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What It Does

Connect Monk to your Slack workspace and it sends you questions, configuration forms, and file approval requests directly in Slack. You respond right there — no need to open your IDE. Monk asks on both the IDE and Slack at the same time. Whichever one you respond on first wins — the other is cancelled automatically. There are two Slack features:
  • Remote Control — two-way interactive prompts for answering questions, filling out forms, and approving changes from Slack
  • Watcher Alerts — one-way monitoring notifications with AI-powered diagnosis and a Fix with Monk button
Available on Pro and Team plans.

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Connect Slack

1

Open the Monk dashboard

Click the Monk icon in the status bar (Cmd+Shift+M / Ctrl+Shift+M). You’ll see a Slack card with a Connect to Slack button.
2

Authorize in Slack

A browser window opens where you authorize the Monk app in your Slack workspace. You need permission to install apps in the workspace.
3

Pick a channel

Back in your IDE, Monk shows a list of your Slack channels and DMs. Pick where you want to receive messages. You can also send to a DM with yourself for a personal notification channel.
That’s it. The Slack card in the dashboard now shows your connected channel, and a Slack indicator appears in the status bar showing connection status.
You can also connect Slack through your agent: ask Monk to connect Slack.

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Remote Control

Once Slack is connected, Monk sends interactive messages to your Slack channel whenever it needs your input — during deployments, configuration changes, scaling, credential requests, and more.

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What you can do from Slack

Answer questions — When Monk needs a decision (“Continue deployment to production?”, “Which region?”), you get a Slack message with buttons or a text input. Tap a button or type your answer. Fill out forms — Configuration forms (cluster settings, watcher thresholds, service parameters) appear as interactive Slack forms. Fill them out and submit without switching to your IDE. Approve file changes — When Monk’s code editor wants to modify files, you get an approval request in Slack showing what will change. Approve or reject with a reason. Provide credentials — When Monk needs cloud credentials, it notifies you in Slack. The actual credential entry happens securely in the IDE, but the notification means you know to check in when you’re ready.

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How it works

Monk asks on all available interfaces simultaneously — the IDE chat and Slack. The first response wins. If you answer in Slack, the IDE prompt is dismissed. If you answer in the IDE, the Slack message is updated to show it was handled. This means you can start a long-running operation, close your laptop, and handle the next decision from your phone when the Slack notification arrives.

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Example flow

  1. You tell Monk to deploy your project and close your laptop
  2. Monk provisions infrastructure, builds containers, and hits a decision point — “The deployment needs a database. Set up PostgreSQL?”
  3. A Slack message arrives on your phone with Yes and No buttons
  4. You tap Yes
  5. Monk continues deploying, and you get a confirmation when it’s done

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Watcher Alerts

Watcher monitors your cluster 24/7 and sends one-way alert notifications to Slack when something goes wrong — crashes, CPU spikes, disk pressure, health check failures. Watcher alerts use a separate Slack webhook (not the relay connection). During Watcher setup, Monk offers to configure Slack alerts. If you accept, it opens a quick OAuth flow where you authorize an Incoming Webhook and pick a channel. Monk handles the entire setup — no manual webhook URLs needed. Each alert includes:
  • AI-powered diagnosis explaining what happened and why
  • Severity level and affected service
  • A Fix with Monk button that opens your IDE with full context
See Watcher for configuration options and alert format details.

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Managing the Connection

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Change channel

Click Change on the Slack card in the dashboard, or: 
ask Monk to change the Slack channel

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Disconnect

Click Disconnect on the Slack card, or run the Monk: Reset Slack Integration command from the command palette. This clears the connection from your IDE but does not uninstall the Monk app from your Slack workspace.

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Reconnect

If the connection drops (network issues, IDE restart), Monk reconnects automatically. You can also click the Slack status bar indicator or run Monk: Reconnect Slack from the command palette.

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Status indicator

The status bar shows the current connection state:
  • Slack (check icon) — connected and ready
  • Slack (spinner) — connecting or reconnecting
  • Slack (warning) — connection error, click to reconnect
  • Hidden when Slack is not configured

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FAQ

No. Slack is optional. Without it, Monk asks all questions in the IDE chat. Slack just gives you a second interface so you can respond when you’re away from your editor.
The first response wins. If someone answers in Slack and someone else answers in the IDE, whichever comes first is used. The other is cancelled.
No. Remote control uses a persistent WebSocket connection through the Monk relay service. Watcher alerts use a standard Slack Incoming Webhook. They’re configured separately and can go to different channels.
The app needs permission to post messages and read channel lists in your workspace. It uses Slack’s Socket Mode — no public URLs or firewall changes needed on your side.

Watcher

24/7 cluster monitoring with AI-powered Slack alerts

Watcher setup guide

Step-by-step setup including Slack alert configuration