Slack Agent

The slack agent delivers pipeline notifications to Slack channels via incoming webhooks. It is a notify-only agent — you don’t put it in a phase’s agent: field. Instead, it fires when pipeline events trigger from notify blocks or the notifications configuration.

Use the slack agent to keep your team informed about pipeline progress, escalations, and completions without leaving Slack.

Sample Phase

- name: implement
  agent: cursor
  role: developer
  notify:
      on_escalate:
          agent: slack
          channel: alerts

Phase Configuration

The slack agent cannot be used as a workflow phase agent. It has no action field, no sources, and no target_entries. It activates exclusively through notify blocks on other phases.

Notify Block Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
`agent`	`string`	Yes	Must be `"slack"`
`channel`	`string`	No	Channel name from settings (defaults to `"default"`)
`message`	`string`	No	Custom message text

Supported events: on_complete, on_escalate, on_fail.

Channel Notation

"slack" or channel: default — routes to the default webhook
channel: alerts — routes to the named alerts channel

Settings

Configure under agents.slack in settings.json (via cliq setup or cliq settings):

Key	Required	Default	Description
`agents.slack.channels`	Yes	—	Named channel map (must include at least `default`)
`agents.slack.channels.default.webhook_url`	Yes	—	Webhook URL for the default channel
`agents.slack.channels.<name>.webhook_url`	No	—	Webhook URL for a named channel

Channel Map

Channels are named targets for notifications. Every slack agent configuration must include at least a default channel:

{
    "agents": {
        "slack": {
            "channels": {
                "default": {
                    "webhook_url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00/B00/xxxx"
                },
                "alerts": {
                    "webhook_url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00/B00/yyyy"
                },
                "deploys": {
                    "webhook_url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00/B00/zzzz"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

The default channel is used when a notify block doesn’t specify a channel name.

Output

The slack agent does not produce handoff envelopes. It is a fire-and-forget notification delivery mechanism with no downstream data.

Examples

Example: Notify on pipeline completion

Post a success message to the default Slack channel when work finishes.

phases:
    - name: implement
      agent: cursor
      notify:
          on_complete:
              agent: slack
              channel: default
              message: "Pipeline completed successfully"

    - name: finalize
      agent: git
      action: create_pr
      depends_on: [implement]

Example: Route escalations to an alerts channel

Notify the on-call team in a dedicated alerts channel when a review gate escalates.

phases:
    - name: implement
      agent: cursor

    - name: review
      type: gate
      agent: hug
      depends_on: [implement]
      review:
          reviewer: tech-lead
          timeout: 4h
      notify:
          on_escalate:
              agent: slack
              channel: alerts
              message: "Review escalated — human intervention required"

Example: Multiple notification channels

Combine completion and failure notifications for full pipeline observability.

phases:
    - name: deploy
      agent: exec
      depends_on: [review]
      commands:
          - name: deploy-prod
            run: ./scripts/deploy.sh production
            escalate_on_fail: true
      notify:
          on_complete:
              agent: slack
              channel: deploys
              message: "Production deployment succeeded"
          on_fail:
              agent: slack
              channel: alerts
              message: "Production deployment FAILED — investigate immediately"

Setup

Go to https://api.slack.com/apps → Create New App → From scratch
Name it (e.g., cliq notifications) and pick your workspace
In the left sidebar, click Incoming Webhooks → toggle On
Click Add New Webhook to Workspace → pick a channel → Allow
Copy the webhook URL
Repeat steps 4-5 for each Slack channel you want to notify

echo $SLACK_WEBHOOK | cliq settings agents.slack.channels.default.webhook_url --stdin --global
cliq doctor agent slack

Validation

cliq doctor agent slack checks:

agents.slack.channels is configured in settings
At least one channel (preferably default) has a valid webhook URL
Webhook URLs are reachable