​
Configuration

To connect slack, you can:

  1. Head to the HumanLayer dashboard
  2. Navigate to “Integrations”
  3. Click “Add to Slack”
  4. Follow the Slack Approval Workflow
  5. Congrats - your HumanLayer agents will now contact you in Slack for approvals

​
Customizing Channels

By default,

The Slack contact channel allows agents to send messages and collect responses through Slack channels or direct messages. Configure a Slack channel using the SlackContactChannel model:

from humanlayer import ContactChannel, SlackContactChannel

dm_with_ceo = ContactChannel(
    slack=SlackContactChannel(
        channel_or_user_id="U123456",  # Must be an ID like C123456 or U123456, not #channel or @user
        context_about_channel_or_user="a DM with the CEO",  # Optional context for the LLM
        experimental_slack_blocks=True,  # Optional - enables rich message formatting
    )
)

hl = HumanLayer(contact_channel=dm_with_ceo)

You can also override the contact channel at the per-request level:

hl = HumanLayer()

@hl.require_approva(contact_channel=dm_with_ceo)
def send_email():
    ...

Or in one or more human-as tool instances

tools = [
  hl.human_as_tool(contact_channel=channel_with_sre_team),
  hl.human_as_tool(contact_channel=dm_with_ceo),
]

​
Channel/User ID

The channel_or_user_id must be a Slack ID:

  • Channel IDs start with C (e.g. C123456)
  • User IDs start with U (e.g. U123456)
  • Do not use channel names (#general) or usernames (@user)

You can get a channel ID in slack by right-clicking the channel, going to “Channel Details”, and copying the ID at the bottom of the modal.

​
Context

The optional context_about_channel_or_user field helps the LLM understand who it’s talking to:

# Good context examples
"a DM with the CEO"
"the channel with the SRE team"
"a private channel for approvals"

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Usage

Use the Slack channel with either core feature:

# With require_approval
@hl.require_approval(contact_channel=dm_with_ceo)
def send_email(to: str, subject: str, body: str) -> str:
    """Send an email to a customer"""
    return f"Email sent to {to}"

# With human_as_tool
tools = [
    langchain_tools.StructuredTool.from_function(
        hl.human_as_tool(
            contact_channel=dm_with_ceo,
        )
    ),
]

​
Next Steps

IntroductionEmail