You can set up an agent to run automatically the moment it's mentioned in a Slack channel, so it responds without anyone opening Productive.
đ Want to see what this looks like in practice first? See Talking to Agents in Slack.
đ New to Agents? Start with AI Agents: Overview.
Before You Start
If you connected the organization-wide integration before September 15, 2026, reconnect it (admin) to get the app version Agent mentions need. Your personal integration must be connected too, but it doesn't need reconnecting.
Invite the Productive app into any channel where you want an Agent to respond. Type /invite @Productive in the channel, otherwise the Agent can't see or send messages there.
To trigger or check if your agent was mentioned in Slack, your Slack admin must allow all members to create and disable user groups (in your Slack settings). Once this setting is enabled, anyone can trigger the agent by mentioning its name in the associated Slack channel.
Your workspace must be on a paid Slack plan. This won't work on Slack's free plan.
Adding a Slack Trigger to an Agent
Open the agent and click + Trigger.
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Select When > A user makes an action, then choose External as the type. Slack Message is preselected.
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Choose which channels the trigger should watch:
Toggle Run in all current and future channels where @Productive is a member on to apply it everywhere.
Or leave it off and select one or more channels under Select Channel(s).
Toggle Include Thread Replies on if you also want the agent to respond to mentions inside message threads.
đ Channels appear in the list a few minutes after you invite the Productive app to that channel: type /invite @Productive in Slack.
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A Check if step with the Mentioned Agent condition is added automatically, so the agent only runs when someone mentions it directly. See below for how this condition works.
đ You can remove this condition, but then the agent responds to every message posted in the channel, mentioned or not. Most agents should stay mention-only, so think it through before removing it.
Click Save. The Then step defaults to Start Agent.
How the Mentioned Agent Condition Works
Mentioned Agent checks which agent was @-mentioned in the Slack message. Comparators include Is, Is not, Contains, and Does not contain.
đ The comparator changes how multiple agents are evaluated:
Is: every listed agent must be mentioned in the same message.
Contains: at least one of the listed agents must be mentioned.
Example:
Mentioned Agent Is Budget Monitor, Deal Pipeline Agent â the trigger only fires if both are mentioned together.
Mentioned Agent Contains Budget Monitor, Deal Pipeline Agent â it fires if either one is mentioned.
You can also add a Content condition alongside it, checking the text of the message with Is, Is not, Contains, Does not contain, Is empty, or Is not empty.
What the Agent Does When Triggered
For a Slack trigger, the Then step doesn't include a Use Custom Instructions option â the Slack message itself is the instruction.
Example: If someone mentions @Budget Monitor open a task for the Q3 report review, that message is what the agent acts on, the same way a typed prompt would work in the AI Assistant.
đ Want a Slack message to trigger something other than the agent responding, like creating a task based on the contents of the Slack message? See Setting Up a Slack Trigger in Automations.