Slack - Rootly

Rootly’s Slack integration automatically creates and manages incident channels the moment an incident starts. Channels stay in sync with incident details in real time, so teams stay aligned without manual coordination.

What You Can Do

Incident Channels

Auto-create dedicated channels for each incident with consistent naming, topics, and bookmarks. Channels can be public or private based on incident sensitivity.

Real-Time Updates

Channel topics, names, and bookmarks update automatically as incident status, severity, or details change.

Notifications & Alerts

Announce new incidents to designated channels, notify user groups for high-severity events, and send reminders for stale incidents or unassigned roles.

User Management

Auto-invite on-call responders, service owners, or specific user groups to incident channels based on conditions.

Slash Commands

Declare incidents, update status, assign roles, add action items, and trigger workflows directly from Slack with /rootly commands.

Block Kit Messages

Send rich, interactive messages with buttons for common actions like updating summary, assigning roles, or escalating to PagerDuty.

How It Works

Connect Slack

Authorize Rootly to access your Slack workspace. For Enterprise Grid, install at the organization level and add to specific workspaces.

Configure Automations

Use Smart Defaults for quick channel and notification setup, or build Custom Workflows for advanced conditional logic.

Incidents Auto-Managed

When incidents occur, Rootly creates channels, posts announcements, invites responders, sends reminders, and archives channels when resolved.

Before You Begin

You’ll need:

Rootly account with admin permissions
Slack workspace admin or owner access
For Enterprise Grid: Org Owner or Org Admin role

Required Permissions

Rootly requests the following Slack permissions during installation.

Bot Scopes (Core)

Scope	Purpose
`bookmarks:write`	Add bookmarks to incident channels
`channels:manage`	Create public incident channels
`channels:read`	View public channel information
`chat:write`	Send messages to incident channels
`chat:write.public`	Post to channels without joining
`commands`	Add `/rootly` and `/incident` commands
`files:read`	Save pinned/reacted files to timeline
`files:write`	Upload files via workflows
`groups:read`	View private channels Rootly is added to
`groups:write`	Create private incident channels
`pins:read` / `pins:write`	Pin messages to incident channels
`reactions:read` / `reactions:write`	Add timeline events via emoji reactions
`usergroups:read` / `usergroups:write`	Manage on-call user groups
`users:read` / `users:read.email`	View user info for invitations
`users.profile:read`	Display full names instead of usernames

Bot Scopes (AI & Assistant)

Scope	Purpose
`app_mentions:read`	Respond to @rootly mentions
`channels:history`	Read public channel history for AI features
`groups:history`	Read private channel history for AI features
`assistant:write`	Enable Rootly AI agent
`im:history`	Read DMs for AI agent interactions

User Scopes

Scope	Purpose
`usergroups:write`	On-call user group management

When bot cannot create channels (some workspaces restrict this):

Scope	Purpose
`channels:write`	Create public channels on behalf of admins
`groups:write`	Create private channels on behalf of admins

Enterprise Grid Scopes

Scope	Purpose
`conversations.connect:write`	Connect channels across workspaces
`admin.conversations:write`	Manage conversations at org level

For details on Slack scopes, see Slack’s permission documentation.

Installation

Slack Free, Pro, or Business+

Single workspace installation. Most common setup for teams on standard Slack plans.

Slack Enterprise Grid

Organization-level installation with multi-workspace support. Requires Org Owner/Admin.

Slack Free, Pro, and Business+

Open Integrations

In Rootly, go to Configuration → Integrations and search for Slack. Click Setup.

Select Your Plan

Choose Other Slack Plans (this covers Free, Pro, and Business+).

Authorize in Slack

You’ll be redirected to Slack. Verify you’re installing to the correct workspace (check the dropdown in the top right), then click Allow.

Confirm Connection

You’ll be redirected back to Rootly. The integration should show as Connected.

Slack Enterprise Grid

You must be an Org Owner or Org Admin to complete Enterprise Grid setup. The install happens at the Slack organization level, so workspace-level roles (Workspace Owner, Workspace Admin) don’t have the required permissions on their own.

With Enterprise Grid, you install Rootly at the organization level, then add it to specific workspaces. This lets you manage incidents across multiple workspaces from a single Rootly account.

