Getting started
Add OpenTag to Slack
Install OpenTag in your workspace, invite it to its first channel, and let it read the room.
Installing takes about two minutes and needs no credit card. You start with a $100 free trial (10,000 credits).
Install OpenTag in your workspace
Go to app.tryopentag.com and sign in with Slack. Slack will show you what the app is asking for and who's approving it.
If your workspace requires admin approval for new apps, Slack routes the request to an admin instead of installing: you'll see a "pending approval" state until they clear it.
Meet OpenTag in #opentag
The install creates a #opentag channel and OpenTag introduces itself there. It's
a good place to try things before you put it anywhere your team is watching.
Invite it to a real channel
In any channel: /invite @OpenTag. This is the step that grants access.
Installing the app does not let OpenTag read anything on its own.
When it joins, OpenTag reads the channel's history, then posts one short introduction: what it understands the channel to be for, and two or three specific jobs it could take off your hands based on what it actually saw there. Not a feature list: offers grounded in your channel.
Connect a tool or two
OpenTag can answer from the channel alone, but it earns its keep when it can reach your tools. Connect one from app.tryopentag.com → Integrations, or just ask OpenTag for something that needs a tool and it'll hand you the link.
Start with whatever the channel is about: GitHub for an engineering channel, HubSpot for a sales one, Google Workspace for almost anything.
Give it a job
Not a test question: a real piece of work. Your first job has the specifics on why that matters and what to ask for.
Which channel to start in
Pick one that's active, where the work is real, and where a wrong answer isn't expensive. An internal ops or project channel is close to ideal. A customer-facing channel is a bad first choice, and #general is a bad choice at any point: OpenTag reads what's in the room, and #general is mostly noise.
You can invite it to more channels whenever you like; every plan covers unlimited channels.
Private channels work the same way
OpenTag can be invited to a private channel and behaves identically there. It cannot see a private channel it hasn't been invited to, and no admin setting changes that.
What OpenTag can see the moment it lands
Only the channels it has been invited to. There is no workspace-wide ingestion step, no crawl, no "connect your Slack and we'll index everything." Remove it from a channel and its access to that channel's history ends with the membership.
Channels and access covers the details, including how to check what it currently has.
If the install doesn't stick
Slack says the app needs approval. Your workspace has app approval turned on. A Slack admin has to approve the request from Slack's app management page.
OpenTag is installed but doesn't respond in a channel. It hasn't been invited to that channel yet. Run /invite @OpenTag there.
It joined but never introduced itself. It's still reading. Long channel histories take a few minutes. If it's been longer than that, see Troubleshooting.