# Slack User Guide Using the Slack integration after installation After [connecting PagerDuty with Slack](/integrations/slack-integration-guide), responders can handle the full incident lifecycle directly in Slack using slash commands or interactive buttons. Key features include dedicated incident channels, notification channels, and essential actions like acknowledgment and escalation—all without switching to the PagerDuty web interface. Teams using [PagerDuty AI](/ai-automation/advance) can use the AI assistant for automated status updates and incident insights. - [Link User Accounts](#link-user-accounts) - [Create and Link Incident Slack Channels](#create-and-link-incident-slack-channels) - [Dedicated Incident Channel](#dedicated-incident-channel) - [Notification Channel](/integrations/slack-integration-guide/slack-user-guide#notification-channel) - [Announcement Channel ](/integrations/slack-integration-guide/slack-user-guide#announcement-channel) - [Available Actions](#available-actions) - [Incident Card Actions](#incident-card-actions) - [Incident Card Customization](#incident-card-customization) - [Create Incidents as an Unlinked Slack User](#create-incidents-as-an-unlinked-slack-user) - [Create an Incident Declaration Slack Workflow](#create-an-incident-declaration-slack-workflow) - [Add a Slack Contact Method](#add-a-slack-contact-method) - [FAQs](#faq---slack-transformation-best-practices) > **Interactive App Tutorial:** When you install the PagerDuty app for Slack and link your accounts, you can view an interactive, in-app tutorial. This walkthrough demonstrates how to manage the full incident lifecycle directly within your Slack workspace. ## Link User Accounts Users must link their PagerDuty and Slack user accounts to perform PagerDuty actions in Slack or create new channel connections in the PagerDuty. Each user can link their accounts after the initial integration is complete. To link your PagerDuty and Slack accounts: 1. In a public Slack channel, run the command `/pd oncall`. 2. Click **link your accounts**. You will be directed to a browser window and presented with a prompt to sign in to PagerDuty. 3. Complete the PagerDuty login flow. Read [Log In to PagerDuty](/get-started/log-in-to-pagerduty) for more information. After successfully signing in to PagerDuty, your Slack and PagerDuty users will be linked. ## Create and Link Incident Slack Channels The Slack integration offers three channel types: - [**Dedicated Incident Channel**](#dedicated-incident-channel): Provides a single workspace for active incident response with full command access and responder collaboration. This is where the work happens. - [**Notification Channel**](/integrations/slack-integration-guide/slack-user-guide#notification-channel): Focuses on broadcasting updates to keep stakeholders informed across teams. Notification channels ensure the right people stay in the loop. - [**Announcement Channel**](/integrations/slack-integration-guide/slack-user-guide#announcement-channel): Broadly announce incidents to different channels, based on rules. > **Single Account Configuration:** PagerDuty currently supports one account configuration per Slack workspace. ### Dedicated Incident Channel > **Dedicated Incident Channel:** Each incident can have one dedicated channel where responders can coordinate actions, share updates, and track resolution progress. Dedicated Incident Channels provide access to dedicated channel commands and automated workflows, streamlining your team's response process. For more on Dedicated Incident channels, [view our FAQ](#what-is-the-dedicated-incident-channels-feature). #### Enable or Disable Automated Channel Creation You can turn this feature on or off at any time in your Slack settings. 1. Go to **Integrations** → **Extensions** → **Slack** → **Workspace**. 2. Click your workspace. 3. Select the **Dedicated Channel** tab. 4. Modify your **Channel Settings**. For channel creation, toggle **Automatically create dedicated channels**. ![Slack settings within PagerDuty](/images/kb/da2d1e421893b3576e8445cffdb6549b59c2faac262291c04d873ca0ee4480e2-Group_2_5.png) *Channel settings to manage automatic dedicated Slack channels* | Field | Value | | :----------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Channel name** | Set the naming convention for new dedicated channels (for example, `#inc-{{incident.incident_number}}`). | | **Automatically create dedicated channels** | Toggle on to auto-create channels for new incidents, based on conditions. | | **Auto-update dedicated channel topic** | Toggle on to keep the channel topic up to date with details such as the current assignee. You can also add custom logic with workflows. | | **Include a link to incident details** | Toggle on to add a channel bookmark that jumps to the incident details in PagerDuty. You can also add custom bookmarks with workflows. | | **Incident updates** | Select which types of updates to send to the channels. | | **Thread incident updates** | Toggle on to add all updates to a thread and reduce clutter. | > **Incident Workflows Take Precedence:** If you have Incident Workflows configured to **Create a Slack Channel** and **Set Topic** actions, the **Automatically create dedicated channels** and **Auto-update dedicated channel topic** settings do not override those workflows. #### Alternative Ways to Create Dedicated Channels You can also create dedicated channels using incident workflows or manual creation. - [Automatically with Incident Workflows](#create-an-incident-dedicated-channel-automatically-with-incident-workflows) - [Create a Channel Manually](#create-an-incident-dedicated-channel-manually) ##### Create an Incident Dedicated Channel Automatically with Incident Workflows Automatically create a dedicated channel for your incidents by configuring an Incident Workflow that uses the [Create Incident Dedicated Channel](/workflow-actions/slack/create-a-slack-channel-for-an-incident) workflow action. Please read [Incident Workflows](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows) for more information. ![A workflow using the Create Incident Dedicated Channel action](/images/kb/ebb6cf33d8ddb2f172c3e9dd7cef1a9ea5aaf3d53d2ad4cfa4e1ed1f4218be9d-Incident_Workflow.webp) *A workflow using the Create Incident Dedicated Channel action* ##### Create an Incident Dedicated Channel Manually **In the PagerDuty Web App**: On an active incident, click into the details page and then click **Set Channel** to the right of **Dedicated Channel**. ![Creating a Dedicated Channel from the PagerDuty web application](/images/kb/73fffe87520bf5e8667d06ad400b270891504ef88dc4d09335391d414387124a-dedicated_channel.webp) *Create a Dedicated Channel from the PagerDuty web app* **In Slack**: When you create an incident in Slack, it will not automatically create a Dedicated Channel using the naming conventions you set. You can create a dedicated channel by selecting **Create Dedicated Channel** on the incident card. ### Notification Channel Notification channels help you bring awareness of an incident to multiple channels in Slack. You can link these channels when an incident opens, or as the incident progresses and you need to inform additional groups. When you link a notification channel to an incident, PagerDuty sends an incident card to the channel. This card continuously updates as the incident progresses to reflect the current state of the incident. If the incident also has a dedicated incident channel, users can click **Join incident channel** to join the response. ![A PagerDuty incident card in a notification channel](/images/kb/8e75e4d82c9ea180e8321887474a3846fbf77acd5757259a488b7955314379c1-new_1.png) *A PagerDuty incident card in a notification channel* > **Notification Channels:** An incident may have up to three linked notification channels. #### Link an Incident Notification Channel You can automatically link notification channels with incident workflows, or you can manually link channels, as needed. - Link a Notification Channel Automatically - Link a Notification Channel Manually ##### Link a Notification Channel Automatically Automatically link notification channels to your incident by configuring an Incident Workflow, or multiple, that use the [Create Slack Channel](/workflow-actions/slack/create-a-slack-channel-for-an-incident) workflow action. Please read [Incident Workflows](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows) for more information. ![A workflow using the Link Incident Notification Channel action](/images/kb/d526a79ec0b6fff7548c52c5fcaef33a3331d3538314b3753587fb8c49ccb19f-incident_action.webp) *A workflow using the Link Incident Notification Channel action* ##### Link a Notification Channel Manually **In the PagerDuty Web App**: > **User Permissions:** - When you click **[Set Channels](#create-a-slack-channel-from-a-pagerduty-incident)** you may receive a prompt to authorize the connection between your PagerDuty and Slack accounts. > - When linking notification channels, you will only be able to view channels that you have permission to access in Slack. > - If your PagerDuty account is connected to multiple Slack workspaces, you will have the option to select which workspace to use. On an active incident, click into the details page and then click **Set Channels** to the right of **Notification Channels**. ### Threaded Updates > **Opt-Out of Threaded Updates:** By default, incident updates are sent as threaded messages. You can toggle threaded updates on or off in each channel type's settings on the Slack configuration page. ![Threaded updates toggle in the PagerDuty UI](/images/kb/4abaad7943c794fb36e82882a621fb6f4fa0932124913ef49c31cdf4fbcb4b31-threaded_updates.webp) *Threaded Updates* ### Announcement Channel Use an Announcement Channel to broadcast polished, structured updates to stakeholders, leadership, and customer-facing teams. This channel is broadcast-only — it is intended for status updates and resolution notices, not back-and-forth discussion. PagerDuty posts formatted stakeholder updates to this channel, and it is read-only for most members. ## Available Actions ### Slash Commands > **PagerDuty EU Service Region:** If your PagerDuty account is in the EU [service region](/get-started/service-regions), you'll need to use `/pdeu` to run all slash commands instead of `/pd`. #### Help Command Run `/pd` or `/pd help` in Slack to return a message with suggested actions, and a directory of all available incident actions. This help response