Open Integrations

In Rootly, go to Configuration → Integrations and search for Slack. Click Setup.

Select Enterprise Grid

Choose Slack Enterprise Grid.

Install at Organization Level

You’ll be redirected to Slack. Before clicking Allow, verify you’re installing at the organization level (not a single workspace).Click Allow to approve Rootly as an organization-wide app.

Add Rootly to Workspaces

After authorization, switch to your Slack Enterprise Grid admin portal:

Go to Organization Settings → Integrations → Installed Apps
Find Rootly in the list
Click the menu and select Add to more workspaces
Select which workspaces should have access to Rootly
Click Next and Allow

Rootly will now be available in those workspaces.

Configure Incident Workspace

Return to Rootly and go to Integrations → Slack → Configure:

Select incident workspace — Choose which workspace will host your dedicated incident channels
Set announcement channel — Choose where new incidents are announced
Set alerts channel — Choose where alerts are posted
Click Save Settings

Set Up Shared Channels (Recommended)

For cross-workspace visibility, create a shared incident channel:

In Slack, create or select a channel (for example, #incidents)
Click the channel name → Settings → Workspaces with access
Add all workspaces that should see incident announcements

This way, users in any workspace can see incidents declared from any other workspace.

Switching From a Workspace Install to Enterprise Grid

If Rootly was originally installed at the workspace level (Slack Free / Pro / Business+) and you now want Enterprise Grid features — multi-workspace channel selection, Forms across workspaces, pin-to-timeline, shared cross-workspace incident channels — you need to disconnect and reinstall Rootly with the Enterprise Grid option selected.

The install-mode choice (workspace install vs Enterprise Grid install) is set once during installation. There is no setting in the Rootly UI to switch between the two modes after the fact. If you dismissed the install-mode prompt or originally picked workspace install, the only way to access Enterprise Grid features is to disconnect and reinstall.

Slack-driven automation is unavailable during the disconnect-reinstall window. Between the disconnect and the completed Enterprise Grid reinstall (including Add-to-Workspaces and channel reselection), the following stop working: /incident and other Slack slash commands, incident channel auto-creation, Slack notifications from workflows, /rootly alert commands, and any workflow action that posts to or invites into a Slack channel. Web-based incident creation and non-Slack integrations remain fully functional. Plan the switch during a quiet operational window — most teams schedule it outside of business hours or during a maintenance window so an active incident doesn’t collide with the reinstall.

What’s Preserved Across The Reinstall

Disconnecting and reinstalling the Slack integration only resets the Slack integration’s own settings — the broader Rootly configuration around it stays intact. Specifically:

Stays intact	Resets and needs to be re-set
Incident workflows (triggers, conditions, actions)	Slack incident workspace selection
On-call schedules and escalation policies	Announcement channel
Other integrations (Jira, Datadog, PagerDuty, etc.)	Alerts channel
Channel and user references stored on existing Rootly records	Slack Smart Defaults
Historical incidents, timelines, retrospectives	App scopes (re-authorized during install)

Existing workflow actions that reference specific Slack channels or users do not need to be edited after the reinstall — as long as Rootly is re-added to every workspace that hosts those channels or users during the Enterprise Grid install. Channel and user references are stored on the Rootly side and continue to resolve correctly once Rootly is present in the workspace again. You gain the ability to change which workspace a channel is selected from going forward, but you don’t have to retroactively update anything. If Rootly is not added back to a workspace, actions that reference channels or users in that workspace will fail at execution time — this is the biggest reason to be deliberate about which workspaces you add Rootly to during Step 2.

Procedure

Disconnect The Existing Slack Integration

In Rootly, go to Configuration → Integrations, find Slack, click Connected to reveal the disconnect option, then click Disconnect.See Uninstall for the full disconnect steps, including how to also remove Rootly from your Slack workspace (recommended before reinstalling to avoid lingering app state).

Reconnect And Choose Enterprise Grid

Restart the installation flow from Configuration → Integrations → Slack → Setup. When the install-mode prompt appears, choose Slack Enterprise Grid and follow the Enterprise Grid install steps above.You must be an Org Owner or Org Admin to complete the Enterprise Grid setup — the install happens at the Slack organization level, so workspace-level roles aren’t sufficient on their own. If your account doesn’t have the required role, ask an Org Owner or Org Admin to complete this step.

