Slack

RDST can run as a Slack bot that answers natural-language database questions. The bot uses Socket Mode, so you do not need a public URL — the bot connects outbound to Slack from wherever RDST is running.

Common usage

# One-time Slack app setup (interactive wizard)
rdst slack setup

# Start the bot for a specific agent
rdst slack start --agent sales-bot

# List configured agents
rdst slack list

# Check bot status
rdst slack status --agent sales-bot

How it works

The bot:

1. Reads messages directed at it (mentions, DMs) in channels it has access to
2. Routes each message through the underlying data agent
3. Generates SQL with rdst ask, runs the agent's guard
4. Returns the result as a threaded reply with the SQL and data

No part of the flow requires a public URL or reverse proxy.

Setup

rdst slack setup

rdst guard create --name pii-safe \
    --mask "*.email:email" \
    --require-where \
    --no-select-star

rdst agent create --name sales-bot \
    --target prod-orders \
    --guard pii-safe \
    --description "Read-only sales data"

rdst slack start --agent sales-bot

✓ Connected to Slack as @sales-bot
✓ Socket Mode active
✓ Guard: pii-safe (7 rules)
✓ Target: prod-orders (PostgreSQL 15.4)

Listening for messages ...

What the bot replies look like

ellen: @sales-bot top 5 customers by revenue this month

sales-bot:
  Generated SQL (ran via guard pii-safe ✓):
  ```sql
  SELECT c.id, c.name, SUM(o.total_cents) AS revenue_cents
  FROM   customers c
  JOIN   orders    o ON o.customer_id = c.id
  WHERE  o.created_at >= DATE_TRUNC('month', NOW())
    AND  o.status = 'paid'
    AND  o.tenant_id = $1
  GROUP BY c.id, c.name
  ORDER BY revenue_cents DESC
  LIMIT 5;

5 rows, 84 ms

Every reply shows the SQL, the guard that was applied, and the results. Users
never see raw upstream errors.

## Managing multiple agents

You can run **one Slack bot per agent**. Typical pattern:

```bash
# Customer-support team
rdst slack start --agent support-bot &

# Sales team
rdst slack start --agent sales-bot &

# Engineering dashboard
rdst slack start --agent eng-dashboard &

Each bot has its own app token and operates independently. List what's configured:

rdst slack list
rdst slack status --agent sales-bot

Security considerations

• Every question runs through the agent's guard before SQL is generated and again before execution. Output masking applies automatically.
• Slack Socket Mode never exposes an inbound port. All traffic is outbound from the host running RDST.
• The Slack app tokens are managed by you. If a token leaks, revoke it in the Slack admin panel; the bot stops working immediately.
• Every question and its SQL are logged locally (for audit), but result rows are not logged — only the row count.

Flags reference

See also

• Data Agents — what the Slack bot is serving
• Guards — the safety policies that protect what users in Slack can see
• rdst ask — the underlying NL-to-SQL engine the bot uses