is interactive, and you may click the provided buttons to take the listed action. ![PagerDuty help response, outside of an dedicated incident channel](/images/kb/907066a3c7975d03506bef4a8ea32ac17006adb8948951072a9b0ddc1a0d1a6b-pd_1.png) */pd help slash command* The /pd and /pd help command works in all channels to bring up the help command modal. ![PagerDuty help response, within a dedicated incident channel](/images/kb/2b0ddf35f6088db7954e4424f3874603c1cd8212fdd6b70e58f0c423771f9dc7-pd_2_1_1.png) *PagerDuty help command modal* #### General Commands You can run general commands with parent messages in any Slack channel or conversation, with the exception of the PagerDuty app's chat channel. These commands can be used to view help information, declare an incident or manage PagerDuty configuration. > **Lookup all commands:** To view all available commands in Slack, type: > > `/pd`or `/pd help` | Command | Description | | :------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `/pd declare` or `/pd trigger` or `/pd open` | Declare an incident. | | `/pd oncall` | View who is on call for a service. | | `/pd insights` | Configure the [PagerDuty Analytics Slack Integration](/incident-management/analytics/pagerduty-analytics-slack-integration) to send recurring insights to Slack. | | `/pd unlink` | Unlink your current Slack user from your PagerDuty user. | | `/pd invite @{Slack User}` | Invites the specified Slack user to your PagerDuty account. | | `/pd connect` | Connect a service or Team to the current Slack channel. | | `/pd amazonq {question}` | Use PagerDuty AI to [retrieve information from data sources in Amazon Q](/ai-automation/advance/user-guide#pagerduty-ai-integration-for-amazon-q). | | `/pd scribe` | Add a [Scribe Agent](/ai-automation/advance/scribe-agent) to your incident’s meeting, to send meeting transcripts to the current Slack channel. | | `/pd meeting` | Edit [conference bridge](/incident-management/incidents/conference-bridge). | | `/pd default-account` | Choose a PagerDuty account (if multiple accounts are used). | | `/pd settings` | Open PagerDuty settings. | | `/pd import` | Import chat history from Jeli PIR into PagerDuty Slack. | #### Dedicated Channel Commands You can run dedicated channel commands with parent messages in a Dedicated Channel. These commands enable taking efficient actions on the incident. For example, you can type `/pd ack` in the Slack message box to quickly acknowledge the incident. Additionally, you can invoke many actions in a one-step, or two-step process. For example, to add a note to an incident, you can type `/pd note`, which will open a modal to type your note. Alternatively, you can type `/pd note This is my note` to immediately add a note with the contents `This is my note` to the current incident. A full directory of actions and commands is listed below: | Command(s) | Description | | :-------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `/pd declare`or`/pd trigger`or`/pd open` | **Declare an incident** | | `/pd ack` or `/pd acknowledge` | **Acknowledge** | | `/pd resolve` or `/pd close` | **Resolve** | | `/pd page` | **[Add Responder](/incident-management/incidents/add-responders)** | | `/pd escalate` | **[Escalate](/incident-management/schedules/escalation-policies)** | | `/pd reassign` | **Reassign** | | `/pd priority` or `/pd severity` | **Change [Priority](/incident-management/incidents/incident-priority)** | | `/pd type` | **Change [Incident Type](/incident-management/incidents/incident-types)** | | `/pd update` | **Edit Incident** | | `/pd note` or `/pd note {your note}` | **Add a [Note](/incident-management/incidents/edit-incidents#add-a-note-to-an-incident)** | | `/pd workflow` | **Run a [Workflow](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows)** | | `/pd role` | **Assign [Roles](/incident-management/incidents/incident-roles)** | | `/pd tasks` or `/pd task {name of your task}` | **Create a [Task](/incident-management/incidents/incident-tasks)** | | `/pd status` or `/pd update {text of your status update}` | **New [Status Update](/incident-management/communicate/communicate-with-stakeholders#status-updates)** | | `/pd oncall` | **View on-call schedule** | | `/pd scribe` | **Add [Scribe Agent ](/ai-automation/advance/scribe-agent)to call** | | `/pd amazonq {question}` | **Ask Amazon Q** | | `/pd insights` | **Access [Insights Agent ](/ai-automation/advance/insights-agent)** | | `/pd connect` | **Connect service** | | `/pd unlink` | **Unlink PagerDuty account** | | `/pd invite` | **Invite user to PagerDuty** | | `/pd settings` | **Open PagerDuty settings** | | `/pd default-account` | **Choose an account** | | `/pd responder` or `/pd responders` | **View responders on an active incident** | #### View Responders and Re-Notify During an active incident, you can easily check the status of all requested responders and send additional pages to those who haven't responded yet from a dedicated incident channel in Slack. 1. In a dedicated incident channel, type `/pd responder`or`/pd responders`. 2. In the **View responders** modal, you will see a list of all requested users and their current response state (Joined or Pending). 