From Slack Channels

Prerequisites: Before creating requests from Slack channels, you must first create a Collection and add channel(s) to it.

When ClearFeed monitors a Slack channel, messages posted become Requests based on your configuration. This guide explains the key concepts and various ways to create requests from Slack channels.

Key Concepts

Before diving into how requests are created, it's important to understand the core concepts that determine ClearFeed's behavior.

Understanding User Types

ClearFeed classifies users into two groups:

  • Responders (team members/agents)

    • Members of your own Slack workspace who handle support requests

    • Typically your internal support team

  • Non-Responders (customers or employees)

    • Slack Connect members (from a different Slack workspace)

    • Guest users (single-channel or multi-channel)

    • Anyone submitting requests for support

Default Behavior by Account Type

The default behavior varies depending on your Product Edition:

External Helpdesk Accounts (with Agent-based pricing):

  • Only Non-Responder (External User) messages create requests by default

  • Internal User (Responder) messages do not create requests unless explicitly enabled

  • This prevents internal team discussions from being converted into support requests

Other Accounts:

  • Messages from both Responders and Non-Responders create requests by default

  • You can modify Collection Settings to create requests only from Non-Responder messages

Override: To manually create a request from any message (including Responder messages or filtered messages), add a 📌 (:pushpin:) emoji reaction to the first message in the thread. This bypasses all filters and works across all Product Editions.

AI Filtering

ClearFeed uses AI-powered filtering to automatically suppress request creation for certain message types that don't require support attention. By default, ClearFeed will not create requests from the following categories:

  • Greetings: "Good Morning", "Happy Birthday", "Hi"

  • Acknowledgments: "Ok Thanks", "Got it", "Cool"

  • Appreciation: "Great work", "Thanks for helping out", "Awesome folks"

  • Resolved: "This works", "This is solved", "Got the answer thanks"

Important Notes:

  • Requests can still be created if someone replies to these filtered messages (see How Replies Work)

  • These messages may be merged with adjacent ones

  • You can customize AI filtering behavior to match your team's communication patterns—see custom AI filtering guide

Message Merging

In customer support scenarios, users often send multiple messages in quick succession:

Customer: "Hi, I have a problem"
Customer: "My laptop won't connect"
Customer: "Can someone help?"

ClearFeed can merge these messages into a single request instead of creating three separate requests.

Availability:

  • Message Merging is enabled only for the External Helpdesk Product Edition

  • It is disabled for all other Product Editions and for Collections with Automatic Ticketing to external systems

Learn more about Merging and Split. To change this behavior, contact ClearFeed Support.

How Replies Work

Certain message types are not automatically treated as Requests:

  • Messages from Responders (if configured to ignore them)

  • Ignorable messages (filtered by AI)

  • Announcement messages However, Non-Responder replies to these messages (unless ignorable) are converted into Requests.

Example:

  1. An announcement about a new feature is posted to 100 channels

  2. No Requests are created from the announcement itself

  3. A customer replies to one announcement: "How can I enable this new feature?"

  4. ClearFeed creates a Request from that specific thread

Customization Options:

  • This automatic reply detection can be disabled—contact ClearFeed Support to configure

  • You can customize ignorable detection prompts to match your team's communication style

How Request Creation Works

Now that you understand the key concepts, here's what happens when someone posts a message in a monitored channel:

  1. A user posts a message in a Slack channel monitored by ClearFeed

  2. ClearFeed detects the message and identifies the user as either a Responder or Non-Responder

  3. ClearFeed applies AI Filtering to determine if the message is ignorable

  4. Based on your Collection settings and account type, ClearFeed determines whether to convert the message into a Request

  5. If enabled, ClearFeed may merge the message with adjacent messages from the same user

  6. Once converted, Responders can view the request—including its ID, Status, and other details—in the Triage channel or ClearFeed Web App

Creating Requests and getting Replies

Ways to Create Requests

Automatic Creation from Messages

By default, each Slack thread in a monitored channel becomes a separate Request based on the rules described in How Request Creation Works above.

When messages are processed:

  • ClearFeed only monitors new messages after a channel is added to a Collection

  • Existing messages are not automatically converted into requests

  • Messages may occasionally fail to load due to downtime

Manual Request Creation

To manually create a request from an existing message or a message that was filtered out, apply a 📌 (:pushpin:) emoji reaction to the first message in the thread. This makes the request visible in the ClearFeed Web App and Triage Channels.

Create Requests Using Slack Workflows

ClearFeed supports creating requests directly through Slack Workflows. This allows teams to collect structured information from requesters before creating a request.

Note: This feature requires setup. Contact ClearFeed Support to enable it for your account.

Steps to Create a Slack Workflow

1. Access Slack Automations

  • From your desktop, hover over More, then select Automations.

