# Use Piste in Slack: install and first week

> How the workspace owner adds Piste to Slack, what the install asks for, the Kickoff conversation, the first week of daily messages, and who can talk to Piste.

Source: https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack

Piste works in Slack through its own Slack app, which the workspace owner adds once. After that, anyone who's a full member of your Slack workspace can DM Piste or mention @Piste in a channel, and Piste posts automation results and cards for decisions there. Slack is optional: Piste on the web always works.

## How do I add Piste to Slack?

Only the workspace owner can add Piste to Slack, with `Add to Slack` on the onboarding step "Where should Piste reach you?" or on the Slack card under Channels on the Connections page, which you open from the links at the foot of the sidebar in the [web app](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/web-app).

### 1. Press Add to Slack

Slack opens its own screen for Piste's app.

### 2. Pick your Slack workspace and approve

[The table below](#what-does-the-slack-install-ask-for) says what each permission Slack lists lets Piste do.

### 3. Come back to Piste

Slack sends you back where you started. On the Connections page the notice reads "Slack is connected. Mention Piste in a channel, or DM it."

### 4. Open your DM with Piste

If this is your workspace's first Slack install, made during onboarding or within 24 hours of finishing it, Piste messages you within about a minute to start the [Kickoff](#what-happens-in-the-kickoff). Any other install gets one line: "Piste is connected. Message me here, or mention me in a channel I've been added to."

If the install doesn't finish, the Connections page says why:

| Notice | What it means |
|---|---|
| "That Slack workspace is already connected to another Piste account." | A Slack workspace belongs to one Piste workspace. |
| "Slack wasn't connected." | The install was cancelled on Slack's screen. |
| "That Slack sign-in expired. Try again." | More than 10 minutes passed, or the install was finished in another browser. |
| "Only the workspace owner can connect Slack." | Someone other than the owner started the install. |
| "Slack couldn't be connected. Try again." | Anything else. |

An org-wide install on Slack Enterprise Grid isn't supported. Install Piste into one Slack workspace instead.

`Add another workspace` on the Slack card adds a second Slack workspace. Piste answers in each, and automations post in the one you added or reinstalled most recently.

## What does the Slack install ask for?

| What it lets Piste do | Slack permissions |
|---|---|
| See mentions of @Piste, and post replies, automation results and cards | `app_mentions:read`, `chat:write` |
| Read DMs people send it, and DM you the Kickoff, the first week and the weekly ledger | `im:history`, `im:read`, `im:write` |
| Receive messages in public channels it's in, and look up whether a channel is shared with another organisation | `channels:history`, `channels:read` |
| Create a public channel for an automation or a team, invite people to it, and join a public channel when someone uses a shortcut there | `channels:manage`, `channels:join` |
| Read messages in a private channel you've added it to | `groups:history`, `groups:read` |
| Read group DMs it's been added to | `mpim:history`, `mpim:read` |
| Offer the `/piste` command and the message shortcuts | `commands` |
| Read a file someone attaches to a message, and post a long answer as a snippet | `files:read`, `files:write` |
| Look up a person: whether they're a full, active member, and their name | `users:read` |
| See people's email addresses in Slack | `users:read.email` |

An install made before Piste could create channels doesn't have `channels:manage` and `channels:join`. When Piste needs them, it gives you a link to reinstall Slack. Nothing is lost by reinstalling.

## What happens in the Kickoff?

The Kickoff is Piste's first conversation with you, in one thread of your Slack DM, in these steps, leaving out what doesn't apply:

1. **A first read of your store.** Piste greets you by first name and gives the two or three largest findings, each with its numbers and where they came from. If one has a fix Piste can make, such as limiting a discount code to one use per customer, it proposes it as a [store edit](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/approvals/store-edits) with buttons.
2. **A recent change.** One line about a recent change to your store, if one is worth mentioning.
3. **Your ads** (early access). With no ad account connected, Piste says it can't see your ads yet, links to the Connections page and moves on. Google Ads and Meta are in early access: where they aren't switched on, their cards there read "Google Ads isn't switched on here yet." and "Meta Ads isn't switched on here yet." With an ad account connected, Piste audits it and proposes one fix.
4. **What it could watch for you.** Piste offers Ad spend watch, the Monday budget memo and Change follow-ups as buttons, the one it recommends ending "(Recommended)". With no ad account connected it recommends Change follow-ups, since the other two read ad accounts.
5. **Your first automation.** Piste starts the one you pick in [its own channel](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack/channels), then asks once whether to start another, with "That's all for now" as an option.
6. **The plan for your first week**, described below.