3. To re-notify a user, click the context menu () next to their name. 4. Select **Notify again**. ### Incident Card Actions When using a dedicated channel, notification channels or [service/team channel connections](/integrations/slack-integration-guide#configure-the-slack-integration), PagerDuty will send an incident card to the channel. These incident cards display buttons, allowing responders to take action similar to slash commands in a dedicated channel. Incident cards display the following actions: - **Acknowledge**: Acknowledge the incident. - **Resolve**: Resolve the incident. - **Join Dedicated Channel**: If a dedicated channel exists for the incident, a button displays to join the dedicated channel. - **Run a Workflow**: Run an [Incident Workflow](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows). - **More actions…**: Select the dropdown to access the below actions. **Note**: Not all actions are available on all pricing plans. Please [contact Sales](https://www.pagerduty.com/contact-us/#contact-sales) to upgrade to a pricing plan that offers any features not present in your account. - **Add a Note** : [Add a note](/incident-management/incidents/edit-incidents#add-a-note-to-an-incident) to the incident. - **Add Responder**: [Add a responder](/incident-management/incidents/add-responders) to the incident. - **View Details**: View incident details within the PagerDuty web app. - **Add Task**: Create and assign an [Incident Task](/incident-management/incidents/incident-tasks). - **View Tasks**: View existing [Incident Tasks](/incident-management/incidents/incident-tasks) for this incident. - **Assign Roles**: Assign [Incident Roles](/incident-management/incidents/incident-roles) to responders. - **Change Priority** : Change an incident’s [priority](/incident-management/incidents/incident-priority). - **Reassign**: Reassign the incident to another [user, escalation policy, escalation level](/incident-management/incidents/reassign-incidents#reassign-an-incident) or [service](/incident-management/incidents/edit-incidents#reassign-an-incidents-service). - **Escalate**: [Escalate](/incident-management/schedules/escalation-policies) the incident to the next on-call responder. - **Create Channel**: [Create a dedicated Slack channel](#dedicated-incident-channel) for the current incident. - **New Status Update**: [Create a new status update](/incident-management/communicate/communicate-with-stakeholders#status-updates) for the incident. - **Change Type**: Change the [incident type](/incident-management/incidents/incident-types). - **Run an Action**: Run an [Automation Action](/ai-automation/automation/automation-actions). ![Incident actions in Slack](/images/kb/5d2a1f12b9e7c6fecc49aaca2e7379644cc51653bea47acb4d9d002f68ba7149-slack-more-actions.webp) *Incident actions in Slack* > **Emoji and Card Customization:** PagerDuty's incident cards have a default number of fields and emojis. > > To disable emojis on the main fields, go to the PagerDuty Slack integrations page (**Integrations** → **Extensions** → **Slack** → **Your Workspace** → **Advanced Options**) and toggle off **Display emojis in incident notifications**. #### Incident Card Customization > **Early Access:** Incident Card Customization is currently in [Early Access (EA)](https://www.pagerduty.com/early-access/). Incident cards post the same fields to every channel by default, which means responders often leave Slack to find context that was not on the card. Card customization lets you choose which fields appear, per channel type — so an incident channel can carry troubleshooting context while an announcement channel carries only what stakeholders need. ![Incident Card Customization in PagerDuty Settings](/images/kb/8ce19b67a1b70e487efa4517557ff7431d9c716bc87e4f598e3a81a640093ecb-slack_custom_cards.webp) *Incident Card Customization in PagerDuty Settings* Each channel type has its own card template. 1. Navigate to **Integrations** → **Extensions** → **Slack Integration** → **your workspace**. 2. Select the tab for the channel type you want to customize: **Dedicated Channel**, **Notification Channels**, or **Announcement Channels**. 3. Select **Incident Card Customization** and open the card builder. 4. Under **Default fields**, toggle each field on or off — for example, status, priority, or assigned. **Incident type** is required and cannot be turned off. 5. Under **Custom fields**, add the [custom fields](/incident-management/incidents/custom-fields-on-incidents) you want to surface. Available fields are filtered by incident type, so you only see fields relevant to the type you are building for. 6. Use the incident type dropdown above **Message preview** to check how the card appears for each incident type. 7. Re-order the fields by dragging them into the desired order. 