# Channels

Talk with a goal's agent from Slack, Microsoft Teams, iMessage or email, link your chat account, and choose where its updates go.

Canonical page: https://app.auto-lab.ai/docs/connect/channels

A channel is a place outside Auto Lab where you talk with the goal's agent. You mention it in Slack, text it, or email it. Every channel feeds the goal's one Chat thread, and the agent answers where you asked.

## Available channels

Set up channels in **Settings › Channels**. The same list is on the **Channels** tab of **Brain › Connectors**, and in setup under **Where should I reach you?**.

| Channel | Available | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Slack | On every goal | A Slack workspace where you can add apps |
| Microsoft Teams | When switched on for the goal | A Teams admin of your Microsoft tenant to approve the Auto Lab app |
| iMessage | When switched on for the goal | A dedicated line from Sendblue, and its API key id and secret |
| Email | When switched on for the goal | An AgentMail inbox, which Auto Lab can create for you |
| Here in Auto Lab | Always | Nothing. This is the goal's Chat |

Teams, iMessage and email are off by default. Someone who manages the goal switches them on in **Settings › Feature flags**: **Microsoft Teams**, **iMessage** or **AgentMail Email**.

## Connect Slack

### Add the Slack app
In **Settings › Channels**, select **Add to Slack**. Pick your Slack workspace and approve. You are linked as the first person automatically.

### Invite the bot to a channel
In Slack, invite the Auto Lab bot to a channel: type `/invite` in the channel and pick the bot added in the
previous step.

### Give it a task
Mention the bot with what you need, or send it a direct message. In a thread under one of the bot's own messages, you can reply without mentioning it.

If your deployment has no shared Slack app, the page shows **Set up Slack** instead. It walks you through creating your own Slack app, which takes about three minutes.

If your Slack workspace is connected to more than one goal, the first mention in a channel asks which goal it belongs to.

### Slack commands

Type these in Slack. Only you see the answers.

| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| `/autolab` | Shows which goal this channel is connected to, with buttons to change it or open it in Auto Lab |
| `/autolab login` | Links your Slack account to your Auto Lab account |
| `/autolab logout` | Removes that link |
| `/autolab projects` | Lists the goals connected to this Slack workspace. Slack still calls a goal a project |
| `/autolab switch` | Connects this channel to a different goal |
| `/autolab help` | Lists every command |

Slash commands do not run in Slack's assistant side panel. Type the same words as a plain message there, for example `/autolab login`.

## Connect Microsoft Teams

1. Switch on **Microsoft Teams** in **Settings › Feature flags**.
2. In **Settings › Channels**, select **Connect** on the Microsoft Teams row. A Teams admin of your Microsoft tenant signs in and grants consent. This adds the Auto Lab app to your organization's Teams apps, or sends it to your admin for review.
3. Select **Add to Teams** and add Auto Lab to a chat or a team.
4. Mention Auto Lab with a task. Send `/login` to link your account, and `/help` for the other commands.

If your deployment has no shared Teams bot, the page offers **Use your own Azure bot instead of the managed Auto Lab bot**.

## Connect iMessage

1. Switch on **iMessage** in **Settings › Feature flags**.
2. Get a dedicated line from Sendblue, with its API key id and secret.
3. In **Settings › Channels**, select **Connect** on the iMessage row. Choose **Sendblue** and enter the **Line** in international format, such as `+15551234567`, then the **Sendblue API key id** and **Sendblue API secret**.
4. Select **Generate** next to **Webhook secret**. Paste the **Webhook URL** from the form, and the same secret, into Sendblue's webhook settings. Then select **Connect iMessage**.

Teammates text the line. The first text from a number that is not linked gets a sign-in link back. A number that texts `STOP` gets no more messages until it texts `START`.

## Connect email

1. Switch on **AgentMail Email** in **Settings › Feature flags**.
2. In **Settings › Channels**, select **Connect Email**. Create a managed inbox with an address prefix, or attach an AgentMail inbox you already have.
3. Optionally, turn on **Restrict who can start sessions** and list the addresses, domains or pattern allowed to write in.

Mail from the sign-in address of a goal admin runs as that person. Mail from anyone else reaches Chat as outside content. The agent answers it in Auto Lab only, with limited tools, and Chat marks it as a message from outside.

## Link your chat account

The agent acts as the person who wrote to it, so each person links their chat account to Auto Lab once. The first time you write from a channel, the agent asks you to link.

| Channel | How to link |
|---|---|
| Slack | `/autolab login`, or **Connect or create account** on the prompt |
| Teams | Send `/login` to Auto Lab |
| iMessage | Text the line and open the sign-in link it sends back |
| Email | Nothing to link. Your sign-in address is matched |

Open the link and sign in to Auto Lab. If you link within about ten minutes, the message you sent first then runs. If your account cannot work on this goal yet, Slack and Teams offer **Request access**, and a goal admin approves it under **Asked to join** in **Settings › Access**.

A Slack, Teams or iMessage message runs only when its sender is linked to an Auto Lab account with the admin role on the goal (shown as **Project admin**). To see or remove your links, open **Personal settings › Chat identities** and select **Unlink**. Unlinking does not change your access to any goal.

## How replies work

- Every message from a linked person lands in the goal's Chat, next to messages from the web.
- The answer goes back where the question came from: the same Slack thread, the same iMessage chat, a reply to the email.
- In Slack, the bot marks your message while it works and adds a check mark when it has answered.
- In Slack, iMessage and email, questions arrive as a numbered list. Reply with the number, or type your answer. Teams shows a question card.
- When a message the agent wants to send needs your approval, Slack and iMessage show you the draft. Reply `go` to send it or `no` to cancel.
- On long tasks, Slack and iMessage get a short progress line now and then.
- If a reply cannot be delivered, Chat shows **Delivery to {platform} failed**.

## Where scheduled updates go

The channel you pick under **Where should I reach you?** during setup gets the goal's routine and check-up output. When you launch, Auto Lab also turns on escalation to that channel, so items waiting for you reach you there. **Here in Auto Lab** keeps everything in Chat and on the Overview. Teams gets escalations, but routine output stays in Chat for now.

Two more deliveries live in **Brain › Triggers**:

- **Daily digest** sends one summary a day, at a time you set in UTC, to up to four linked channels or your verified email. Quiet days send nothing.
- **Escalate what needs you** sends a waiting question, approval, change request or plan after a delay you choose, outside quiet hours. Anything you answer in the app within the delay is never sent.

See [Plans, schedules and triggers](/docs/goals/schedules).

## What does not work

- Telegram and other chat apps are not supported channels.
- The bot only hears Slack channels it has been invited to.
- A Teams chat cannot receive scheduled output yet.
- `/autolab agent`, `/autolab model`, `/autolab policy`, `/autolab sessions` and the **Channel bindings** table (**Agent**, **Model**, **Join policy**) only matter for older goals that run as sessions. On a goal with one Chat thread, every message goes to that thread.