How to Add an AI to Your Slack Workspace in 5 Minutes
Slack is where decisions get made and then forgotten. Someone asks a question in a channel on Tuesday, someone answers it on Thursday, and by Monday no one remembers what was decided. A chief of staff in Slack fixes that — if you pick the right one and set it up right.
Here's how to add Chief of Staff by LearnAI (Alex) to your workspace. Five minutes end-to-end.
Before you start
You'll need:
- Slack workspace admin access (or permission to install apps)
- A Chief of Staff account — start on the web if you don't have one
- A minute to write your team's current goal and bottleneck — this seeds the shared memory
Step 1: Install from the app directory
In Slack, go to Admin → App directory and search for "Chief of Staff by LearnAI." Click Install. Slack walks you through permission scopes — Alex needs to DM users, reply in channels when @mentioned, and read its own messages. It never reads messages it wasn't mentioned in.
Step 2: Link your Chief of Staff account
After install, Slack redirects you to getchiefofstaff.com. Sign in (or sign up) and approve the connection. Workspaces on our Team or Company plans link to a single shared business profile — every teammate draws from the same memory.
Step 3: Seed the business profile
Alex opens a DM with the installing admin and runs a quick four-question intake: what's the business, what's the #1 goal, what's the biggest bottleneck, how much strategic time does the team have per week. This becomes the shared memory every teammate shares when they talk to Alex.
You can edit this profile any time from the web app under Settings → Business profile.
Step 4: Invite Alex to channels
In any channel, type:
/invite @alex
Alex only responds when @mentioned. No silent listening. No noise.
Step 5: First @mention
Try:
@alex what should we focus on this week?
Alex replies in-thread with a prioritized answer grounded in the shared business profile. Not a menu of options — an opinion, with reasoning.
What to try next
@alexin a decision thread. When your team is debating something, @mention Alex to get a neutral take with the context of your goals.@alexin the weekly review. Paste the week's wins and misses — Alex carries them into next week's memory.- Private DMs with Alex. For the questions you don't want the whole team to see.
Per-seat billing you'll actually enjoy
Team and Company plans only bill seats that were active that month. If only four of your ten teammates @mention Alex in May, you pay for four. No shelfware.
Troubleshooting
- Alex not responding? Make sure Alex was invited to the channel with
/invite @alexand the workspace is linked under Settings. - Alex forgot something? Shared memory is updated when Alex is @mentioned in channel. Private DMs are private — they don't surface to teammates.
- Removing Alex? Channel settings → Integrations → remove. Shared memory stays intact for the next time you invite Alex back.