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The Slack alert node posts a message to a Slack channel whenever a document flows through it — typically placed after an If/Else or Validate node so it only fires on matches (for example, “invoice total > $10,000”, “classification = escalate”, or “a validation rule failed”). This page covers the connection; the node’s options and API shape live on the node page.

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Connect your Slack workspace

The Slack connection is set up once per organization; every workflow in the org can then send alerts through it.
  1. Open Connectors from the user menu (avatar → Connectors).
  2. Find the Slack row and click Connect.
  3. Approve the anyformat app in Slack’s consent screen.
  4. You’re returned to the same page with Slack showing as Connected.
Who can connect: organization admins only. Non-admins see a note asking them to reach out to an admin instead of the Connect button.
What we ask Slack for: permission to post messages as the anyformat app, list your public channels so you can pick one, and automatically join a channel the first time you send an alert to it.
Private channels are not supported in the current release. The channel picker only lists public channels. If you need alerts in a private space, ask an admin to open a matching public channel, or reach out to us.
One workspace per organization. If you need to switch workspaces, use Change account (see Managing the connection). If you need alerts routed to more than one Slack workspace from the same org, reach out to us.

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Add a Slack Alert node

In Studio, add a Slack Alert node one of two ways:
  • Drag Alerts → Slack Alert from the sidebar onto the canvas.
  • Or click the + chip on an upstream Extract, Validate, or If/Else handle and pick Slack Alert.
Then configure it:

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Channel

Pick from the dropdown of your public channels. anyformat joins the channel the first time it posts there — no manual invite needed.

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Message template

Compose the message with the built-in editor. Click the picker to drop a field chip into the template — for example:
Chips resolve to the field’s current value on delivery. Renaming the field in Studio keeps the chip working; deleting the field breaks it (and the alert will land with a visible <missing: …> marker in that spot). Validation chips — when there’s a Validate node upstream, you can also drop a rule-outcome chip. For a rule whose id is amt_positive:
  • Each rule exposes three attributes you can insert: status, detail, severity.
  • status lands in Slack as one of pass, fail, or inconclusive.

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Severity

Pick the severity that determines the color bar on the Slack card:

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Preview and test

  • The Preview panel shows the message with each chip replaced by the field name in brackets (e.g. [vendor_name]), so you can eyeball the layout before you save. If a chip can’t be resolved (renamed / deleted field), the preview shows <missing: …> in that spot.
  • Click Send test to post a rendered [Test]-prefixed message to the selected channel — the fastest way to confirm the bot has access and the layout looks right. Test messages do not count against your alert budget.

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How alerts are delivered

  • Order of operations. The alert fires after the upstream node (Extract, If/Else, or Validate) produces its result for the document.
  • Open document button. Every alert has an Open document button that opens the file in Studio with the exact workflow version the alert fired against — so recipients land on the same schema the alert was built with.
  • Missing values are visible. If a chip’s field or validation rule didn’t produce a value for a document, the delivered alert shows <missing: …> in that spot instead of silently dropping it — so you can see and fix the broken template.
  • Per-organization rate limits. To protect your Slack workspace from a runaway workflow, deliveries are capped at 60 per minute and 500 per hour across the whole org. Alerts over the cap are dropped for that window (they aren’t queued or retried).

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Managing the connection

Open Connectors → Slack → ⋯ (from the user menu) for these controls:
  • Change account — installs anyformat into a different Slack workspace. The credentials for the old workspace are discarded on our side, but the app stays installed in that workspace until you remove it there. If you want it fully cleaned up, open Slack’s Apps → anyformat → Remove app in the old workspace.
  • Disconnect — stops all Slack Alert deliveries and asks Slack to uninstall the app from your workspace. Disconnection on our side is immediate; if Slack rejects the uninstall (rare — usually a network hiccup or an already-invalid token) you may need to remove the app manually from Slack’s app directory. Your Slack Alert nodes aren’t deleted — they simply pause until you reconnect.
Uninstalling from Slack directly (via Slack’s own Apps → anyformat → Remove app) doesn’t notify anyformat. Deliveries will start failing on the next attempt, but the integration stays shown as connected in Studio until you also click Disconnect here. Prefer Disconnect — it flips both sides at once.

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Troubleshooting

“Slack isn’t connected” appears when I open the node. Nobody has connected Slack for your organization yet. If you’re an admin, click Connect Slack — you’ll be walked through the same flow as Connect your Slack workspace. If you’re not an admin, ask one to set it up. The channel picker won’t load or says “Slack workspace unreachable”. Slack rejected our request — usually a revoked token, a rate-limit, or a transient outage on their side. Try again in a minute; if it persists, disconnect and reconnect from Connectors. Message arrives with ${field.…} shown literally. The chip was typed by hand with characters the substitution can’t parse. Delete the raw text and re-insert it from the picker instead. Message arrives with <missing: …> where a value should be. Either the referenced field was renamed or deleted (re-insert the chip from the picker), the field wasn’t extracted from this particular document, or the referenced validation rule didn’t run for this document. The alert didn’t fire at all. Slack Alert only fires when the upstream node produces a result for the document. If it’s behind an If/Else, check that the branch condition was true for this input. Deliveries stopped mid-run. You may have hit the rate limit (60/minute or 500/hour). Wait for the next window, and consider scoping the alert with an If/Else so it only fires on the cases you actually need paged for.