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Rovo Slack App - Bot account cannot be a Service account

Dave Buitenhek

We previously setup a Slack Connector within Rovo so that Slack is searchable in Confluence. I like that feature and format, so I'm looking to reciprocate and make Confluence searchable within Slack as detailed on Atlassian Rovo Slack app.

I understand how to accomplish this, but Atlassian lost me on the Bot account. I initially planned to create a Service account because that is an exact use case. Then when attempting to add my site, I encounter an error that says Service accounts are not supported. Really?

That means I have to create a Google Workspace account (so that I have an email with it's own login for SSO), then create an Atlassian user account with access to Confluence, then configure this as a Bot account solely for Rovo to work in Slack.

I found a reference saying to add an alias on an existing user's Google Workspace account ... but that could easily become a problem later, and I'm not even certain that would work.

For context, I am an Atlassian Org Admin and a Slack Workspace Owner. Thanks.

Accepted answers

Rebekka Heilmann (viadee)

Hi @Dave Buitenhek

on the bright side: You actually got an error message that gave you something to work with and not just an unknown error

Service Accounts can only be used with APIs that are available during Token setup and support scoped Tokens. The feature is relatively new (in Atlassian time measures) so not surprised it isn't supported in this use case. They just added Token access support to Atlassian MCP.

can't really offer helpful advice otherwise. Sorry

All comments

Rebekka Heilmann (viadee)

Hi @Dave Buitenhek

on the bright side: You actually got an error message that gave you something to work with and not just an unknown error

can't really offer helpful advice otherwise. Sorry

Dave Buitenhek

Hi Rebekka - thank you! This is helpful to understand the reasoning behind the "why" that shows the error. TBH, I wish that the 'error' was visible at the start of the process. I didn't even see it until I attempted to add a Service account email address into that specific field.

I'll keep an eye out for any other ideas as far as avoiding an entirely new / separate user account provisioned in Google Workspace and Atlassian.

Dr Valeri Colon (Connect Centric)

You’re not missing anything—this is a current limitation, not a setup mistake.

The Rovo Slack app requires a real Atlassian user because it operates on behalf of a user identity (permissions, content access, audit). Service accounts aren’t supported for this flow today.

Workarounds:

Use a dedicated “bot” user (licensed) with least-privilege access
Avoid aliases tied to real users—those can break ownership/audit later

Agree it should be clearer earlier in setup—worth raising as feedback. Cheers ya'll!

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