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Adding Slack as a communication channel

An administrator can integrate Slack with BMC HelixGPT to make it easier for users to access BMC Helix applications. This integration allows users to interact with AI agents for BMC Helix applications directly from Slack channels where they already collaborate.

By enabling BMC HelixGPT in Slack, users can ask questions or request actions without switching to a separate support portal or BMC Helix interface. This helps teams respond faster to common issues, reduces interruptions, and improves overall productivity.

Use this feature when your organization relies on Slack for daily communication and wants to provide quick, conversational access to BMC Helix applications through AI.

Information
Scenario: Providing self-service IT support through Slack

 

Employees at Apex Global use Slack as their primary collaboration platform to raise IT‑related issues, such as password problems or application access requests. To get these issues resolved, they must log in to a separate support portal and manually raise a ticket. This multi‑step process slows down issue resolution and adds to the overall workload of the IT support team.

To streamline support, an IT administrator integrates BMC HelixGPT with Slack and creates an IT support channel. BMC HelixGPT connects users to AI agents associated to the BMC Helix applications used at Apex Global.

Users interact with these BMC Helix applications directly in the Slack channel to ask questions or request actions. The AI agents respond in the same channel with guidance or confirmation of the requested action.

This integration helps users resolve issues faster without leaving Slack, and IT support teams reduce manual effort while keeping interactions centralized.

Limitations

  • Does not support attachments, image output, image analysis, and complex service catalogs; supports only plain text input and output.
  • Does not support adaptive cards. Slack cannot display rich layouts that combine text, images, or structured elements.
  • Does not support interactive UI actions, such as buttons, visual multi‑select lists, or calendar selections.
  • Does not support feedback actions, such as thumbs up or thumbs down.

Process overview

To add Slack as a communication channel in BMC HelixGPT, administrators must perform the following tasks:

Process overview

Before you begin

To set the application scope and get the Slack application credentials

  1. Navigate to the application that you created in Slack.
  2. Select OAuth & Permissions.
  3. Select Scopes > Bot Token Scopes and select the following OAuth scopes:
    • channels:history
    • chat:write
    • files:read
    • files:write
    • users:read
    • im:history

      The following image shows the Bot Token Scopes that you must select:
      Bot token scopes

  4. On the OAuth & Permissions page, in the OAuth Tokens & Redirect URL section, click Install App to Workspace. 
  5. On the OAuth & Permissions page, in the Tokens for Your Workspace section, copy the Bot User OAuth Access Token.
  6. In the left pane, under the Settings menu, select Basic Information.
  7. Copy the following credentials:
    • App ID
    • Verification Token

The following image shows the Slack application credentials that you must copy:
Application credentials

To add Slack as a communication channel in HelixGPT Agent Studio

  1. In HelixGPT Agent Studio, from the Skills tab, select an application from the Application list.
  2. Select an appropriate skill for the application you select.
  3. Click the Channels tab.
  4. Click Add Channel.
  5. In the Add Channel dialog box, select Custom Webhook from the Channel list and click Add.​Data URI image​
  6. Enter the values for the following fields:

    Important: Copy the values for the fields marked with an asterisk (*) exactly as shown in the code snippets in their descriptions.

    FieldDescription
    ChannelSlack
    NameName of the Slack channel
    DescriptionSlack channel description
    Webhook URLThis field is populated automatically. It is the Request URL that you provide when configuring the webhook in Slack.
    Custom Bot IDThe App ID that you copied earlier in step 7.
    Custom App PasswordEnter the Verification Token that you copied earlier in step 7.
    Configuration*

    Defines core logic, OAuth config, stream behavior, and alias values. Copy the value as provided here.

    Click here to view the Configuration value

    {
      "authorizationUrl": "https://slack.com/api/oauth.v2.access",
      "staticServiceUrl": "https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage",
      "verifyAccountChatIdMapping": "conversationId",
      "isGroup": false,
      "enableCache": false,
      "authType": "customAppPassword",
      "contentType": "json",
      "appendConversationPathToEndpoint": false,
      "streamChunkInitialThreshold": 10,
      "streamChunkFirstMultiplier": 5,
      "streamChunkSubsequentMultiplier": 3,
      "messageTypeAlias": "app_mention",
      "typingTypeAlias": "",
      "streamEntityTypeAlias": "streamInfo",
      "streamTypeStreamingAlias": "streaming",
      "streamTypeInfoAlias": "informative",
      "streamTypeFinalAlias": "final",
      "atMentionStartTag": "<@",
      "atMentionEndTag": ">"
    }

    Data URI image

     

    Incoming Payload Mapping*

    Imports channel webhook data into BMC HelixGPTData URI image. Copy the value as provided here.

    Click here to view the Incoming Payload Mapping value

    {
      "text": "event.text",
      "type": "event.type",
      "timestamp": "event.ts",
      "id": "event_id",
      "conversationId": "event.channel",
      "channelId": "event.channel",
      "fromId": "event.user",
      "recipientId": "authorizations[0].user_id",
      "platform": "team_id",
      "fromName": "event.user",
      "aadObjectId": "event.user"
    }

    Data URI image

     

    Outgoing OAuth Payload Mapping*

    Generates access token requests. Copy the value as provided here.

    Click here to view the Outgoing OAuth Payload Mapping value

    {}

    Data URI image

     

    Outgoing Payload Mapping*

    Structures the message sent to the channel. Copy the value as provided here.

    Click here to view the Outgoing Payload Mapping value

    {
      "channelId": "channel",
      "text": "text"
    }

    Data URI image

     

    User Identity Mapping*

    Identifies and resolves the user for personalized conversations. Copy the value as provided here.

    Click here to view the User Identity Mapping value

    {
      "platform": "platform",
      "channelId": "channelId",
      "conversationId": "conversationId",
      "fromId": "userId",
      "fromId": "chatUserId",
      "fromName": "userName",
      "recipientId": "recipientId",
      "aadObjectId": "aadObjectId"
    }

    Data URI image

     

  7. Click Save.

Data URI imageTo subscribe to the Slack events

  1. Navigate to the application that you created in Slack.
  2. In the left pane, under the Features menu, select Event Subscriptions.

    Event subscriptions
     
  3. In the Enable Events section, turn on the Enable Events toggle button.
  4. In Request URL, enter the webhook URL that you got when you added Slack as a communication channel.
  5. Click Subscribe to bot events, add message.im, and the bot events that you need.
  6. In Subscribe to events on behalf of users, ensure that you have not added any Workspace event.

The following image shows some bot events that you can subscribe to:

Bot events

Result

The following image shows successful configuration of Slack to work with BMC HelixGPT.

Result1.png

​Data URI image​

 

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BMC HelixGPT 26.1