Custom agent able to read Slack thread

[Vivien RUIZ]

Hello,

I created a custom agent, and added it to a Slack channel with a keyword trigger.

When triggering the agent, it is unable to read messages posted previously in the thread.
The agent constantly answer "Could you please provide the link or channel and timestamp of the Slack thread you want summarized? This will help me retrieve the conversation"

I have added the "Read messages in Slack" skill and granted the Slack custom knowledge.

Is this a know limitation of custom agent ? I do observe that the general Rovo agent has no trouble providing a summary of what was discussed

[Dr Valeri Colon _Connect Centric_ · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the community @Vivien RUIZ Custom agents can’t read full Slack thread history. The built-in Rovo Slack bot uses Slack’s native thread context, but custom agents don’t receive that message history even if you enable the “Read messages in Slack” skill. They only get the single triggering message unless you explicitly pass thread data to the agent. This is a current limitation of custom agents in Slack.

[Lan Dang _Tyme_]

Hi @Dr Valeri Colon _Connect Centric_ ,

I encounter the same issue whenever there’s only a single message.

I set up a workflow in Slack. If a message contains a specific keyword, the workflow will add an emoji to trigger the Rovo agent. However, the Rovo agent responds that it cannot read the message.

[Dr Valeri Colon _Connect Centric_]

@Lan Dang _Tyme_ this is expected right now. Custom agents in Slack don’t reliably receive the full message context—even for a single message—when triggered via emoji/workflows. Your two options are to (1) Authorize Slack MCP so it can fetch the message with proper permissions/context or (2) Pass the message link/timestamp in the trigger.

[Jorge Cammarota]

rovo no slack ainda não tive a chance de implementar.

[Dr Valeri Colon _Connect Centric_]

@Jorge Cammarota  Sem problema—boa exploração! Quando tiver a chance de testar, vai ser ótimo trocar ideias e ver o que funciona melhor.