Slack is SmartRetro’s richest signal source and its main notification surface. The connection is default-off: after connecting, SmartRetro reads nothing until an admin opts specific channels in. Direct messages are never read — the app doesn’t request the permission.
Connect the workspace
An admin goes to Settings → Integrations and clicks Connect to Slack. Slack shows the standard OAuth screen with the exact permissions requested. After approval, the workspace shows as connected and a Test Connection button sends a test message to your default channel so you can confirm the bot works.
Opt channels in
In the Slack card, open Signal Listening → Configure. You’ll see the channels the bot can access — public and private — each with a checkbox. Nothing is watched until you check it. The Check Frequency dropdown sets how often watched channels are scanned, from every 6 hours to weekly (daily is the default), and a run-now button kicks off a scan immediately.
Watched channels are scanned for patterns worth surfacing — recurring blockers, incident-adjacent chatter, themes that keep coming back. Every signal links back to the source message.
Route channels to teams
Each watched channel has a routing dropdown. Pick a SmartRetro team and that channel’s signals land in that team’s feed. Leave it on — Org-wide — and its signals are visible to the whole organization instead.
Notifications and nudges
Under Configure Slack Notifications, pick a Default Channel and turn on the notification types you want — retro completed, the retro brief the day before the meeting, action item created, action item due soon, stale item escalation, and a weekly summary. All of these are off by default. Nudges go to the default channel; some signals also arrive with Real / Noise / Mute buttons so you can record a verdict without leaving Slack.
The slash command
Type /smartretro recall followed by a topic — for example, “deploy freeze” — and SmartRetro searches your retro and Slack history for it, returning up to five results with links back to the source. /smartretro help lists the available commands. Responses are visible only to you.
Deletions and retention
SmartRetro honors what happens in Slack. Delete a message there and the stored copy is removed. Un-watch a channel and its stored messages are purged after seven days; re-watching within that window cancels the purge. Disconnect the workspace and everything is purged after 30 days, with the same grace if you reconnect. Stored messages also age out on a rolling retention window. The full data-handling picture is on the Trust & security page.
Disconnecting
Click Disconnect in the Slack card. Notifications stop immediately, events stop being received, and the 30-day purge clock starts.
Next: connect your code host or tracker to round out the signal feed.