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Slackbot

Slackbot is Slack's default, general-purpose bot that handles various API requests and integrations.
UnverifiableSlackbot
WebhookPreview

What is Slackbot?

Slack uses Slackbot as its general HTTP client when a request does not belong to one of its specialized robots. Slack's robot documentation gives API calls for integrated services and outgoing webhooks configured by a workspace as examples. A hit can therefore be part of a specific Slack integration rather than a visit to public content.

This is not Slack's normal link-unfurling identity. URLs posted in channels are handled by Slackbot-LinkExpanding, while Slack-ImgProxy retrieves posted images. Keeping those clients separate matters when a site wants an integration endpoint to work but does not want Slack to generate previews for ordinary pages.

The recorded full user agent is Slackbot 1.0 (+https://api.slack.com/robots), with Slackbot as the stable token. Slack explicitly says its robots do not honor robots.txt because they act for users and do not follow links. Cloudflare also marks compliance false, despite this file's older metadata field saying true. There is no signature-agent URL or verified IP status in the record, so the user agent is not sufficient authentication for a webhook or API call.

Slackbot's traffic has no documented connection to AI search, citations, or model training. It represents product integrations and user-configured HTTP actions. Counting these requests as AI crawler visits would misstate both their origin and purpose.

Indirectly relevant

Is Slackbot relevant for AI search?

Indirectly. Slackbot has no AI product of its own, but its output can end up in the systems that AI answers draw on.

Slackbot fetches pages to build link-preview cards. It does not feed an AI index, but it reads the same Open Graph and structured metadata that AI systems parse to understand your pages, so clean preview metadata doubles as AI-friendly metadata.

How to handle Slackbot

Decide from the requested route, not the bot name alone. If the request reaches an endpoint intentionally connected to Slack, keep that endpoint available and apply the integration's normal authentication and input validation. Unexpected requests to unrelated routes can follow the site's standard automated-traffic policy.

The stable token allows this robots.txt group to publish a preference:

User-agent: Slackbot
Disallow: /

Slack says it will not honor the rule. Use an application, CDN, or firewall control to deny traffic, and contact Slack through its robot page for a Slack-side block or allowlist change. Manage Slackbot-LinkExpanding separately if the concern is link previews.

Examples

  • A workspace's outgoing webhook sends a request to an incident endpoint with the `Slackbot 1.0` user agent.
  • An integration asks Slack to call a vendor API, and the vendor records Slackbot on that specific API route rather than across its article archive.
  • A user pastes an article into a channel; the publisher sees `Slackbot-LinkExpanding`, not the general `Slackbot` identity documented here.

Frequently asked questions about Slackbot

Learn about AI visibility monitoring and how Promptwatch helps your brand succeed in AI search.

Slack operates Slackbot as a general-purpose HTTP client for Slack product integrations.

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