Slack Opens Platform For AI Agents To Automate Workflows Using Chat Data: Here's What's New
Slack is now letting developers use live chat data to build AI tools and automate workflows, promising smarter collaboration and real-time task automation.
Slack announced on Thursday that it is opening up its platform to let developers build AI tools and automated workflows using its chat data. The move is aimed at helping companies create AI apps and agents that can understand conversations, threads, and tasks within Slack to complete actions automatically. The system uses a real-time search API, a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, and developer-focused tools like Block Kit Tables.
Slack says security is a key focus, and businesses can control what data AI agents can access.
How Developers Can Use Slack Data
Traditionally, AI assistants in workplace tools struggled because they lacked context. Important information in chat histories, threads, and task details was often scattered across different systems.
Slack wants to fix this by giving developers access to live conversation data through its RTS API. The API provides real-time access to messages, channels, and files, but AI apps cannot download or store the data externally.
The MCP server helps AI models discover relevant context and carry out tasks without needing developers to manually set every function.
This allows AI agents to provide more accurate suggestions, summarise discussions, and automate repetitive tasks, saving employees time and reducing manual effort.
Early Integrations & Rollout
Several companies have already started using Slack’s system. Anthropic’s Claude can now search Slack channels, threads, and files to provide answers based on actual conversations.
Google’s Agentspace integration, along with companies like Perplexity, Writer, Dropbox, Notion, Cognition Labs, Vercel, and Cursor, are also exploring AI access to Slack data.
These capabilities are currently in closed beta, with general availability expected in early 2026. Slack Work Objects, which allows third-party data to appear directly in conversations, is set to roll out more widely by late October.
Experts say these updates could improve collaboration, streamline workflows, and make AI-powered automation more practical for businesses of all sizes.
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