8. Click **Save**. The template applies to incident cards posted to that channel type going forward. To discard your changes and return to the default field set, click **Reset**. > **Presets and Card Fields Are Separate:** [Presets](/integrations/slack-integration-guide#presets) control which incident _events_ post to a channel. Card customization controls which _fields_ appear on the card for those events. Configure both for a channel type. > **Custom Fields Must Exist First:** Only [custom fields](/incident-management/incidents/custom-fields-on-incidents) already configured in the PagerDuty web app can be added to a card. Create the field first, then add it to the card template. ### View Impacted Applications in Slack View customer service application impact during an incident in Slack. Services with [Salesforce](/integrations/salesforce-service-cloud-integration-guide) or [Zendesk](/integrations/zendesk-integration-guide) integrations will list the number of cases related to the current incident, with links to individual cases. ![PagerDuty incident card in Slack](/images/kb/58f9fe69f7bf9df8c9e3a9b6907f37fac150f66976a6437a7f3f45cac180ca5f-small-view-impacted-apps-slack.webp) *PagerDuty incident card in Slack* To view individual cases: 1. To the right of the application you would like to view, click `[#]` **Cases**. 2. You will see a list of related cases in the modal that appears. Click a **case number** to navigate to the integrated application and view the case. ![Linked SalesForce cases](/images/kb/64164461458647a595b8690d24187f3f8eecc558fc76ff30b6014d31a27560b4-small-view-impacted-apps-slack-modal.webp) *Linked SalesForce cases* ### Post External Status Page Updates from Slack PagerDuty's [External Status Page](/incident-management/communicate/external-status-page) gives public audiences — customers, partners, or any outside stakeholder — a single source of truth about the health of your services. Historically, updating a status page meant leaving Slack and going into the PagerDuty web app. The `/pd status-page` command removes that step — responders can draft and publish a status page update without leaving the dedicated channel. #### Prerequisites Before `/pd status-page` works, two things must be true: 1. **An External Status Page must already exist and be published in PagerDuty.** Status pages are configured under **Status** → **External Status Page** in the web app, where an admin selects which [Business Services](/incident-management/services/business-services) appear on the page (up to 500 per page) and publishes it to a public subdomain (for example, `https://yourcompany.trust.pagerduty.com`). If no status page has been created and published, there is nothing for the Slack command to post to. 2. **The command must run from a Dedicated Incident Channel.** `/pd status-page` is scoped to Dedicated Incident Channels — it does not work from a general team channel or a direct message. This keeps status page updates tied to a specific, active incident. #### Running the Command In the incident's Dedicated Incident Channel, type: ```text /pd status-page ``` This opens a modal for composing the update. #### The Modal, Field by Field | Field | What It Does | | :---------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Service** | Pre-populated based on the service tied to the dedicated channel. You can change this to a different service if the update should be attributed elsewhere. | | **Post Title** | A short, descriptive headline for the update (for example, "Elevated API latency"). | | **Update text** | The body of the message that external stakeholders read. You can write this yourself, choose a saved [Status Update Template](/incident-management/communicate/status-update-templates) to keep language consistent across incidents, or click **Generate** to have PagerDuty AI draft the text for you using AI, based on incident context and, if enabled, chat data from the channel. Review the draft before posting — it is going out to people outside your company. | | **Status** | One of **Investigating**, **Detected**, or **Resolved** — where the incident currently stands. | | **Impacted Business Service** | The Business Service or services this update applies to on the status page. | | **Impact** | The severity shown to visitors: **All Good**, **Minor**, or **Major**. | | **Time to next update** | An estimate for when subscribers should expect the next update (typically a choice of 15, 30, 45, 60, or 90 minutes). This sets expectations rather than triggering an automatic reminder. | Submitting the modal posts the update. #### Where the Update Goes Submitting the modal sends the update straight to the configured External Status Page — it appears on the incident's timeline on the public page, and, if notifications are enabled, subscribers are notified by email, Slack, or webhook depending on how they subscribed. Anyone visiting your public status page URL — customers, partners, or anyone without a PagerDuty login — sees the new status, the impact level, and the message text immediately. > **Approval Workflows:** If your organization has an approval workflow configured for the status page, the update may land in **Pending Approvals** instead of publishing immediately. An authorized approver then reviews and publishes it from the web app. Check with your status page admin to confirm whether approval is required for your page. #### A Few Things Worth Knowing - Because the update is public-facing, proofread it even when using **Generate** — AI-drafted text should read as something you would be comfortable with a customer seeing. - The **Service** field is pre-selected for convenience, but always double-check it, especially in incidents that span multiple services, to make sure the update