Reconfigure Slack-Specific Settings

After the Enterprise Grid install completes, set:

The incident workspace (which workspace hosts dedicated incident channels)
The announcement channel
The alerts channel
Smart Defaults as needed

These are the settings that were reset during the reinstall. Your workflows, schedules, and other integration configurations are unchanged.

Verify Existing Workflows Still Reference Valid Channels

Open a few of your most-used incident workflows and confirm their Slack actions still resolve to the expected channels. In almost every case they will — references are preserved across the reinstall — but spot-checking a couple of high-traffic workflows gives you a sanity check before the next incident.

If your organization isn’t on a Slack Enterprise Grid plan, the Enterprise Grid option won’t appear during the install flow. See the Enterprise Grid option not showing accordion in Troubleshooting below for the most common causes.

Re-Claiming the /incident Command

During the transition to Rootly, you may experience issues where Rootly’s bot claims the /incident Slack command from your existing bot. When multiple bots use the same command, Slack will always invoke the one that was installed most recently. If this interrupts your transition, follow the steps below to reclaim the /incident command from Rootly.

Option 1 (Recommended)

This is the safest method — it does not result in a blackout period where your old bot is unusable.

Ensure Rootly is already installed on your Slack workspace.
Update your old bot’s Slack command from /incident to a placeholder (for example, /incident-1).
Save the change.
Change the command of your old bot back to /incident.

Slack recognizes an update to the command as a new installation. This should make your old bot the “most recently installed bot” that uses the /incident command.

Option 2

If Option 1 does not work, try this option. There will be a brief blackout period where your old bot is unusable.

Ensure Rootly is already installed on your Slack workspace.
Uninstall your old bot.
Reinstall your old bot.

This is effectively the same as Option 1 — the reinstallation reclaims the /incident command from Rootly.

Enterprise Grid Consideration

If the issue persists after trying the above, check your installation scope. If Rootly is installed at the Slack organization level (Slack Enterprise Grid), you must also reinstall your old bot at the Slack organization level, not just at the workspace level.

Smart Defaults

Smart Defaults let you configure automatic Slack behaviors without building custom workflows. Enable channel creation, set up announcements, configure reminders, and manage archiving from a single settings panel.

New vs Existing Customers:

New customers have Smart Defaults enabled by default and can manage incidents immediately
Existing customers have Smart Defaults disabled to avoid disrupting existing workflow configurations

Go to Configuration → Integrations → Slack
Click Configure
You’ll see the Smart Defaults panel

Workspace Setup

Select the Slack workspace where incident channels will be created.

Most users see one workspace. Enterprise Grid customers may see multiple workspaces.

The selected workspace determines which users, groups, and channels appear in Rootly dropdowns.

Notifications

Configure what messages Rootly sends to Slack.

Team Notifications

Default Announcement Channel

Announces every new public incident in a specified channel. Private incidents are excluded from this announcement.

Rootly refreshes channels daily. Click Refresh channels if a channel doesn’t appear.

For private channels, the Rootly bot must be added first. Send @Rootly in the channel to invite the bot.

High Severity Notifications

Notify specific users, groups, or channels when high-severity incidents are declared.

See Severities to configure severity levels.

Default Alerts Channel

Announces new alerts in a specified channel. Messages auto-update as alerts are acknowledged, escalated, or resolved.

For conditional routing (for example, different channels per team), use a Custom Workflow.

Smart Reminders

Reminder	What It Does
Unassigned roles	Notifies if no incident roles are assigned within a set time
Triage timeout	Notifies if incident stays in Triage state too long
Inactive incident	Notifies if no activity occurs within a set time
Empty summary	Notifies if incident summary remains blank
Status page update	Periodic reminder to update status pages
Leave feedback	Reminder to log feedback after resolution

What counts as “activity”?

