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Slack workflow automation means getting Slack to handle repetitive work instead of doing it by hand every time:
- routing requests
- sending scheduled messages
- collecting form responses
- and running recurring processes like onboarding or weekly reports.
There are a few different tools for it, and they cover different parts of the job.
This post explains the three main options - Slack's own Workflow Builder, cross-tool automation like Zapier, and Chaser Slack app: what each is good for, and how they fit together. None of them does everything, so most teams end up using more than one.
Two kinds of Slack workflow
There are two types of workflow automation:
The first is moving information. A message posts when someone reacts with an emoji, a form routes a request to the right channel, a new member gets a welcome note. The trigger fires, the message goes out, and that's the whole job.
The second is work that people have to finish: collecting the weekly numbers, onboarding a client or a coworker, getting an approval through three people, etc. In this case, the message isn't the end of it - someone has to do something, usually by a deadline, and it needs tracking. The tools below split along roughly that line.
Workflow Builder
Slack ships a no-code tool, Workflow Builder, aimed at the first kind. You don't need to be a developer - Slack says nearly a million people have built a workflow with it, around 80% from non-technical backgrounds.
A workflow is a trigger plus a few steps. The trigger can be a scheduled time, a button, an emoji reaction or someone joining a channel. The steps send a message, collect answers with a form, or pass data to an app like Google Sheets or Salesforce. A common one: a button in #it-help opens a short form, and the request posts to the IT channel with the answers attached. It's a paid feature, on Slack's Pro, Business+ and Enterprise plans.
Workflow Builder is strong at routing and messaging. What it doesn't do is track whether the work got done. It can post "review the Q3 deck," but it won't tell you who did, chase who didn't, or show what's outstanding. For one-step notifications that's fine; for multi-person work with a deadline you need something that tracks completion. Slack's native reminders sit in the same place - useful for a personal nudge, but they fire once and don't escalate.
Zapier
When a workflow has to reach outside Slack - a form submission that should land in your CRM, a spreadsheet and Slack at once - that's what Zapier, Make and Slack's API are for. They connect apps and move data between them on a trigger. They're powerful for plumbing between systems, and they're not really meant to be the day-to-day, in-Slack place where people pick up and complete tasks. Teams often use them alongside the other two: a Zap creates the record, and something else tracks the human follow-through.
Chaser Slack App, for work people have to finish
For assigned work with owners, deadlines and follow-up, a task tool is the fit. Chaser, the tool we make, runs inside Slack and is the example here. Two parts of it matter for automation: reusable checklists and recurring tasks.
A checklist template defines a process once - the tasks, owners and due dates - and runs on demand. A command launches it, fills in the details you give it (client name, dates), and creates the tasks, each assigned. There's a walkthrough in Chaser's guide to templates, with a comparison to Slack lists and checklists.
Recurring tasks repeat on a schedule - weekly, monthly, quarterly - so a Monday check-in or a month-end close launches itself, assigned and dated. Because each task has an owner and a due date, reminders go out as deadlines approach and after they pass, so following up doesn't fall to a manager by hand.
How the three fit together
In practice they chain together: a Slack form or a Zap captures the request, and a task tool assigns it and tracks it to done. If most of your incoming work arrives as requests in a channel, ticketing and issue tracking in Slack goes further on routing and assignment.
Common examples
Client onboarding. A template creates the same tasks for each new account - set up the shared channel, book the kickoff, collect billing details, assign the account owner, send the welcome pack, schedule the first check-in - filled in with that client's details each run.
Weekly status check-in. A recurring checklist posts to the team channel each Monday with last week's progress, current blockers and this week's priorities, each item owned, and follow-ups going to anyone who hasn't responded.
Company-wide processes. Security training reminders, policy acknowledgements, employee surveys and compliance checks all involve sending a reminder, but the harder part is the record of who's actually completed it. A recurring checklist with an owner per item provides that, which is how Chaser's ops and finance teams run this work from Slack rather than a spreadsheet.
Where to start
If you're setting up your first few, these are common starting points:
- New-hire onboarding as a reusable checklist, each step owned.
- The weekly report as a recurring task with automatic reminders.
- Request intake as a Slack form that creates a task, routed to whoever's next.
- A Friday status report to the team channel in place of a status meeting.
- Month-end close as a checklist with owners and due dates.
Most of these are on the Chaser product tour.
Final thoughts
Workflow Builder handles messaging and routing, Zapier and the API connect Slack to other systems, and a task tool covers the work people have to finish and follow up on. Which you reach for depends on the job in front of you, and the three combine more often than they compete.
If the missing piece is tracking work to completion in Slack, that's what Chaser does, and you can try it for free.
