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Slack

Ren is an app in your Slack workspace. Map a Slack channel to a Ren project so people can mention Ren there. Ren replies in a thread, which maps to one Ren chat. DMs use your personal space.

Install Ren in Slack

Connect Slack once for your organization. You need:

  • A Ren organization admin: Only admins can connect Slack and map channels.
  • Permission to install apps in your Slack workspace: If your workspace needs app approval, a Slack workspace admin has to approve Ren.

Each Slack workspace can connect to only one Ren organization.

  1. Go to Settings → Mentions.
  2. In the Communication section, select Install Ren on Slack.
  3. Approve the permissions Ren asks for in Slack.

After installation, Ren joins your public channels and the Connect your Slack channels dialog opens. Map channels to projects, or select Skip for now.

Ren also sends the person who installed it a DM suggesting work it can do.

When to use Slack

Use Slack for requests that come up in team conversations, like summaries, lookups, or drafts. Ren reads thread context and shares progress and results with the channel. Use the web app for longer sessions or actions that need approval.

Talk to Ren

@mention Ren in a mapped channel:

@Ren summarize the open bugs from this week and draft a fix for the top one
  • Reply: Ren replies in a thread under your mention.
  • Thread context: When you mention Ren inside an existing thread, it reads the messages since its last mention (or the whole thread, the first time), including files.
  • Status: Ren adds 👀 when it starts and ✅ when it replies. Longer requests show a task list. Replies may include up to three follow-up buttons. Selecting a button sends that suggestion as your next message.

To continue a chat in more depth, open it in the web app. Select Open in Slack in the chat header to get back to the thread.

Work together in a thread

Several people can use one chat through the same Slack thread. Each mention or follow-up selection runs as its sender, or the fallback sender if account matching fails. See Who Ren acts as for space membership requirements.

Add Ren to channels

Ren only responds in channels that are mapped to a project. Each channel maps to one project.

  1. Open the project and go to the @Ren tab.
  2. On the Slack card, pick a channel and an optional fallback sender.
  3. Changes save automatically.

You can also map channels for every project at once from Settings → Mentions → Slack: select a project, then select the channel to route to it.

When a channel is mapped for the first time, Ren posts “This channel is now connected to the Ren project …” in it.

Mention Ren every time

In channels, @mention Ren to request a response, including for follow-ups. Ren also reads thread context and runs the background schedules described below.

Public and private channels

Ren joins public channels by itself when you map them. For a private channel, first run /invite @Ren in the channel so it appears in the list.

Who Ren acts as

Ren matches you to a Ren user if you signed in to Ren with Slack, or by the email on your Slack profile. You must also be a member of the project’s space.

The fallback sender is the Ren user a chat runs as when the person who wrote the message has no matching Ren account or isn’t in the space. See Who Ren acts as.

DMs

Open Ren from the Messages tab of the Ren app in Slack and send a message.

  • DMs run in the Default project in your personal space, so they don’t need a mapping.
  • Each new message at the top level starts a new chat. Reply in its thread to continue it. You don’t need to @mention Ren in DMs.
  • Your Slack account must match a Ren account in the organization. Ren matches you by signing in with Slack or by the email on your Slack profile.

Automatic summaries, profiles, and suggestions

Installing Slack starts member schedules. Mapping a channel starts channel schedules and tells you they are active. These run without individual requests.

  • Channel summaries: Each morning, Ren reads new messages in mapped channels and updates their summaries. It doesn’t post a reply.
  • Channel suggestions: Once a week, midweek during working hours, Ren may post one suggestion with up to three follow-up buttons. It posts only suggestions it’s confident will be useful.
  • Member profiles: Twice a week, Ren builds each member’s private profile from their Slack messages. Once a week, it may DM one suggestion. These schedules start for existing members on installation and for new members when they join.
  • Unanswered suggestions: Ren waits for a reply before posting another suggestion. It dismisses unanswered suggestions after 14 days. Those suggestions may return after 30 days. Declined suggestions never return.
  • Reduced frequency: After three consecutive weekly runs without a useful suggestion, Ren checks monthly.
  • Tasks: Each suggestion is a task. Channel suggestions are tasks in the mapped project, visible to the project’s space. DM suggestions are tasks in your personal space.