Updating the incident summary ✓
Using 📌 emoji to log timeline events ✓
Regular messages in the channel ✗ (does not count)

Updates

Setting	What It Does
Status change notifications	Post to channel when incident status changes
Status page notifications	Post when a status page is updated
Draft communication notifications	Post when a draft communication is created
Timeline pin reaction	Add ✅ emoji when events are pinned to timeline
Pin timeline events	Pin timeline updates to the Slack channel

Advanced

Setting	What It Does
Broadcast incident events	Post timeline updates as new messages instead of threading them. Noisier but harder to miss.
Mention and tag @user	Tag users mentioned by Rootly in timeline updates. Disable to reduce notification fatigue.

Incident Channel

Configure how incident channels are created and managed.

Channel Settings

Setting	What It Does
Create incident channel	Auto-create a Slack channel for each new incident. Highly recommended.
Channel naming convention	Select from predefined formats or create custom names using Liquid variables
Auto-bookmark incident link	Add a bookmark linking to the incident in Rootly web UI
Auto-update channel topic	Update topic when severity, status, type, or environment changes

Slack doesn’t allow duplicate channel names. Predefined options ensure uniqueness. For custom names, include unique identifiers like {{ incident.sequential_id }}.

Example custom channel names:

inc-{{ incident.sequential_id }}-{{ incident.title | slugify }}
{{ incident.severity | downcase }}-{{ incident.created_at | date: '%Y%m%d' }}-{{ incident.title | truncate: 20 }}

Bypass Slack Permissions

Some workspaces restrict channel creation to admins. Enable this to let Rootly create channels on behalf of admin users.

Check with your Slack admin before enabling. This requires additional user scopes.

Emoji Shortcuts

Configure emoji reactions to trigger actions:

Default Emoji	Action
📌	Add message to incident timeline
🔧	Create a follow-up action item
⭐	Create a task

Choose uncommon emojis to avoid accidental triggers. Avoid 👍, 😄, or other frequently used reactions.

Archive Channels

Setting	What It Does
Auto-archive incident channels	Archive channels after resolution. Set a delay (1-2 days recommended) to allow cleanup.
Auto-archive test incidents	Archive test/tutorial channels 24 hours after creation

Member Tracking

Setting	What It Does
Require Slack connection	Force all Rootly users to connect their Slack accounts
Track joins	Log when users join incident channels to the timeline
Track leaves	Log when users leave incident channels to the timeline

When to Use Custom Workflows Instead

Smart Defaults cover common scenarios, but use Custom Workflows when you need:

Conditional logic — Different channels for different teams or severities
Multi-step automations — Invite users, then send a message, then add a bookmark
Integration actions — Create Jira tickets, page PagerDuty, update status pages
Scheduled/delayed actions — Send reminders at specific intervals
Custom message formatting — Use Block Kit for rich interactive messages

Workflows

Smart Defaults

Quick setup, no codePre-configured settings for channel creation, topics, notifications, and reminders.

Custom Workflows

Full controlBuild conditional automations with triggers, conditions, and 10+ Slack actions.

Available Actions

Custom workflows give you full control over Slack automation. Create channels, send messages, invite users, and more based on triggers and conditions you define. If you’re new to workflows, see the Workflows documentation first.

Action	What It Does
Create Slack Channel	Create a dedicated incident channel
Send Slack Message	Post a message to channels/users
Send Slack Reminder	Send recurring messages with snooze/pause
Send Slack Blocks	Send rich Block Kit messages
Invite to Slack Channel	Add users/groups to a channel
Rename Slack Channel	Change channel name dynamically
Update Channel Topic	Update the channel topic
Add Slack Bookmark	Pin links to channel bookmark bar
Archive Slack Channel	Archive inactive channels
Change Channel Privacy	Switch between public/private

Create a Workflow

Open Workflows

Go to Rootly → Workflows → Create Workflow.

Choose Workflow Type

Select Incident, Retrospective, or Pulse depending on when you want the workflow to run.

Configure Triggers

Triggers define when the workflow runs.

Trigger	When It Fires
Incident Created	New incident declared
Incident Updated	Fields like severity or status change
Incident Status Changed	Status moves (for example, Active → Mitigated)
Incident Commander Assigned	Someone takes ownership
Manual Trigger	Run on-demand from Slack or web UI

Add Conditions (Optional)

Conditions filter when the workflow should actually execute.