lands against the right Business Service on the page. - Posting from Slack does not replace the web app workflow — you can still create and edit status page incidents directly in PagerDuty under **Status** → **External Status Page**. `/pd status-page` is a faster path for responders who are already working the incident in Slack. #### Related Documentation - [External Status Page](/incident-management/communicate/external-status-page) - [Status Pages Overview](/incident-management/communicate/status-pages-overview) - [Communicate with Stakeholders](/incident-management/communicate/communicate-with-stakeholders) - [Status Update Templates](/incident-management/communicate/status-update-templates) ### PagerDuty AI Accounts with PagerDuty AI can chat with the interactive assistant, generate status update drafts, and more by mentioning `@PagerDuty` in an incident channel. Please read [PagerDuty AI](/ai-automation/advance) for more information. Administrators should read [Manage PagerDuty AI Account Settings](/ai-automation/advance#manage-pagerduty-ai-account-settings) for more information about managing which actions and information PagerDuty AI can access. ## Use PagerDuty MCP in Slack [PagerDuty MCP](/ai-automation/advance/pagerduty-mcp-server) (Model Context Protocol) lets you ask Slackbot about your PagerDuty data — for example, how many incidents are currently triggered — and get an answer without leaving Slack. The `mcp:connect` Slack scope is only requested when you enable the permission, so existing Slack connections are not prompted to reauthorize. To use the PagerDuty MCP in Slack: 1. In Slack, open the **Slackbot** app. 2. At the bottom of the message input, click the **Apps** icon and choose **Manage Apps**. 3. Click **Connect** on the **PagerDuty MCP Server**. 4. Complete the authorization flow, signing in to the PagerDuty account you want Slackbot to query. 5. After you authorize, Slackbot shows the list of MCP actions available to you. Close the dialog. Ask Slackbot a PagerDuty question — for example, `How many triggered incidents are there?` — and it will query your data through the PagerDuty MCP server. ## Create Incidents as an Unlinked Slack User If your PagerDuty administrator has [enabled](/integrations/slack-integration-guide#initial-configuration) incident creation for unlinked users, you can create incidents via Slack command, even without a linked PagerDuty account: 1. In your Slack channel, type either `/pd trigger` ,`/pd declare`or `/pd open`. 2. Enter the new incident’s **Title**, **Incident Type**, and **Impacted Service**. 1. **Note**: As an unlinked user, you will only be able to select from the services that your PagerDuty administrator has configured for unlinked user access. If you are unable to locate your desired service, please contact your PagerDuty administrator. 3. Click **Declare**. ![Create New Incident form for unlinked users](/images/kb/436b8063844184280761bf7e1cd3cf0802c2e07d33bcf37fd1f7d703d2fc7dca-declare_1.png) *Declare New Incident form for unlinked users* If this option is not enabled, unlinked users may still declare incidents using a Slack workflow, if one has been configured. ## Create an Incident Declaration Slack Workflow [Slack workflows](https://slack.com/help/articles/17542172840595-Build-a-workflow--Create-a-workflow-in-Slack) can be used to declare PagerDuty incidents via Slack with pre-configured details such as the associated service. This option is useful for employees who do not have PagerDuty licenses, but still need to be able to declare PagerDuty incidents in Slack. > **Slack Workflows:** **Slack workflows are developed and maintained by Slack.** > > With the deprecation of Slack’s legacy workflows, we highly recommend utilizing Slack's new Workflow Builder for creating incident declare workflows. > > The following sample workflow uses the current Workflow Builder’s PagerDuty connector steps. For issues or concerns with these connector steps or a Slack workflow, please reach out to [Slack’s Support team](https://slack.com/help). 1. In your Slack desktop app, navigate to **Go** → **Workflow Builder**. 2. Click **New Workflow** → **Build Workflow**. Select the option for how you’d like to start the workflow. Enter the required information, if any, then click **Continue**. 3. Next, you will create a form for users to enter information about the incident. Click **Add steps**. On the workflow steps modal, search for or select **Collect info in a form**. 4. On the **Collect info in a form** modal: 1. Enter the following information: | Field | Value | | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | | Form Title | Enter a title for the form, such as `Create PD incident`. | 2. Click **Add Question**.
On the **Question 1** modal, enter the following information:
Field Value
Your question Enter `Title`. This will be the title of the created incident.
Question type Select `Short answer`
Make this required Enable this checkbox.
3. Click **Done**, then click **Add Question**.
On the **Question 2** modal, enter the following information:
Field Value
Your question Enter `Details`. This will populate the custom details of the created incident.
Question type Select `Short answer`
Make this required Enable this checkbox.
