How to Connect Onyx to Slack and Search by Chat

Connecting Onyx to Slack puts your AI search assistant where your team already works. Instead of opening a separate web app, people type a question in a channel or DM and get an answer with links to the original documents. Setup takes about 15 minutes if the Onyx server is already running.

This assumes you have Onyx deployed and at least one knowledge source indexed. If you have not set that up yet, do the self-hosting walkthrough first.

Why use Onyx inside Slack?

Adoption. A separate tool gets forgotten; chat gets used every day. When the bot answers “what is our refund policy?” with a link to the exact Confluence page, people trust it faster than a search box they have to remember to open.

How do you install the Onyx Slack bot?

1. In Onyx admin, go to connectors and choose Slack.
2. Authorize the app for your workspace (you need Slack admin rights).
3. Choose which channels the bot can join.
4. Invite the bot to a channel with /invite @Onyx.
5. Ask a question in that channel or DM the bot directly.

The first answers may take longer while the model warms up.

How do you control who sees what?

Permissions are the hard part. Onyx respects document-level permissions for connected sources, so a user without access to a Drive folder should not get its contents back in Slack. Make sure each source connector is set to sync permissions, not just content. Test with a low-privilege account before rolling out company-wide.

How do you get better answers?

• Ask specific questions (“What is the 2026 expense limit for travel?”) rather than vague ones.
• Name the source when you know it (“according to the HR handbook…”).
• Keep sync schedules current — stale indexes give stale answers.
• Use document filters to narrow the search when results are broad.

What are the trade-offs?

The bot can be too eager and answer from the wrong context if channels mix topics. Some teams restrict it to a single #ask-ai channel to keep signals clean. Also expect a learning curve — answers are only as good as the sources you connected and the freshness of the sync.

Key Takeaways

• Onyx answers questions in Slack with citations from connected apps.
• Setup needs workspace admin rights and takes about 15 minutes.
• Enable permission syncing so answers respect document access.
• Specific questions and fresh syncs improve answer quality.
• Consider limiting the bot to one channel to avoid noisy context.

Last updated October 2026. Details at Onyx.