How to set up Slack workflow automations

Quick Answer: Open Slack Workflow Builder from the sidebar (Automations > Workflow Builder), choose a trigger (message posted, emoji reaction, schedule, or webhook), add steps like sending messages or collecting forms, then publish. Available on Slack Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid plans.

How to Set Up Slack Workflow Automations

Slack Workflow Builder allows teams to create automated processes directly within Slack without writing code. As of April 2026, Workflow Builder is available on Pro ($8.75/user/month), Business+ ($12.50/user/month), and Enterprise Grid plans.

Step 1: Open Workflow Builder

Click "Automations" in the left sidebar, then select "Workflow Builder." Click "New Workflow" and give it a descriptive name (for example, "New Hire Onboarding Checklist").

Step 2: Choose a Trigger

Select what starts the workflow:

  • Shortcut: User clicks a shortcut button in a channel
  • New channel message: When a message is posted in a specific channel
  • Emoji reaction: When a specific emoji is added to a message
  • Scheduled: Run on a daily, weekly, or custom schedule
  • Webhook: External service sends a POST request to a Slack URL
  • Person joined channel: When someone joins a designated channel

Step 3: Add Workflow Steps

Available steps include:

  • Send a message: Post a message to a channel or DM a user
  • Send a form: Collect information via a Slack form
  • Add a reaction: React to a message with an emoji
  • Update channel topic: Change channel topic or purpose
  • Create a channel: Spin up a new channel with a naming pattern
  • Connector steps: Trigger actions in Google Sheets, Jira, Salesforce, and other connected apps

Step 4: Use Variables

Variables pass data between steps. When a form collects a user name, that variable can be inserted into subsequent message steps. Click the "{x}" icon in any text field to insert a variable from a previous step.

Step 5: Publish and Test

Click "Publish" to make the workflow active. Test by triggering it in a test channel. Published workflows can be paused, edited, and republished without losing configuration.

Practical Example: Daily Standup Collection

  1. Trigger: Scheduled at 9:00 AM every weekday
  2. Step 1: Send a form to #engineering asking "What did you complete yesterday? What are you working on today? Any blockers?"
  3. Step 2: Collect responses for 2 hours
  4. Step 3: Post a summary message to #engineering with all responses

This replaces synchronous standup meetings with asynchronous updates, saving 15-30 minutes per day for teams across multiple time zones.

Limitations

  • Workflows cannot branch based on conditions (linear steps only)
  • Maximum 200 workflow runs per day per workflow on Pro plans
  • External app connector steps require Business+ or Enterprise Grid
  • Cannot send messages as the workflow author (messages come from "Workflow")

Related Questions

Written & reviewed by Rafal Fila · Last updated:

Related Tools

Related Rankings

Best Human-in-the-Loop Automation Platforms 2026

Eight platforms are ranked here on a single mechanism: how a person enters an automated path, and what the system can prove afterward about the decision they made. Moxo scores 7.7 and ranks first; Camunda 8 scores 7.2, Microsoft Power Automate 7.1, Pega 6.9, n8n 6.7, Zapier 5.9, Kissflow 5.8 and ServiceNow 4.8, scored 22 September 2026 on the five weighted criteria. Those criteria cover the step type, the approver's account or licence, the routes available on a rejection, the audit record, and the meter that charges for the decision, and none of them can tell a review from a rubber stamp, so the methodology adds a check readers can run on any product in a few minutes: whether the decision record tells a considered approval from an instant one. Every figure was read from a vendor-owned surface and carries its own date.

Best Automation Platforms for AI Orchestration 2026

This ranking answers one question: how many real business applications can an AI agent act on out of the box? It evaluates nine platforms as of August 2026 on the reach they give an agent, not on the workflow logic they can express. That boundary is deliberate, because two neighbouring pages on this site answer different questions. Best Process Orchestration Platforms 2026 scores multi-step process control, error handling and state management. Best AI Agent Platforms 2026 scores building and hosting the agent itself. This page scores the layer between them: the connective tissue that lets an agent already built elsewhere reach the applications a business actually runs on. A platform that leads one of those pages can place low here, and two of them do. Scores derive from application and action catalogue counts, the exposure model each platform uses to publish those catalogues to an agent, setup effort, failure handling and cost per agent action. Every figure was retrieved from a vendor-owned surface on 11 August 2026 unless an earlier date is stated against it.

Dive Deeper

comparison

Moxo vs Lindy in 2026: Who Presses Approve When the Agent Asks

Lindy, founded in 2023, sells an AI teammate that lives in Slack and in each person's inbox; Moxo, whose predecessor Moxtra was co-founded in 2012, runs multi-party processes where approvals are steps only a person can close. Moxo wins three rounds to two: who closes the step, work across companies and the record. Lindy wins reach and testing. Vendor pages and docs read 28 September 2026.

comparison

Moxo vs Kissflow in 2026: What an Outside Approver Costs, and What the Record Proves

Moxo and Kissflow both sell approvals to people who do not write code, and each wins one round outright: Moxo's Web and Headless SDKs run the approval inside the buyer's own product, under the buyer's own sign-in. Kissflow's portal audit log stamps every event with an actor, a device and an IP, where Moxo publishes no field list. Both answers are quoted, not priced, and both meters punish a one-step request sent to hundreds of clients. Cost, the decision record, rejection routes, AI metering and governance, verified 14 to 23 September 2026.

comparison

Moxo vs Camunda 8 in 2026: BPMN User Tasks for Staff, Step Types for Outsiders

Camunda 8 can fix a process under cases already running, since active instances migrate onto a corrected definition and, for Camunda user tasks, "a migrated active user task remains assigned to the same user". Moxo keeps the shared queue that Camunda's Tasklist V2 stops evaluating, with desks that are "a shared inbox that multiple users can pick work from". Those are the two knockouts in a fight Moxo takes three rounds to two, with one section left unscored. Portability, AI review gates and a published price decide the rest, verified 14 to 23 September 2026.