Connecting Spark to Slack: An Integration Guide
How this integration works
Spark sends notifications to your Slack workspace through the Spark Slack bot. Once connected, the bot delivers two kinds of messages:
- Direct messages to the specific person who needs to act — for example, the approvers of a time-off request. Direct messages to the specific person who needs to act — for example, approvers of a time-off request. These messages include a link straight to the approval page.
- Channel posts to the Slack channels you configure — for example, an announcement or a notice that a teammate is out of office.
Spark matches a Slack recipient to a Spark employee by email address. The employee's Spark email must be the same as the email on their Slack account.
The text of the direct messages comes from your own notification templates in Spark — the same ones used for in-app notifications — so you control the wording. See below which messages use your Spark notification templates.
The integration is tenant-wide: an administrator connects it once for the whole workspace. Individual employees do not need to connect anything themselves.
Prerequisites
- A Spark administrator account with access to My Settings → Integrations.
- A Slack administrator account, or a Slack account permitted to install apps in your workspace.
- Depending on your workspace settings, Slack may require an admin to approve the installation.
- The Slack Bot integration enabled for your tenant (see Enable the integration for your tenant below).
- Employees who should receive direct messages must have the same email address in Spark and in Slack. Spark does not create Slack accounts, and it does not fall back to name matching.
- (Optional) Access to Settings → Customization → Templates, if you want to adjust the wording of the direct messages.
Spark supports one Slack workspace per tenant. If you connect a second workspace later, the existing channel configuration is reset.
Slack Enterprise Grid installations are not supported.
Activate the integration for your tenant
The Slack integration is delivered as a Marketplace add-on. If you do not see the Slack card under Integrations, request activation first.
- Open the Marketplace in Spark.
- Find the Slack card and click Connect to activate it for your tenant.
Activating the add-on only makes the Slack card available in your Integrations page. No notifications are sent yet. The bot starts delivering messages only after you complete both remaining steps below: connect the bot to your Slack workspace, and configure the channels.
If the add-on is not available to your tenant, contact Spark support with:
To: contact@spark.work
Subject: Enable Slack integration for {workspace}
Include: Your Spark workspace URL ( https://{workspace}.spark.work ) and your
admin contact.
Supported features
Once the bot is connected and channels are configured, Spark delivers the following notifications to Slack.
Not sent to Slack: rejected, recalled, and cancelled time-off requests. These are delivered by email and in-app notifications only.
Messages Using Spark Notification Templates
Direct messages are not written by the bot. The text comes from your own notification templates in Spark — the same templates that drive in-app notifications — so whatever you write there is what the employee sees in Slack..
To review or edit them, go to Settings → Customization → Templates, open the System/Push Notifications tab, and select the Time Offs group.
Channel posts do not use templates for now: the out-of-office post has a fixed format, and the announcement post is delivered as a link that Slack expands into a preview.
Make sure you are on the System/Push Notifications tab.Two things worth knowing:
- Templates are per language: Spark renders each direct message in the recipient's own language, using the Language selector on the template page. Keep the template filled in for every language your employees use.
- The link is added automatically: Spark appends the approval link in message after your template text — do not add it to the template yourself.
Channel posts do not use templates for now: the out-of-office post has a fixed format, and the announcement post is delivered as a link that Slack expands into a preview.
Configuration steps
1. Connect the Slack bot in Marketplace
1.3. On the Slack card, click Connect.
The exact screens depend on your Slack workspace configuration. If your workspace requires admin approval for new apps, the request is sent to your Slack administrators and the installation completes once they approve it.1.5. When authorization succeeds, the window closes and Spark opens the Slack Bot management screen automatically.
2. Permissions requested
During installation Slack asks you to approve the permissions the bot needs. For reference:
During installation Slack asks you to approve the permissions the bot needs. For reference:
3. Configure channels
Channel configuration is required — until you select and save the channels below, no channel posts are delivered.
Channel configuration is required — until you select and save the channels below, no channel posts are delivered.
Planning to use a private channel? Invite the Spark bot to it in Slack first (open the channel and run /invite @Spark). A private channel that the bot has not joined does not appear in the channel drop-downs in Spark. Public channels appear without any invite.After connecting, open the management screen at any time: My Settings → Integrations → Tenant Integrations → Slack card → Manage.
The top banner shows the connection status, the connected Workspace, and the installation date, along with the Reinstall and Revoke actions.
Under Notifications, configure:
Select the channel that receives the "employee is out of office" post when a time-off request is fully approved.
Select the channel that receives company-wide announcements.
Map an employee group to a specific Slack channel so announcements targeted at that group go to that channel. Use Add group routing to add a row.
Under Notifications, configure:
Select the channel that receives the "employee is out of office" post when a time-off request is fully approved.
Select the channel that receives company-wide announcements.
Map an employee group to a specific Slack channel so announcements targeted at that group go to that channel. Use Add group routing to add a row.
Group routing does not fall back to the default channel. If an announcement targets a group that has no mapping, it is not posted. The default channel is used for company-wide announcements only.3.4. Click Save.
Don't see the channel you need in the drop-down? If it is a private channel, the bot has not been invited to it yet — invite it in Slack (/invite @Spark), then reopen this screen and the channel will be listed.
Notes & Troubleshooting
Disconnecting
To disconnect the integration, go to My Settings → Integrations → Tenant Integrations, and on the Slack card click Revoke (also available as Revoke on the Manage screen). This removes the Spark bot from your Slack workspace and stops all Slack notifications. Your Spark data is not affected.
Changing the Slack workspace
On the Manage screen, select Reinstall. If you choose a different workspace, Spark asks you to confirm the change and clears the existing channel configuration.