Documentation Grafana Cloud AI and machine learning Grafana Assistant Guides Slack integration

Slack integration

The Slack integration connects your Slack workspace to Grafana Assistant. You can interact with Assistant directly in Slack channels, ask questions about your observability data, build queries, and get insights without leaving Slack.

What you’ll achieve

• Connect your Slack workspace to Grafana Cloud.
• Ask questions about metrics and logs from Slack channels.
• Investigate incidents and find dashboards using natural language.

Before you begin

To install the Assistant app for Slack, you must:

• have an admin role in Grafana Cloud
• be a member of your Slack workspace

After you add the Assistant app to your Slack workspace, all users in your Grafana Cloud stack can interact with Assistant in Slack.

Install the integration

1. In Grafana Cloud, navigate to Assistant > Settings, click the Slack tab, and click Connect with Slack.
2. When Slack opens, verify the workspace or sign in to the correct one.
3. Review the permissions.
   • Admins: Click Install Grafana to grant access.
   • Non-admins: Enter a reason and click Submit Request. An admin must approve the request.

Link your account

Link your Slack account to your Grafana user to let Assistant identify you.

1. In Slack, open a direct message with the @grafana bot.
2. Send the message setup.
3. Click the link provided, sign in to Grafana Cloud if prompted, and click Confirm Setup.

Access and permissions

Grafana Assistant in Slack follows your linked Grafana User email’s permissions. This mean a request issue by a user will adhere to the Grafana stack permissions setup for that user.

When multiple users mention @grafana in a threaded conversation, each individual request will always use the permission that user has.

Use Assistant

After you install the integration, you can interact with Assistant in any Slack channel. Mention the Assistant bot to ask a question, and it responds in a thread to keep the conversation organized. You can also interact with the Assistant privately via direct messaging.

Query your data

Ask questions about your metrics and logs using natural language. Assistant interprets your request and returns relevant visualizations.

@grafana show me CPU usage for the last hour

Find dashboards

Locate existing dashboards relevant to your query without searching through folders.

@grafana what dashboards do we have for database monitoring?

Assistant can also share links outside Grafana when they are relevant to the conversation. For example, links to external runbooks, tickets, or status pages open directly instead of being treated as Grafana navigation targets.

Investigate incidents

Ask Assistant to analyze spikes or anomalies to help uncover root causes.

@grafana what’s causing the high latency?

Build query syntax

Get assistance with writing PromQL, LogQL, or TraceQL queries.

@grafana help me build a query for error rates

Manage channel settings

Configure filters that apply to every query in a specific channel.

To view the current channel settings:

@grafana settings

To set filters (for example, for a production environment):

@grafana settings set namespace=production env=prod

To reset channel settings to the defaults:

@grafana settings reset

Approve actions

Some actions, such as running specific tools or accessing sensitive data, require explicit approval. When Assistant proposes such an action:

1. Assistant posts a message detailing the proposed action (for example, “I’ll run the restart command on service-a”).
2. Click Approve to execute the action or Deny to cancel it.
3. Assistant confirms the outcome in the thread.

Manage team settings

Workspace admins can set global defaults that apply to all channels in the workspace.

@grafana team settings

Manage default stack settings

If your Slack workspace is connected to multiple Grafana Cloud stacks, you must configure a default stack so Assistant knows which stack to use for each conversation.

To view and update your stack settings, run /grafana stacks or /grafana set-stack in any Slack channel. This shows your currently resolved stack and provides an Update Stack Settings button that opens a settings modal.

Default stacks are resolved using a hierarchical priority:

• Assistant conversations in channels: channel default, then workspace default.
• Assistant conversations in DMs: user default, then workspace default.
• Slash commands: user default, then channel default, then workspace default.

In the settings modal, you can configure:

• User default: Your personal default stack, used as the highest priority for slash commands and DMs.
• Channel default: The default stack for a specific channel. Available when viewing settings from within a channel.
• Workspace default: A fallback default for the entire workspace. Only workspace admins can configure this setting.

If only one stack is connected to your workspace, it’s used automatically and no configuration is needed.

Permissions

The Assistant app for Slack only requests permissions that are essential to its function and integration with Slack.

Workspace and user access

Assistant requires these permissions to identify your workspace and match Grafana accounts:

Public channel access

Assistant requires these permissions to interact with public channels:

Private channel access

Assistant requires these permissions to interact with private channels:

Message and conversation access

Assistant requires these permissions to monitor and respond to messages:

Usage limits

Assistant is subject to usage limits from both Slack and internal policies.

Slack rate limits

Slack can rate limit Assistant when processing a high volume of requests. This typically happens during periods of frequent usage.

Slack enforces rate limits per channel and per organization.

When Assistant hits a rate limit:

• The affected channel may experience delayed responses
• Assistant may post a message to Slack to notify users of the limitation
• During the limit, Assistant may skip processing some requests

After the rate limit period expires, Assistant resumes normal operation.

Internal usage limits

Assistant Slack App has internal usage limits that help ensure fair usage across all users. During the public preview, all Slack usage remains free and will not attribute to Grafana Assistant billing and limits. Slack only users are not considered active Assistant users and Slack interactions are not considered Grafana Assistant usage.