Set Up the openstatus Slack Agent

In this guide, you'll install the openstatus Slack agent so you can manage incidents directly from your Slack workspace — no need to switch to the dashboard. The agent uses an LLM to interpret natural-language messages like "create an incident for the payment API" and turn them into status page actions.

Install the Slack agent

1. Go to settings

Navigate to Settings > Integrations in your openstatus dashboard.

2. Install the Slack integration

Click the Add to Slack button. You'll be redirected to Slack's authorization page where you can select the workspace you want to connect. (If you see an Upgrade button instead, your plan doesn't include the Slack agent.)

Grant the requested permissions and click Allow to complete the installation.

3. Add the bot to a channel

Installing the app doesn't pick a channel — no channel is selected during the OAuth flow. Invite the bot to the channel you want to use, either by running the subscribe command there:

/openstatus subscribe https://acme.openstatus.dev

which subscribes the channel to a status page and joins the bot at the same time, or by /invite @openstatus for a private channel the bot can't self-join.

The available slash commands are:

• /openstatus subscribe <status-page-url> — subscribe this channel to a status page
• /openstatus unsubscribe <status-page-url> — unsubscribe
• /openstatus subscriptions — show this channel's subscriptions

4. Verify the installation

In that channel, type:

@openstatus what's the status of my monitors?

The bot should respond with a summary of your monitors. If you see a response, the installation is working.

5. Start managing incidents from Slack

Here are some examples of what you can do:

Create an incident

Notify your subscribers about a new issue.

@openstatus create an incident for the payment API – high latency detected.

Update an incident

Keep your status page updated while you investigate.

@openstatus keep the status page updated that we are still monitoring the issue.

Resolve an incident

Close an active incident and let your subscribers know.

@openstatus resolve the ongoing incident on my API status page.

Schedule maintenance

Plan downtime so subscribers are informed in advance.

@openstatus schedule a maintenance window for my database next Friday from 2–3 PM.

What you've accomplished

• Installed the openstatus Slack agent in your workspace
• Connected your openstatus account to Slack
• Learned how to manage incidents directly from Slack

Troubleshooting

The bot doesn't respond when mentioned

1. Check the channel — make sure the bot has been added to it. Run /openstatus subscriptions there, or re-run /openstatus subscribe <status-page-url> to join it. Private channels can't be self-joined; use /invite @openstatus.
2. Check permissions — go to Settings > Integrations and verify the Slack integration shows as connected.
3. Reinstall — if the integration appears disconnected, click Add to Slack again to re-authorise.

"Not authorized" or permission errors

Your Slack workspace admin may need to approve the app. Ask your workspace admin to go to Slack Admin > Manage Apps and approve the openstatus integration.

Bot responds but can't find monitors

Make sure you have at least one monitor and one status page created in your openstatus workspace before using incident commands.

What's next

• Create a status page — share your service status publicly with users.
• Create a monitor — set up uptime monitoring for your endpoints.