AICoven in Slack: Answers, Drafts You Approve, and Mentions That Become Tasks

Slack is where requests arrive and where a fair number of them quietly die: a mention in #design at six in the evening, a "could you send them a quick note" I fully intended to send. AICoven now connects to Slack, so the coven that already holds the context can answer there, draft the reply, and keep that mention from joining the list in my head.

Available in AICoven 3.1.0, out next week.

---

Connecting Slack

Go to Settings → Connected Apps → Slack and pick a workspace. One sign-in gives AICoven two identities: you, and the AICoven app, which posts under its own name.

Many workspaces need an admin to approve a new app, and Slack tells AICoven nothing until they do, so Settings says it plainly: "If a Slack workspace needs an admin to approve AICoven, Slack sends them your request. Connect again once they approve it."

Then open a coven's Connections and choose what it may touch: Read, or Read and make changes. Read is the default. Under Channels, pick the channels this coven cares about; Direct messages is a separate switch, off unless you turn it on. Choose nothing and agents can't read Slack at all.

Reading

Agents search and read only the channels the coven chose. What they read isn't stored as Slack messages: it's kept, encrypted, while the answer is written, though the thread's encrypted summary can carry facts from it, as with any connected app. Messages written by other people can't change the agent's tools or policies, however politely they ask.

Posting as you, or as AICoven

As you, nothing goes out without your approval. With Read and make changes, an agent can draft a Slack message, and that's all. The draft shows up beside the thread's composer and in Activity → Waiting for you, on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, asking "Send this to #design as you?" with the full text open. Approve posts exactly that text, once. Deny closes it, and so do 24 hours without an answer. If Slack doesn't answer, AICoven reads the channel back, and if it still can't tell, the card says "Slack didn't confirm it was sent. Check Slack before sending it again." It doesn't guess. Automations can never draft as you.

As AICoven, agents may post summaries without asking first, in Summary Channels only. The list starts empty, and its footer is blunt: agents "may post summaries here as AICoven, without asking first. The text is stored in Slack." Automations can post there too. Invite the AICoven app to the channel first.

Asking from Slack

Turn on Answer from Slack in a personal coven's Connections. Then a direct message to the AICoven app goes to Strix, and an @AICoven mention goes to the coven whose Reply Channels list that channel. Answered by sets which agent replies. Start a question with an agent's name and a comma, as in "Scout, what's due Friday?", and Scout takes over the conversation. It works with cloud providers on your own keys, Hermes, and OpenClaw.

This is where the trade-off sits. When you ask from Slack, the app is usually closed, so your key isn't there. Turning on Answer from Slack creates a separate key for that coven, kept on AICoven's servers (itself encrypted), and the Slack conversation is stored encrypted under it. That key can't open the rest of your coven, so the agent works from a snapshot: "Answers from Slack use what this coven knew when they were last renewed. Opening AICoven renews them for 30 days, once a day." Leave the app unopened for 30 days and the bot replies "Open AICoven to turn Slack answers back on." Nothing falls back to plaintext. A turn started from Slack also can't use the tools on your Mac or set reminders. A run that needs your approval replies "This needs you in AICoven to go on."

Only you can ask your covens. Anyone who hasn't connected AICoven gets "Connect AICoven to ask it things in Slack."

Mentions and messages become tasks

On any message, ⋯ → Send to AICoven opens a dialog: pick the Coven, edit the Task, which starts as the message's first line, and Add Task. The task links back to the message.

Tasks and On me also show Mentions in Slack: the past week's messages that mention you, in the channels the coven reads, each with Mine or Not Mine. Mine makes a task titled something like "Mention from @maya in #design". The message itself is read from Slack when you open the task, not stored. Task reminders can come to Slack as well: Send task reminders here too sends each one as a direct message from the AICoven app.

What it doesn't do yet

• The AICoven app isn't in the Slack Marketplace yet. Slack reviews an app only once it's installed in at least ten active workspaces, and until the listing is approved it doesn't give AICoven its search API. So agent search and Mentions in Slack wait for the listing. Answers, drafts, summaries, and Send to AICoven don't.
• Shared covens don't answer from Slack. "Answers from Slack work in personal covens for now."
• Direct messages behind a task can't be read back. "AICoven can't read direct messages. Open it in Slack to see the message."
• It doesn't read your channels looking for work you didn't ask about. Finding more work was never my problem.