4. Click **Done**, then click **Save** on the **Collect info in a form modal**. 5. Next, click **Add steps**. On the workflow steps modal, search or select the PagerDuty connector’s **Declare an incident** step. 6. On the **Declare an incident** modal: 1. Select **Add just the step**, then click **Set Up**. 2. Click **Edit** next to the option **PagerDuty account being used for this step**. 3. On the **PagerDuty accounts** modal, select whose PagerDuty account should be used for declaring an incident: 1. To use a different PagerDuty user account, click **Change** under **Account for workflow building**, then select an account from the list of connected accounts, or click **Connect** to authenticate a new account. After selecting a PagerDuty account, click **Done**. 2. Under **Account for workflow use**, select the PagerDuty account to use for declaring an incident, then click **Save**. 4. Click **Next**. 5. Enter the following information: | Field | Value | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Incident title | Click **Insert a variable** and select `Answer to: Title` to add the `Title` value collected from the form created in step 4. | | Incident details | Click **Insert a variable** and select `Answer to: Details` to add the `Details` value collected from the form created in step 4. | | Priority (optional) | Optionally select the preferred **Priority** for the new incident. | | Service | Select the preferred **Service** for the new incident. | | Escalation policy | Select the preferred **Escalation Policy** for the new incident. | 6. Click **Save**. 7. If you would like to add an _optional_ message when someone uses this workflow, continue to step 8. If you do not want to add a message, skip to step 9. 8. _(Optional)_ Click **Add steps**. On the workflow steps modal, search for or select the **Send a message to a channel** step. On the **Send a message to a channel** modal, enter the following information:
Field Value
Select a channel Select `Channel where the workflow was used`.
Add a message Enter your preferred **message** to be sent with the workflow. Click **Insert a variable** under the message form to include variables that contain PagerDuty Incident, Escalation Policy, Service, and/or Team data.
Click **Save**. 9. Click **Finish Up** in the upper right. Enter the workflow’s details and permissions, then click **Publish**. ### Use an Incident Declaration Slack Workflow 1. In your Slack desktop app, select a channel with an [Incident Declaration Slack Workflow](#create-an-incident-declaration-slack-workflow) configured → click the **Run Shortcut** icon at the bottom of your text field → select the desired workflow (e.g., `Declare PD incident` workflow). 2. Enter the **Title** and **Details** for the incident and click **Submit**. This will create an incident in PagerDuty, and you will also be able to see the incident details in your Slack channel. ## Reopen an Incident in Slack If an incident was resolved but requires further investigation or action, you can reopen it directly from Slack.
To reopen an incident: 1. Navigate to the resolved incident’s message on the incident card. 2. Click **Reopen**. ![Reopen incident modal](/images/kb/dcfa11557e35087082dce7ccd11580dbfdd5d00136dfe59482d26be37baaa016-Reopen_Incident.png) *Reopen incident modal* For more, read [Reopen Incidents](/incident-management/incidents/reopen-incidents). ## Declare an Incident Without a Service [Quick Declare](/incident-management/incidents/quick-declare) lets you declare an incident in Slack without selecting an impacted service, so you can open an incident and pull in responders before you know which team owns the problem. The **Impacted Service** field is optional by default. > **Account Linking Required:** To declare an incident from Slack, your Slack account must be linked to a PagerDuty user. Unlinked Slack users see an error message. For more information, visit [Link User Accounts](#link-user-accounts). 1. In your Slack channel, run `/pd declare`. 2. Enter the incident name. 3. Leave **Impacted Service** unselected. 4. Click **Declare**. A confirmation card appears with **Page** and **Set Impacted Service** actions, and states whether responders were notified. Incidents declared without a service route to the [Default Mobilization Service](/incident-management/services/default-mobilization-service). Whether the confirmation card reports that responders were notified depends on that service's escalation policy: by default the policy has no responders, so no one is paged, you become the incident owner, and the incident is acknowledged. To page responders automatically on these incidents, add users to the Default Mobilization Service escalation policy. To require an impacted service on every incident instead, an Admin can disable Default Mobilization in **Account Settings** → **Incident Settings**. For both, visit [Quick Declare](/incident-management/incidents/quick-declare). ## Add a Slack Contact Method Once the [Slack integration is configured](/integrations/slack-integration-guide), you can add Slack as an incident contact method. Please read [Add a Slack Contact Method](/account-admin/user-profile/contact-information#add-a-slack-contact-method) for more information. ### Slack Delivery Limits PagerDuty sends incident notifications to Slack subject to Slack's messaging limits. These limits are set and enforced by Slack, not PagerDuty. PagerDuty delivers notifications both to Slack channels and to individual users through Slack direct messages, and both are subject to the following limits. #### Per-Channel Limit Slack permits about one message per second to any individual channel or direct message conversation. Brief bursts above that rate may succeed, but sustained high-volume posting can be rate limited. When this happens, Slack returns a rate-limit response — for HTTP-based