Social Intents connects your website chat widget to Slack so your team can respond to visitors directly from Slack channels. Learn more about live chat for Slack. Below we walk through the full setup process, from authorizing the Slack app to receiving your first live chat.
Prerequisites
- A Slack workspace where you have permission to install apps
- A website where you want to add live chat
Step 1: Start the Connection
There are two ways to begin:
Option A: From the Social Intents Website
Sign Up or Log In
Go to socialintents.com and start a free trial. During signup, on the Add Live Chat Agents step, click Add to Slack.
Option B: From Your Dashboard
Open Integrations
Log in to your Social Intents account and click Integrations in the left sidebar. Under Agent channels, find the Slack card and click Connect (it says Reconnect if Slack is already connected).
Step 2: Authorize Social Intents in Slack
Grant Permissions
The Slack OAuth authorization screen opens. Review the permissions Social Intents needs and click Allow. The app requests permission to:
- Post messages to channels
- Create channels for individual chat conversations
- Read channel membership for agent identification
- Access user profile information (name, email, photo) for agent details
Select a Channel
During authorization, choose the Slack channel where you want incoming chat notifications to appear. You can select an existing channel or create a new one like #live-chat. You can change it later per widget (see Assigning Agents and Channels in Slack).
Step 3: Install the Chat Widget
Copy the Code Snippet
Go to Chat Widgets, select your widget, and open the Deploy tab. Copy the JavaScript snippet under Install on your website. It looks like this:
<script src="https://www.socialintents.com/api/chat/socialintents.1.5.js#YOUR_WIDGET_KEY" async="async"></script>Add It to Your Website
Paste the snippet before the closing </body> tag on every page where you want live chat. WordPress users can use the Live Chat by Social Intents plugin instead. See Install Live Chat on Any Website Platform for platform-specific steps.
Step 4: Test the Connection
Send a Test Chat
Open your website and click the chat widget. Send a message. A notification should appear in your configured Slack channel within seconds. Click to join the chat and reply to the visitor.
How Chat Routing Works in Slack
Choose how conversations are organized in Slack under Settings > Channels > Slack settings > Conversation layout. The layout applies to every widget connected to Slack:
New Channel for Each Chat (Default)
When a visitor starts a chat, Social Intents creates a dedicated Slack channel for that conversation. The channel name is based on the visitor's name (or a generated identifier). All messages for that chat flow through this channel, keeping conversations organized and separate from your other Slack discussions. When the chat ends, the channel is archived automatically.
Threaded Mode
Threaded mode keeps each chat in a single thread in your inbound channel instead of creating separate channels. A parent message is posted to your notification channel and all replies happen inside that thread. This is ideal for high-volume teams that prefer fewer channels. See Slack Threaded Mode.
One Channel per WhatsApp Contact
If you connect WhatsApp, each WhatsApp contact can get a permanent channel: every conversation with that contact goes there, and you can message them from it at any time. Website chats still get a new channel per chat. See WhatsApp with Slack.
The same Slack settings card also lets you show agents' Slack profile photos and display names to visitors, notify the channel with @here when a new chat starts, and send offline messages to Slack. Click Save channel settings after changes.
WhatsApp, SMS, and Broadcast Replies in Slack
Once Slack is connected, WhatsApp and SMS conversations routed to a Slack-connected widget arrive in Slack like website chats, and your agents reply from Slack. When a customer replies to a WhatsApp broadcast, the reply lands in Slack with a one-time context line ("Reply to broadcast ... sent ...") so the agent knows which message the customer is answering.
What Gets Stored
After authorization, Social Intents stores:
- Bot token - Used to post messages and create channels
- User token - Used for user-level operations like listing channels
- Team ID - Identifies your Slack workspace
- Default channel - Where chat notifications are posted
Tokens are stored securely and are only used for chat operations. Social Intents does not read your other Slack messages or channels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I connect multiple Slack workspaces?
Each widget connects to one Slack workspace. To point a widget at a different workspace, open the widget's Settings tab and click Reconnect Slack in the routing card; your other widgets keep their current workspace.
What Slack plan do I need?
Social Intents works with all Slack plans, including Free, Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid.
Can I disconnect and reconnect Slack?
Yes. You can revoke the Social Intents app from your Slack workspace settings and reconnect it at any time from Integrations. Your widget settings and chat history are preserved.