Common conditions:

Severity — Only for SEV-1 or SEV-2
Team/Service — Only for specific teams
Incident Type — Only for actual incidents (not tests)
Environment — Only for production

Add Actions

Click Add Action and search for Slack.

Select one or more Slack actions. Each action is configured independently.

Action Reference

Create Slack Channel

Creates a dedicated channel for the incident.

string

required

Which Slack workspace to create the channel in.

string

required

Channel name. Supports Liquid variables.Example: incident-{{ incident.sequential_id }}-{{ incident.title }}

enum

Controls channel visibility:

auto — matches incident privacy (private incident → private channel)
true — always private
false — always public

If the incident already has a Slack channel, this action will skip channel creation to avoid duplicates.

Send Slack Message

Posts a message to channels, users, or user groups.

string

Target channels. Use {{ incident.slack_channel_id }} for the incident channel. Supports Liquid variables.

string

Individual users to message directly.

string

Groups to notify — all members receive the message.

string

required

Message content. Supports Liquid variables and Slack markdown.

Message Options:

Option	Description
Pin to Channel	Pin the message
Send as Ephemeral	Only visible to specified users
Thread under parent	Reply to an existing message
Update Parent Message	Replace the parent instead of threading
Broadcast Thread Reply	Also post threaded reply as new message

Action Buttons — add interactive buttons to messages:

Button	What It Opens
Update Summary	Edit incident summary
Manage Incident Roles	Assign/remove roles
Update Incident	Edit incident fields
Leave Feedback	Log incident feedback
Manage Action Items	Task/follow-up checklist
Add PagerDuty Responders	Page via PagerDuty
Add Opsgenie Responders	Page via Opsgenie

Send Slack Reminder

Same as Send Message, but with Snooze/Pause buttons and support for recurring schedules.

string

Target channels. Supports Liquid variables.

string

required

Reminder message content. Supports Liquid variables.

enum

How often the reminder fires. Options include once, every N minutes, hourly, and daily.

Use reminders for periodic nudges (for example, “Update the incident summary every 30 minutes”). The Snooze and Pause buttons allow responders to defer or stop reminders without leaving Slack.

Send Slack Blocks

Send rich, interactive messages using Slack Block Kit.

string

required

JSON payload following Block Kit format. Supports Liquid variables.

string

Text shown in push notifications when Block Kit content can’t be rendered.

Block Kit Examples:Text section with markdown:

{
  "type": "section",
  "text": {
    "type": "mrkdwn",
    "text": "*Incident:* {{ incident.title }}\n*Severity:* {{ incident.severity }}"
  }
}

Button that triggers a workflow:

{
  "type": "actions",
  "elements": [{
    "type": "button",
    "text": { "type": "plain_text", "text": "View Action Items" },
    "action_id": "trigger_custom_workflow",
    "value": "incident-list-out-incomplete-action-items"
  }]
}

Available action_id values:

action_id	What It Does
`toolbar_update_incident_summary`	Edit summary modal
`toolbar_update_status`	Change status modal
`toolbar_update_incident`	Edit incident modal
`manage_incident_role_assignments_dialog`	Assign roles modal
`manage_incident_action_items`	Action items checklist
`add_feedback`	Feedback modal
`pagerduty_responders`	PagerDuty escalation
`opsgenie_responders`	Opsgenie escalation
`snooze_reminder`	Snooze recurring workflow
`pause_reminder`	Pause recurring workflow
`trigger_custom_workflow`	Run another workflow (set `value` to workflow slug)
`open_custom_form`	Open a custom form (set `value` to form slug)

Slack’s Block Kit Builder can’t interpret Liquid variables. Test your templates in Rootly’s Liquid Variable Explorer.

Invite to Slack Channel

Adds users or user groups to a channel.

string

required

Target channel. Use {{ incident.slack_channel_id }} for the incident channel. Supports Liquid variables.

string

Individual users to invite. Use {{ incident.creator }} for the incident creator.

string

Groups to invite — all members are added to the channel.