sends, a `429 Too Many Requests` response with a `Retry-After` header — and some messages may not be stored or displayed. Because Slack does not always surface this to the sender, dropped messages can appear as silently missing updates rather than errors. As a result, sending too many PagerDuty notifications to the same Slack channel can produce missed or delayed updates. > **High-Volume Notification Streams:** Slack may rate limit high-volume notification streams. If PagerDuty posts too many messages too quickly, some Slack notifications may be delayed or dropped. #### Workspace-Wide Limit Separately from the per-channel limit, Slack enforces an aggregate limit on the total number of messages an app can post into a workspace, on the order of several hundred messages per minute. Slack does not publish an exact number for this limit. This workspace-wide limit is shared across all Slack notifications PagerDuty sends into that workspace, not a single incident. A burst of multiple incidents happening around the same time — each notifying different users and posting into different channels and direct messages — can add up against this shared limit, even when no single conversation is near its own per-second cap. If the workspace-wide limit is reached, Slack rejects additional message attempts with a `429 Too Many Requests` response until the limit resets, which can delay or prevent delivery of a Slack notification for that burst window. #### Reduce the Risk of Missed Notifications To reduce the risk of missed notifications, use narrower notification rules, avoid routing multiple high-volume services into the same channel, and use [Threaded Updates](#threaded-updates) or summaries where possible. > **Configure More Than One Contact Method:** Configure more than one contact method in your notification rules — for example, push, SMS, and phone — rather than relying on a single channel. This improves delivery resilience and protects against the case where a burst of concurrent incidents causes a Slack workspace-level rate limit to delay or block a Slack notification. #### Practical Guardrails - Keep each channel **under one notification per second** on average. - Avoid sending every event to the same channel when incident volume is high. - Use a quieter preset or fewer rules for announcement and notification channels. ## FAQ - Slack Transformation Best Practices **What is the Dedicated Incident Channels feature?** Automated Dedicated Incident Channels is a new default behavior where PagerDuty automatically creates a focused Slack channel for each major incident (P1/P2 or whatever are the top two priorities set by your organization). This centralizes communication, reduces noise, and provides a complete audit trail for post-incident reviews. It is considered an industry best practice. **What if we already use Incident Workflows to create dedicated channels?** Your existing workflows are **NOT** affected. The new global feature respects workflow-level settings. If you already have dedicated channels created via incident workflows, those configurations (including custom topics and triggered actions) continue to work exactly as before. The hierarchy is: workflow-level settings take precedence over global defaults. **How do I auto-archive new channels that have been created?** Currently, to enable auto-archiving of channels, you must use an [incident workflow](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows). **Can we opt-out of Automatic Dedicated Incident Channels?** **YES**. Your admin can turn off the global setting in their Slack configuration. They can also customize when channels are created (such as by priority or severity) and how they are named. Navigate to **Integrations** → **Extensions** → **Slack** → **your workspace** → **Dedicated Channel**. ![Create a dedicated incident channel in Slack settings](/images/kb/9b1ffe6d2cf74f7e58bffa2cd9d06ad64d9ba1c44b56009800e06d81086468da-create_incident_channel.png) *Slack channel settings* **What are the three types of channels you should know about?** - **Dedicated Incident Channel**: A focused space created for each major incident where responders collaborate - **Announcement Channel** (formerly "Stakeholder Notification Channel"): Where high-level updates are broadcast to stakeholders - **Notification Channel**: Where alerts land for initial notification **Can we use both Notification Channels and Dedicated Incident Channels?** **YES**. You can keep the ability to triage incidents in a single channel and only move certain incidents to dedicated channels. You can switch the global configuration to OFF but still use incident workflows or the manual button to create dedicated incident channels when needed. **I linked my Slack account to the wrong PagerDuty account.** If you see an error stating that your Slack account is authorized from a different account, your Slack user is linked to another PagerDuty account. To relink your accounts: 1. In a public Slack channel, run `/pd unlink` to unlink your current Slack user from your PagerDuty user. 2. Follow the steps in [Link User Accounts](#link-user-accounts), making sure to sign in to the correct PagerDuty account when prompted. **Why does the `/pd` command return an error?** If a `/pd` command fails or returns an error, check the following: - **Workspace mapping**: Slash commands require your Slack workspace to be mapped to your PagerDuty account. See [Initial Configuration](/integrations/slack-integration-guide#initial-configuration) in the Slack Integration Guide. - **Service region prefix**: Accounts in the US service region use `/pd`, and accounts in the EU service region use `/pdeu`. Running the wrong prefix for your account returns an error. - **Account linking**: Most actions require your PagerDuty and Slack user accounts to be linked. See [Link User Accounts](#link-user-accounts).