpen Zexr from Slack's AI apps entry to chat in a side pane next to whatever you are reading. It offers a few suggested prompts to start from
A channelMention @Zexr with your question. It answers in a thread, and you continue by replying in that thread
On a messageChoose Ask Zexr about this from the message's More actions menu. The assistant starts a thread with that message as context

To use it in a channel, the bot has to be a member: invite it with /invite @Zexr. Slack offers to add it when you mention it in a channel it is not in.

Each Slack thread is one conversation. Follow-ups in the thread continue it, with everything said before, and you do not need to mention the bot again. When you mention it inside an existing thread, it reads the thread first, so you can ask about a discussion that is already under way.

The bot reacts with 👀 to the message it is working on and swaps it for ✅ when the answer is done. A workspace connected before Zexr asked for the reactions permission shows no reactions until it is reconnected.

Working a thread together

A thread belongs to whoever is talking to the assistant in it, and only they continue it without a mention. A teammate who mentions @Zexr in that thread takes it over: from then on the assistant acts as them, with their permissions, and starts from what the thread already says. Anyone outside your Zexr workspace who mentions it is turned away.

What it can do

Everything the dashboard assistant can: find and edit contacts, read campaign stats, pause a campaign, turn warmup off on a mailbox, draft replies, and the rest of the list in What you can ask. The reply appears as one message that updates while the assistant works, with a line for each step it takes.

It can also set up Slack itself. Ask @Zexr send reply notifications here or @Zexr use this channel for the inbox in the channel you mean, or @Zexr only answer in DMs. For an integration that is not connected yet, it gives you a link that opens the connect window in Zexr, because connecting needs you signed in to the other service.

It can do exactly what your role can do in the dashboard and nothing more: changing Slack setup needs Manage settings, as it does under Integrations > Slack.

It runs as your linked Zexr account with the permissions your role has at that moment. If your role cannot do something in the dashboard, the assistant cannot do it from Slack either, and a permission removed from your role takes effect on the next message.

Approvals

Reading runs straight away. A change shows an approval card in the thread with the action, every argument the assistant passed, and these buttons:

  • Approve runs that one action.
  • Deny skips it.
  • Always allow approves it and every later action of that kind, as in the dashboard. It is offered only to a member with Manage settings, and never for the actions that always ask.

In a channel, every change asks, even one your workspace always allows, because anyone in the channel can post there. The same holds in a DM when the assistant is reading text someone else wrote (a thread, a message you asked about, or an email), and for changes that follow an approval in the same request. Always allow applies in a DM with only your own messages, and in the dashboard.

Only the person whose conversation it is can press them. Anyone else in the channel sees the card but cannot act on it. Each card decides the one action it shows: once it is decided, here or in the dashboard, its buttons do nothing. A teammate who takes the thread over skips any card still waiting.

When the details do not fit in a Slack message, the card says so and carries Open in Zexr, so you can read all of it before you decide. Secrets a step returns, such as a webhook signing secret, are never shown in Slack.

Sending always asks

Anything that sends mail to a real recipient needs your approval every time, and Always allow is never offered for it. The card shows the sending mailbox, the recipient, the subject and the message, and only that exact message goes out.

Credits and history

A conversation in Slack costs AI credits exactly like the same conversation in the dashboard, and needs the same things: a paid plan and the Use AI permission.

Every Slack conversation is also in your assistant history in the dashboard, and the bot's reply carries an Open in Zexr link to it. It follows the same privacy rules as any other conversation: private to you unless the workspace turned on shared history.

Where it does not answer

  • Slack Connect channels. In a channel shared with another organization the assistant declines, because people outside your company would read what it says about your workspace.
  • When the workspace limits it. Under Integrations > Slack, a member with Manage settings can set the assistant to On, DMs only (it answers in DMs and the assistant pane, never in channels) or Off.

Pick an Inbox channel under Integrations > Slack and incoming mail from the Unibox is posted there, so the team can work replies without leaving Slack. Leave it empty and nothing is posted.

Everyone in the channel reads these emails

Every member of the inbox channel can read the mail posted there, including people who have no Zexr account or no inbox access. Pick a channel whose members you would let read your inbox.

SettingWhat it does
Inbox channelThe channel conversations are posted to, picked from the list. Empty turns the inbox off
What to postReplies (the default) posts human replies only: messages that answer something and are not bounces or auto-replies such as out-of-office notices. All posts every inbound message

The inbox channel cannot be a Slack Connect channel. For a private channel, invite the Zexr app to it first, then pick it.

One thread per conversation

Each conversation gets one Slack thread. The first message opens it with the sender, subject and, when it answers a campaign, the campaign's name. Later messages in the same conversation land in that thread, and so do replies a teammate sends from Zexr, shown as Sent by (or Scheduled by for a scheduled send) with their name.

