Setup Guide
Connecting SlAcknowledge to Slack
SlAcknowledge talks to Slack directly from your Mac, so you create a small Slack app in your own workspace and paste two tokens into Settings. It takes about 5 minutes, and you only do it once per Mac.
If you run SlAcknowledge on more than one Mac, create a separate Slack app for each one - for example "SlAcknowledge - Studio" and "SlAcknowledge - Laptop".
Here is why: Slack's Socket Mode delivers each event to only one connected client per app. If two Macs shared the same app's tokens, every alert would land on just one of them at random, and the other would silently miss it. A separate app per Mac guarantees every Mac sees every alert. (Acknowledge on one and the others still clear, because that syncs through a Slack reaction - see the last step.)
00Before you start
- You need to be able to create and install an app in your Slack workspace. In many workspaces that means being an admin, or having an admin approve the install.
- Have SlAcknowledge installed and open on the Mac you are setting up.
- Keep this page open in a browser tab next to the Slack site - you will copy two values across.
01Create the Slack app
Go to api.slack.com/apps and click Create New App → From scratch. Give it a name (if this is a second Mac, name it for that Mac) and pick your workspace.
02Enable Socket Mode and get the app token
In the app's left sidebar, open Socket Mode and toggle it on. Slack will prompt you to generate an App-Level Token: give it a name (anything works - for example SlAcknowledge Socket), add the scope connections:write, and create it.
Copy that token now - it starts with xapp-. This is the first of the two tokens you will paste into SlAcknowledge.
03Add the bot scopes
Open OAuth & Permissions and scroll to Scopes → Bot Token Scopes. Add these:
- channels:history read messages in public channels
- groups:history read messages in private channels
- channels:read see which public channels the app is in
- groups:read see which private channels the app is in
- users:read show real names instead of user IDs
- reactions:write react to a message when you Ack it
- reactions:read clear your queue when you or a teammate reacts in Slack
Add all seven now, in one go.
04Install the app and get the bot token
Scroll back up to the top of OAuth & Permissions (or open Install App in the sidebar) and click Install to Workspace - Slack labels the button with your workspace's name, like "Install to Acme". On the next screen, click Allow to approve. Then copy the Bot User OAuth Token - it starts with xoxb-. That is your second token.
05Subscribe to events
Open Event Subscriptions and toggle it on. Under Subscribe to bot events, add:
- message.channels new messages in public channels
- message.groups new messages in private channels
- reaction_added reactions, for shared-acknowledgment
Because the app uses Socket Mode, you do not need a request URL here - the events arrive over the connection SlAcknowledge opens. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page to finish.
06Invite the app to your channels
SlAcknowledge only sees channels its app has been added to. In each Slack channel you want to monitor, type:
/invite @YourAppName
Use whatever name you gave the app in step 1. You can add more channels anytime - just invite the app there too.
07Paste both tokens into SlAcknowledge
In SlAcknowledge, click the gear icon on the floating bar to open Settings, then go to the Authentication tab:
- Bot User OAuth Token - paste the xoxb- value from step 4.
- App-Level Token - paste the xapp- value from step 2.
Click Save & Connect. The status dot turns green when you are connected, and alerts from your channels start flowing into the queue.
Both tokens are stored in your Mac's encrypted Keychain - they never leave your machine.
Tip: these are secrets, so it is worth stashing both in a password manager like 1Password, labeled for this Mac. You can always view them again in your Slack app config, but having them on hand makes a reinstall painless.
08If something is not working
The connection dot stays gray or red
Double-check that you pasted the xoxb- token in the Bot field and the xapp- token in the App-Level field - it is easy to swap them. Confirm Socket Mode is still enabled and the app-level token has the connections:write scope.
Connected, but no alerts appear
Make sure you invited the app to the channels with /invite (step 6), and that those channels are actually getting messages. By default SlAcknowledge shows bot and app messages only - flip the toggle in Settings → General to include human messages too.
Two Macs are splitting alerts between them
That is the symptom of two Macs sharing one Slack app. Give each Mac its own Slack app (see the note at the top of this page).
Still stuck?
Email support@slacknowledge.com with your purchase email and a short description of what you are seeing. We respond within two business days.