* Click **Create Workflow** near the top-right corner. **2. Configure the Trigger** * Choose **"From a Link in Slack"** as the trigger. **3. Add Workflow Actions** * **Collect information in a form:** Add questions for the requester (e.g., _Describe your issue_, _Priority level_, _Team_). * **Send a message to a channel:** * Select the channel monitored by ClearFeed. * Use workflow variables to send the collected information in the message. * To ensure ClearFeed attributes the request to the person who submitted the form (not the Bot), add the requester info in the **first line** using this format: ``` #requester {{Person who submitted the form}} ``` **Example:** ``` #requester @John Doe Issue: Laptop not connecting to WiFi Priority: High Team: IT Support ``` **Tip:** To use a different keyword (e.g., `#employee` or `#user`), contact [ClearFeed Support](mailto:[email protected]) to configure it. **4. Add Workflow to Request Channel** * Open the **request channel** where you want the workflow. * Click the **Workflows** tab in the conversation header. * If you don't see it, click the **"+" button** to find it. * Select **Add workflow** to add the workflow to the Request Channel. * You can also use **Feature workflow** to replace the message field with a button to start the workflow.

Learn more about managing workflows in Slack.

5. Whitelist the Workflow Bot

  • Go to Settings > Additional Settings and whitelist the workflow bot on ClearFeed so that ClearFeed can monitor and create requests from workflow messages. See the Bot Whitelisting section below for detailed instructions.

Example Use Cases

  • IT Team Workflow: Collect laptop issue details → Post formatted message in #it-support → ClearFeed creates a request for the employee.

  • HR Workflow: Collect leave application info → Post in #hr-requests → ClearFeed creates a request under the employee's name.

Sample Workflow

Bot Whitelisting

By default, ClearFeed does not monitor messages from bots in a Slack workspace. Bot messages are generally posted on Slack by other Slack applications in the workspace and not by Slack users.

If you want to enable ClearFeed to monitor messages from a specific bot (such as workflow bots, integration bots, or webhooks), you need to whitelist the bot on ClearFeed.

How to Whitelist Bots

  1. Navigate to Settings > Additional Settings in the ClearFeed web app.

  2. Find the Bot Whitelisting section.

  3. ClearFeed automatically detects the bots that are available in your Slack workspace.

  4. Select the bot(s) you want to whitelist from the dropdown list.

  5. You can multi-select bots or whitelist all the bots you need.

  6. Click Save to apply the changes.

Whitelisting Slack Webhooks

If your use case requires ClearFeed to monitor messages posted using a Slack Webhook, please note that every Slack Webhook has a different Application or Bot ID. The ID corresponding to the Slack Webhook has to be whitelisted in ClearFeed.

Bot Whitelisting Settings

How to Find Application Name for a Slack Webhook

Webhooks posting to Slack Channels are usually part of Slack Workflows. To whitelist a specific webhook, you need to find the corresponding Workflow and whitelist the Workflow's name:

  1. Go to the Workflows section from your Slack Desktop.

  2. Click the "Workflows" menu on the left sidebar.

  3. Check the workflows listed—these are the ones ClearFeed shows in the whitelisting dropdown.

  4. Find the Workflow containing your webhook from this list.

  5. Use this workflow name when whitelisting in ClearFeed.

Slack Workflows Navigation

Advanced Configuration

Send Messages as a User via API

When messages are sent to Slack via external systems using Slack APIs, they typically appear as being sent by the bot associated with the integration. This makes it difficult for your support team to identify the actual customer or user who raised the request.

ClearFeed supports sending messages from external systems to Slack while displaying them as if they are coming from actual users rather than a bot.

How It Works:

To process the message as originating from a specific user, pass additional metadata in the payload when using Slack's chat.postMessage API:

{
  "channel": "C1234567890",
  "text": "Hello from an external system!",
  "event_type": "user_message",
  "event_payload": {
    "clearfeed": {
      "user_id": "external-1234",
      "name": "John Doe"
    }
  }
}

Field Descriptions:

Field
Description

user_id

Unique identifier for the user. Use the same user_id across messages from the same sender to maintain consistent identity.

name

Display name for the message sender that will appear in Slack.

Important Requirements:

  • This feature only works with whitelisted bots in ClearFeed

  • The user_id must remain consistent for the same user across messages

  • If metadata is missing, the message will appear as sent by the bot

  • If the name changes for an existing user_id, ClearFeed will update the display name for future messages

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. I added a channel to a Collection, but I don't see any requests. Why? Answer: ClearFeed only monitors new messages after a channel is added. Existing messages are not automatically converted. To create requests from older messages, apply a 📌 emoji reaction to the first message in the thread. See Manual Request Creation.

  2. Why isn't ClearFeed creating a request from my workflow message? Answer: Check the following:

    • The first line contains #requester followed by the requester variable (e.g., #requester @John Doe)

    • The message is posted in a channel monitored by ClearFeed (added to a Collection)

    • Workflow variables are correctly mapped in the message

    • The workflow bot has been whitelisted (Settings > Additional Settings > Bot Whitelisting)

  3. Can I use workflows in private channels? Answer: Yes, as long as the ClearFeed bot has been added to the private channel and the channel is added to a Collection.

  4. Can I customize the form questions in workflows? Answer: Yes, you can add any questions relevant to your request process when creating the Slack Workflow. The collected answers can be included in the message body using workflow variables.

  5. Can I use the "Send Messages as a User" API feature with all whitelisted bots? Answer: Yes, any whitelisted bot that sends messages via the Slack API with the specified payload format can use this feature. The bot must be whitelisted in ClearFeed and have permission to post messages in the target channel.

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