The posted text has quoted history removed and is cut at 1,500 characters. Open in Zexr shows the whole message.

Buttons

ButtonWhat it does
ReplyOpens a form with the recipient and subject fixed and the body editable, filled with the latest draft for the conversation. Sending goes out from the conversation's mailbox, as you, with the same permission, plan and suppression checks as replying in the dashboard
Draft with AIThe assistant writes a draft in the thread, as you. Review it, then use Review and send to send it through the reply form
Interested, Not interestedApply the inbox labels of those names to the conversation
Assign to meMarks the Slack card Handled by you, so teammates know who has it. It shows on the Slack card only; the inbox itself has no assignee
Open in ZexrOpens the conversation in the Unibox

Every button except Open in Zexr needs a linked Slack account and the Use unified inbox permission.

Talking in the thread

Typing in a conversation's thread is team discussion. It never sends email, and the assistant does not read it. Mention @Zexr in the thread to ask the assistant about the conversation: it starts with that conversation as context, and still asks before sending anything.

Zexr posts a notification to Slack when the category is enabled for Slack in the recipient's Settings > Notifications. A notification meant for several teammates is posted once, not once per person.

SettingWhat it does
Default channelWhere every notification goes unless its category has its own channel
Per-category channelsSend a category to a different channel, for example replies to #sales and health alerts to #deliverability
Personal DMsEach member can also get their own notifications as DMs from the bot

The channel picker lists public channels and the private channels the bot has been invited to. To post to a private channel, invite the bot there first.

Each post carries an Open in Zexr button. A Reply received notification also has Draft a reply, which starts the assistant in a thread on that post, for whoever pressed it, with the reply already in front of it. The draft is never sent without your approval. Pressing it needs a linked account.

Personal DMs are off until you turn them on, from Integrations > Slack in Zexr (they need a linked account). You then get a DM for every category you have enabled for Slack in Settings > Notifications.

To work every reply in Slack rather than be pinged about it, use the inbox channel instead.

ActionWho
Connect, reconnect or disconnect SlackManage settings
Choose channels, per-category routing, the inbox channel, and the assistant settingManage settings
See the Slack connection, its settings and any missing permissionsManage settings or Use integrations
See every member's linked Slack account, and remove anyone's linkManage settings
Link or unlink your own Slack account, and turn your personal DMs on or offAny member
Use the assistant from SlackAny linked member with Use AI
Reply, draft, label or assign from the inbox channelAny linked member with Use unified inbox

Removing a member from the workspace ends what their Slack account can do here, because everything runs as their Zexr membership at the time.

The bot acts only on messages addressed to it:

  • direct messages to the bot and messages in its assistant pane
  • messages that mention @Zexr
  • replies in a thread the assistant is answering for you
  • a message you run Ask Zexr about this on

Slack delivers other messages from channels the bot is in, including the team's discussion in inbox threads, and Zexr ignores them. When you mention the bot inside an existing thread, or use the message shortcut, it also reads that thread's earlier messages so it knows what you are asking about. Those messages are passed to the assistant as quoted material, never as instructions, so text in a thread cannot tell the assistant to do something. The same holds for email text in the inbox channel.

What you seeWhat to do
The Slack card says Slack is not availableSlack is temporarily unavailable on Zexr's side. Contact support if it persists
Notifications post, but the bot never answers and buttons do nothingSlack cannot reach Zexr, so only posting works. Contact support
The Slack panel lists missing permissionsSelect Reconnect. A feature needing a permission the connection lacks stays off until then
The bot says it sent you a link, or replies with a Link your Zexr account buttonYour Slack account is not linked yet, or the link was removed. Follow the button in your DM with Zexr; the bot then answers what you asked
Zexr did not link you automaticallyYour Slack email is not the email of a Zexr member of the workspace, or the connection predates email matching. Follow the link button and select Continue with Slack
Continue with Slack says you signed in as someone elseSlack signed you in to a different account than the one the button was made for. Sign in to Slack with that account, or ask the bot for a new link from the account you want to link
The bot says the thread is someone else's conversationThe thread belongs to a member of a different Zexr workspace. Start a new thread
The bot does not answer in a channelCheck that it is a member of the channel, that the channel is not a Slack Connect channel, and that the assistant is not set to DMs only or Off
An inbox button says you need inbox accessYour role lacks Use unified inbox. Ask a workspace admin
The inbox channel cannot be savedPick it from the list. A private channel needs the Zexr app invited first, and a Slack Connect channel is refused
A reply you expected is not in the inbox channelWith Replies selected, auto-replies, bounces and mail that answers nothing are left out. Switch to All to post every inbound message
The bot answers without the thread's earlier messagesSlack limited how often the app may read message history, so it answered with only your message. Paste the relevant text into your question, or try again in a minute
A notification did not reach a private channelInvite the bot to that channel

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