Rename Slack Channel

Changes the channel name dynamically, useful for reflecting status changes.

string

required

Channel to rename. Use {{ incident.slack_channel_id }}. Supports Liquid variables.

string

required

New channel name. Supports Liquid variables.Example: resolved-{{ incident.title }}

Common use case: Rename to include status when resolved (for example, resolved-database-outage).

Update Channel Topic

Sets the channel topic to display key incident info at a glance.

string

required

Channels to update. Supports Liquid variables.

string

required

New topic text. Supports Liquid variables and Slack markdown.

Example topic:

🔴 {{ incident.severity }} | {{ incident.status }} | Commander: {{ incident.commander.name | default: "Unassigned" }}

Add Slack Bookmark

Pins a link to the channel’s bookmark bar for quick access during an incident.

string

required

Channel to add the bookmark to. Supports Liquid variables.

string

required

Bookmark display text. Supports Liquid variables.

string

required

URL to bookmark. Common values: {{ incident.url }}, {{ incident.jira_issue_url }}. Supports Liquid variables.

string

Icon shown next to the bookmark.

string

Optionally link to a Rootly playbook instead of specifying a title and link manually.

Archive Slack Channel

Archives the channel to keep your workspace clean after an incident is resolved.

string

required

Channel to archive. Use {{ incident.slack_channel_id }}. Supports Liquid variables.

Common trigger: Incident status changed to “Closed” with a 24–48 hour delay to allow post-incident cleanup.

Change Channel Privacy

Switches a channel between public and private.

string

required

Channel to modify. Supports Liquid variables.

enum

required

public — make the channel visible to all workspace members
private — restrict access to invited members only

Changing from private to public may not be allowed by your Slack workspace settings.

Common Liquid Variables

Variable	Description
`{{ incident.slack_channel_id }}`	Current incident’s channel ID
`{{ incident.title }}`	Incident title
`{{ incident.severity }}`	Severity level
`{{ incident.status }}`	Current status
`{{ incident.url }}`	Link to incident in Rootly
`{{ incident.creator }}`	User who created the incident
`{{ parent_incident.slack_channel_id }}`	Parent incident’s channel (for sub-incidents)

Explore all variables in the Liquid Variable Explorer.

Slash Commands

Icon	Meaning
🌐	Works in any Slack channel
🚨	Requires incident channel

Getting Started

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly connect`	Link your Slack account to Rootly	🌐
`/rootly help`	View available commands and descriptions	🌐
`/rootly support`	Report an issue to Rootly	🌐

Create & View Incidents

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly new`	Declare a new incident and create a channel	🌐
`/rootly test`	Create a test incident (not publicly announced)	🌐
`/rootly maintenance`	Schedule a maintenance window	🌐
`/rootly list`	View up to 10 active incidents	🌐
`/rootly overview`	Open incident control center	🚨
`/rootly catchup`	Get AI-powered incident summary	🚨

Update Incidents

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly update`	Edit incident fields (severity, type, etc.)	🚨
`/rootly summary`	Add or edit incident summary	🚨
`/rootly timeline`	Add an event to the incident timeline	🚨
`/rootly timestamps`	Edit status change timestamps	🚨
`/rootly convert`	Convert current channel to incident channel	🌐 (non-incident)

Incident Status

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly status`	Change incident status	🚨
`/rootly mitigate`	Mark incident as mitigated	🚨
`/rootly resolve`	Mark incident as resolved	🚨

Teams & Services

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly add team`	Attach a team to the incident	🚨
`/rootly add service`	Tag impacted services	🚨
`/rootly add functionality`	Tag impacted functionalities	🚨
`/rootly add alert`	Associate an alert with the incident	🚨

Roles & Assignments

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly assign`	Assign, add, or remove incident roles	🚨
`/rootly escalate` \| `/rootly call` \| `/rootly page`	Open the paging dialog. In an incident channel this attaches the page to the incident and routes through any configured external provider (PagerDuty, Opsgenie, VictorOps); outside an incident channel it opens the manual Rootly On-Call paging dialog. All three words are aliases for the same command.	🌐 / 🚨

Action Items

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly task`	Create a task (to complete during incident)	🚨
`/rootly followup`	Create a follow-up (post-incident action)	🚨
`/rootly add action item`	Create a task or follow-up	🚨
`/rootly action items`	Manage the incident’s action items	🚨
`/rootly todo`	View your assigned action items (to-do list)	🚨
`/rootly tasks`	View your assigned action items (to-do list)	🚨

Alias: /rootly action also works for managing action items.