The Kickoff asks at most two questions, proposes at most two fixes, and never asks again about something you skipped. Reply in its thread: a new message at the top of your DM starts a conversation that doesn't know about the Kickoff.

Where Google Ads or Meta is switched on (early access), connecting your first ad account after the Kickoff, within 7 days of it or before any automation channel exists, starts a second conversation in a new DM thread with the ads audit.

## What is the first week?

For about a week after the Kickoff, Piste sends at most one short message a day in the Kickoff's thread, chosen and written by Piste's code from what's true that day, not by AI.

The Kickoff ends with the plan: "Here's what I'd do with you this week. I'll send one message a day at most, at 9am on weekdays, and only when there's something to say. You can stop me any time." It lists what's still to do, with `Sounds good` and `Stop the daily messages` buttons.

Each daily message starts "One thing for today:" and has a `Stop the daily messages` button. Piste sends the first of these that applies that day, and each at most once:

| Message | Sent when |
|---|---|
| Start your first automation | You have no automation yet. Reply with the one you want. |
| Connect Google Ads or Meta (early access) | No ad account is connected. Its `Connect an ad account` button opens the Connections page, where a Google Ads or Meta Ads card that isn't switched on says so. |
| A decision waiting in a channel | A card in a channel is waiting. It has an `Open it` button. |
| Bring in whoever looks after ads or stock | You've taken every decision yourself so far, and an automation posts in a channel. |
| What you're aiming for (early access) | Ad spend watch is running with no [target](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/measurement/targets) set. |
| A Shopify permission | A follow-up or a revert is waiting on a permission. |
| Your first follow-up | The first result of a change is in. |

The messages go out in the 9 o'clock hour on weekdays, in your workspace's time zone, never on the day of the Kickoff. A day with nothing to say sends nothing. On day 7, or the next weekday when day 7 falls at a weekend, Piste sums up the week (decisions taken and by whom, what's still open, the first result) and stops.

Replying in the thread reaches Piste, which knows what it last sent there. [Quiet hours](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack/quiet-hours) can hold a daily message until your working hours open.

### How do I stop the daily messages?

Press `Stop the daily messages` on the plan or on any daily message, or tell Piste in the thread. The message's buttons give way to "Daily messages stopped. I won't send another; I'm here whenever you write."

Only the owner can stop them. Anyone else who presses the button is told "Only the workspace owner can change Piste's daily messages." A stop is permanent, and reinstalling Slack doesn't undo it.

## Who can talk to Piste in Slack?

Anyone who's a full, active member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed, with no Piste account: they become a [light member](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack/conversations#who-becomes-a-light-member) the first time. Guests, deactivated accounts and bots can't, and nor can people from another organisation in a shared channel, except in an [agency room](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/agency-rooms) (early access). Guests can still read what Piste posts in channels they're in.

## How do I disconnect Slack?

On the Connections page, press `Disconnect` beside the Slack workspace, then confirm in the "Disconnect Slack?" dialog: "Mentions and DMs there stop working, and people there can no longer reach it." Only the owner can disconnect.

Removing Piste's app from inside Slack does the same. Either way, Piste forgets the installation and every Slack identity there, light members' included.

## More about Piste in Slack

- [Conversations](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack/conversations): DMs, mentions, threads, light members and approvals.
- [Channels](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack/channels): Automation channels, team channels and listening.
- [Shortcuts and /piste](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack/shortcuts): Ask, Remember and Watch on any message.
- [Quiet hours and digests](https://www.usepiste.com/docs/slack/quiet-hours): When Piste posts, the weekly ledger and nudges.


## Questions

### Who can add Piste to Slack?

Only the workspace owner, with the Add to Slack button on the Connections page of the web app or on the onboarding step. Once Piste is installed, any full member of your Slack workspace can talk to it.

### Do my teammates need a Piste account to use Piste in Slack?

No. Any full, active member of the Slack workspace where Piste is installed can DM Piste or mention it. They become a light member of your Piste workspace the first time they do.

### I reinstalled Slack. Why didn't the Kickoff start again?

Only the workspace's first Slack connection starts the Kickoff, and only during onboarding or within 24 hours of finishing it. Any other install gets a one-line confirmation in your DM instead.

### How do I stop Piste's daily messages after onboarding?

Press Stop the daily messages on the plan or on any daily message, or tell Piste so in that thread. Only the owner can stop them, and they stay stopped, even if you reinstall Slack.

### Does Piste work with Slack Enterprise Grid?

Piste installs into one Slack workspace at a time. An org-wide Enterprise Grid install isn't supported.

### Can I connect more than one Slack workspace?

Yes, with Add another workspace on the Connections page. Piste answers in each of them, and automations post in one: the one you added or reinstalled most recently.