These run as schedules in the mapped project and in each member’s personal space, using the organization’s time zone. Channel summaries and profiles are kept as files in file stores in those projects.

To turn them off, ask Ren, or pause or delete the schedules on the Scheduled page:

Stop posting suggestions in #support.

Unmapping a channel, disconnecting Slack, or reconnecting it doesn’t stop these schedules.

Spaces and projects

The mapped project supplies instructions, apps, skills, and storage. Its space determines membership and available credentials.

FAQ

Who can use Ren in Slack?

Anyone in a mapped channel can send requests. People without Ren accounts use the channel’s fallback sender. DMs need a matching Ren account in the organization.

Which credentials does Ren use?

The credentials available to the mapped project’s space, not the sender’s. DMs run in your personal space, so they can also use your personal credentials.

What can Ren post back in Slack?

Text, tables, files it creates, and follow-up buttons. Ren can also post in other channels mapped to the same project.

Can I attach files?

Yes. Ren receives files and snippets attached to the message it’s mentioned in and to earlier messages in the thread. Files over 32 MB are skipped, and Ren sees a note that they were.

Can Ren talk to other bots?

Ren ignores DMs from other bots. In a channel, a mention from another app is handled like any mention and runs as the channel’s fallback sender, because an app has no Ren account.

What happens when Ren needs permission?

Slack chats deny actions that need approval and continue without them. Configure project permissions before sending requests.

What happens when a task links a Slack thread?

Mentions in that thread go to the task’s chat instead of the channel’s project, as long as the task is open and assigned to a project. This works even in a channel that isn’t mapped.

Does Ren ask to connect an app from Slack?

No. The Connect card for an app appears only in the web app. Open the chat in the web app to connect the app, or connect it from the project first.

Troubleshooting

Ren doesn’t respond at all

  • You replied without a mention: In channels, every message to Ren needs an @mention, including follow-ups in a thread.
  • The channel isn’t mapped, and Ren isn’t in it: Map the channel, or for a private channel, run /invite @Ren first.
  • Slack was disconnected: Check that Slack shows as Connected in Settings → Mentions.
  • Ren started but never replied: If only the 👀 is showing, open the chat in the web app to see what happened.

“This channel isn’t connected to a Ren project yet.”

The channel has no mapping. An admin can select Connect to Ren under the message, or map the channel in Settings → Mentions → Slack.

A private channel doesn’t appear in the list

Ren can only see private channels it has been invited to. Run /invite @Ren in the channel, then reopen the list.

“Couldn’t map your Slack account to a Ren user.”

Ren couldn’t match the sender to a Ren user, and the channel has no fallback sender. Either sign up for Ren with the same email as your Slack profile, or have an admin set a fallback sender on the channel’s mapping.

In a DM, there’s no fallback sender. Make sure the email on your Slack profile matches your Ren account.

“Neither your Slack account nor the channel’s fallback user is a member of this project’s space.”

The project belongs to a space that neither you nor the fallback sender belongs to. Add yourself to the space, or pick a fallback sender who is a member.

“The project connected to this channel no longer exists.”

The mapped project was deleted. Map the channel to another project.

“Your private Ren project isn’t set up yet.”

Your account doesn’t have a personal space in the organization that installed Ren in Slack. Sign in to Ren in that organization, then DM Ren again.

“Ren hit a snag and couldn’t finish”

The chat failed partway through, and Ren marks your message with ❌. Open the chat in the web app to see the error, then mention Ren again to retry. If the message says your organization has run out of credits, add credits in Settings → Billing & plans.

“This Slack workspace is already connected to another Ren organization.”

A Slack workspace can connect to only one Ren organization. Disconnect it from the other organization first.

Disconnect

  • Unmap a channel: Clear the channel on the project’s @Ren tab, or remove it in Settings → Mentions → Slack. Ren stops responding to new mentions there. Its default schedules keep running until you turn them off.
  • Disconnect Slack: In Settings → Mentions → Slack, select Reset mappings. This clears every channel mapping and uninstalls Ren from Slack. You can connect again later.