On-Call & Paging

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly oncall`	View on-call schedules	🌐
`/rootly page` \| `/rootly escalate` \| `/rootly call`	Alias for the paging dialog (see Roles & Assignments for full behavior).	🌐 / 🚨
`/rootly alerts`	View all alerts	🌐

Advanced

Command	Description	Where
`/rootly manage fields`	Set values for custom incident fields	🚨
`/rootly integrations`	Manage links to integrated tools (Jira, PagerDuty, etc.)	🚨
`/rootly statuspage`	Publish an update to a status page	🚨
`/rootly feedback`	Log feedback about the incident response	🚨
`/rootly duplicate`	Mark incident as duplicate of another	🚨
`/rootly sub`	Create a sub-incident	🚨 (parent)
`/rootly workflows`	Manually trigger a workflow	🚨

Command Details

Creating Incidents

`/rootly new`

Opens the incident creation form. Fill in title, summary, severity, and type. Rootly will:

Create a dedicated Slack channel
Post the initial incident message
Trigger configured workflows

`/rootly test`

Same as /rootly new, but the incident is marked as a test and won’t be publicly announced. Use for training and workflow testing.

`/rootly maintenance`

Schedule planned maintenance. Maintenance incidents appear in the Rootly web UI and can be published to status pages.

Managing Status

`/rootly status`

Opens a modal to change the incident status (In Triage → Active → Mitigated → Resolved → Closed).

`/rootly mitigate`

Quick action to mark the incident as mitigated. You’ll be prompted to add a comment explaining the mitigation.

`/rootly resolve`

Quick action to mark the incident as resolved. You’ll be prompted to add a resolution comment.

Action Items

Tasks are actions to complete during the incident (for example, “Restart the database”).Follow-ups are post-incident actions (for example, “Add monitoring for this failure mode”).Use /rootly action items to manage this incident’s action items, or /rootly todo (alias /rootly tasks) to see the checklist of items assigned to you.

On-Call Commands

`/rootly oncall`

View who’s currently on-call for any schedule. Works with Rootly On-Call and integrated providers (PagerDuty, Opsgenie, VictorOps).

`/rootly escalate` · `/rootly call` · `/rootly page`

These three words are aliases for the same command — pick whichever your team prefers. The dialog that opens depends on where you invoke the command:

Inside an incident Slack channel — the escalation dialog opens with the current incident’s context. If your team has an external paging integration (PagerDuty, Opsgenie, VictorOps, PagerTree), the dialog routes the page through that provider; otherwise it uses Rootly On-Call.
In any other channel — the manual page dialog opens for ad-hoc paging (Rootly On-Call schedules, teams, services, functionalities, or escalation policies).

You can prefill target users by @-mentioning them after the command: /rootly page @alice @bob. Non-mention trailing text is ignored.If a team admin has enabled a custom Slack paging workflow (Team Settings), the alias set is disabled and these commands won’t respond.

Channel Conversion

`/rootly convert`

Convert an existing Slack channel into a Rootly incident channel. Use this when an incident discussion is already happening in a channel before it’s formally declared.Run this command in the channel you want to convert (not an existing incident channel).

Troubleshooting

Workspace not showing during installation

Causes:

You’re not an Admin or Owner of the workspace
Workspace doesn’t allow members to install apps
Logged into wrong Slack account

Solutions:

Ask a Slack Admin/Owner to install Rootly
Check Slack → Settings & Permissions → App Management
Try in a private browser window with the correct Slack account

Enterprise Grid option not showing

Causes:

Your org isn’t on Enterprise Grid
You’re not an Org Owner/Admin
Logged into a non-Grid workspace

Solutions:

Verify your plan at Slack’s pricing page
Ask an Org Owner/Admin to complete installation
Log into your Enterprise org, not a standalone workspace

Channels not being created

Causes:

Rootly bot lacks channel creation permissions
Workspace restricts channel creation to admins

Solutions:

Enable Bypass Slack permissions in Smart Defaults
Verify Rootly has channels:manage and groups:write scopes
Check workflow logs for specific errors

Can't see incidents from other workspaces (Enterprise Grid)

Causes:

Announcement channel isn’t shared across workspaces
Rootly not added to all required workspaces

Solutions:

Create a shared channel for incident announcements
Add Rootly to all workspaces via Organization Settings → Installed Apps

Disabling the native Rootly connector in Slack Workflow Builder

Slack includes a native, Slack-built Rootly connector in Workflow Builder that is separate from the Rootly Slack app. If you need to disable or restrict this connector at the workspace level, see the FAQ on the Slack integration page for step-by-step instructions.

Can't pin messages to incident timelines 📌

If you’re on Slack Enterprise Grid and pinning messages to the incident timeline isn’t working, this is a sign that your Slack integration was installed as a non-Grid (single-workspace) installation rather than at the organization level.

Solutions:

Disconnect the Slack integration from Rootly
Reconnect it, making sure to select Slack Enterprise Grid during installation and authorize at the organization level (not a single workspace)

Uninstall

To remove the Slack integration:

Go to Configuration → Integrations and find Slack
Click Connected to reveal the disconnect option
Click Disconnect

Click Connected to reveal the Disconnect option

Disconnecting from Rootly does not remove Rootly from Slack. To fully revoke access:

In Slack, go to Settings & Administration → Manage Apps
Find Rootly and click Remove

​What You Can Do

Incident Channels

Real-Time Updates

Notifications & Alerts

User Management

Slash Commands

Block Kit Messages

​How It Works

​Before You Begin

​Required Permissions

​Installation

Slack Free, Pro, or Business+

Slack Enterprise Grid

​Slack Free, Pro, and Business+

​Slack Enterprise Grid

​Switching From a Workspace Install to Enterprise Grid

​What’s Preserved Across The Reinstall

​Procedure

​Re-Claiming the /incident Command

​Option 1 (Recommended)

​Option 2

​Enterprise Grid Consideration

​Smart Defaults

​Workspace Setup

​Notifications

​Team Notifications

​Smart Reminders

​Updates

​Advanced

​Incident Channel

​Channel Settings

​Bypass Slack Permissions

​Emoji Shortcuts

​Archive Channels

​Member Tracking

​When to Use Custom Workflows Instead

​Workflows

Smart Defaults

Custom Workflows

​Available Actions

​Create a Workflow

​Action Reference

​Common Liquid Variables

​Slash Commands

​Getting Started

​Create & View Incidents

​Update Incidents

​Incident Status

​Teams & Services

​Roles & Assignments

​Action Items

​On-Call & Paging

​Advanced

​Command Details

​/rootly new

​/rootly test

​/rootly maintenance

​/rootly status

​/rootly mitigate

​/rootly resolve

​/rootly oncall

​/rootly escalate · /rootly call · /rootly page

​/rootly convert

​Troubleshooting

​Uninstall

What You Can Do

How It Works

Before You Begin

Required Permissions

Installation

Slack Free, Pro, and Business+

Slack Enterprise Grid

Switching From a Workspace Install to Enterprise Grid

What’s Preserved Across The Reinstall

Procedure

Re-Claiming the /incident Command

Option 1 (Recommended)

Option 2

Enterprise Grid Consideration

Smart Defaults

Workspace Setup

Notifications

Team Notifications

Smart Reminders

Updates

Advanced

Incident Channel

Channel Settings

Bypass Slack Permissions

Emoji Shortcuts

Archive Channels

Member Tracking

When to Use Custom Workflows Instead

Workflows

Available Actions

Create a Workflow

Action Reference

Common Liquid Variables

Slash Commands

Getting Started

Create & View Incidents

Update Incidents

Incident Status

Teams & Services

Roles & Assignments

Action Items

On-Call & Paging

Advanced

Command Details

`/rootly new`

`/rootly test`

`/rootly maintenance`

`/rootly status`

`/rootly mitigate`

`/rootly resolve`

`/rootly oncall`

`/rootly escalate` · `/rootly call` · `/rootly page`

`/rootly convert`

Troubleshooting

Uninstall