Click New Agent in the sidebar to open the creation wizard. Creating an agent takes about 5 minutes if you have your Slack credentials ready.
Step 1: Name & Role
| Field | Description |
|---|
| Name | Display name shown in the UI and Slack (e.g. “Ava Engineer”) |
| Slug | URL-safe identifier auto-generated from the name (e.g. ava-engineer). Used internally and as the agent’s workspace directory name. |
| Description | What this agent does. Shown in Boss agent team registries so the Boss knows who to delegate to. |
| Persona | Free-form personality and behavioral instructions. Compiled into CLAUDE.md as the agent’s identity section. |
| Model | The Claude model this agent uses. |
Model selection
| Model | Best for |
|---|
claude-opus-4-6 | Complex reasoning, Boss agents, multi-step planning |
claude-sonnet-4-6 | Balanced capability and speed — good default for most agents |
claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | Fast, lightweight tasks and high-volume operations |
Boss vs specialist
Toggle This agent is a Boss if this agent should orchestrate a team:
- Boss agents skip the Tools step (they delegate rather than use tools directly)
- Boss
CLAUDE.md is auto-generated from the team registry — it lists all specialists that report to this boss and includes explicit delegation rules
- The registry regenerates automatically whenever any agent is added, updated, or deleted
For specialist agents, use Reports To to select which Boss agent(s) they report to. A specialist can report to multiple bosses and will appear in each selected boss’s registry.
Step 2: Slack App
SlackHive generates a Slack app manifest tailored for your agent. The manifest pre-configures:
- All required OAuth scopes
- Socket Mode enabled
- Bot display name matching your agent’s name
To create the Slack app:
- Click Generate Manifest in the wizard
- Open api.slack.com/apps in a new tab
- Click Create New App → From a manifest
- Select your workspace, paste the manifest, click Create
- Go to OAuth & Permissions → Install to Workspace → Allow
See Slack App Setup for a detailed walkthrough.
Step 3: Credentials
Paste the three values from your Slack app settings:
| Field | Where to find it |
|---|
Bot Token (xoxb-...) | OAuth & Permissions → Bot User OAuth Token |
App Token (xapp-...) | Basic Information → App-Level Tokens (create with connections:write scope) |
| Signing Secret | Basic Information → App Credentials |
This step is skipped for Boss agents.
Skill template
Select a starting template for the agent’s skill set:
| Template | Description |
|---|
| Blank | No starter skills — clean slate |
| Data Analyst | SQL query patterns, data summarization, charting guidance |
| Writer | Content drafting, editing, tone adjustment |
| Developer | Code review, debugging, PR summaries, architecture commands |
MCP servers
Assign MCP servers from the platform catalog to give this agent access to external tools. Each assigned server’s tools become available as mcp__{serverName}__{toolName}.
Servers can be added or removed later from the agent’s Tools tab.
Step 5: Review
Review the summary:
- Agent name, slug, model, persona
- Boss/specialist configuration
- Slack app connection status
- Assigned skills and MCP servers
Click Create Agent to finalize. The runner picks up the new agent within seconds via Redis pub/sub.
After creation
- The agent appears in the dashboard with Active status
- Invite the bot to a Slack channel:
/invite @your-agent-name
- @mention it to start a conversation
Test your agent by opening a Slack DM with it. DMs don’t require a channel invite.
Editing an agent
All fields are editable after creation from the agent’s detail page tabs:
| Tab | What you can edit |
|---|
| Overview | Name, description, persona, model, Slack credentials, channel restrictions |
| CLAUDE.md | The agent’s main instruction/identity file directly |
| Skills | Skill files (slash commands), add/edit/delete |
| Tools | MCP server assignments, tool permissions (allowlist/denylist) |
| Memory | Browse, inspect, and delete agent memories |
| History | Version control — browse snapshots, view diffs, restore |
Channel restrictions
By default, an agent responds in any channel it’s invited to. To restrict to specific channels:
- Go to the agent’s Overview tab
- Scroll to Allowed Channels
- Enter one or more Slack channel IDs (e.g.
C12345678)
When a channel list is set, the agent silently ignores messages from other channels. If the bot is invited to a non-allowed channel, it posts a notice and immediately leaves.
Find a channel ID in Slack by right-clicking the channel name → Copy link — the ID is the C... segment at the end of the URL. 
