# Private Slack channels

Swarmia's [team notifications](/settings/team/team-notifications.md) are a great way to stay up to date with all that needs your team's attention on a day-to-day basis.

You can get updates in both public and private Slack channels. If your team has a public channel, you should be able to choose it in Swarmia [notification settings](https://app.swarmia.com/settings/team/notifications).

If you're using a private channel instead, follow the instructions below.

## **Step 1: Reinstall the Swarmia app (recommended)**

We recommend that you start by [reinstalling the Swarmia app](https://app.swarmia.com/settings/slack) to your Slack workspace. This ensures we have all the permissions necessary to fetch the private channels from your Slack instance.

## **Step 2.** Enable [personal notifications](https://app.swarmia.com/notifications) <a href="#id-1ce2385d-0171-80bd-b0fa-ed60efecdfe7" id="id-1ce2385d-0171-80bd-b0fa-ed60efecdfe7"></a>

This prepares the necessary authorizations for listing your private channels. You can uncheck all the boxes if you're not interested in receiving personal notifications.

## **Step 3.** Invite the Swarmia app to your channel

This can be done either with a direct text command or by going through the Slack UI to add the app to the channel.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Adding the Swarmia app to a private channel **makes the channel name visible to everyone in your organization** who can access the Swarmia UI.

To hide the channel name from the Swarmia UI, you can remove the Swarmia app from the private Slack channel.
{% endhint %}

### **Option 1: Slack user interface** <a href="#id-1ce2385d-0171-8019-a46a-eb4007ae9db2" id="id-1ce2385d-0171-8019-a46a-eb4007ae9db2"></a>

For the UI approach, find the option to **Add apps to this channel** by entering the following on your private channel.

`/invite`

<figure><img src="/files/z5k3Bu003jxxcjtnUeLI" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Next, find the Swarmia app and **Add** it to your channel.

<figure><img src="/files/UmoDwv6Gui0r0qopfybA" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### **Option 2: via text command** <a href="#id-1ce2385d-0171-8097-98a4-fe63224d654d" id="id-1ce2385d-0171-8097-98a4-fe63224d654d"></a>

For the text version, enter the following command in your Slack channel:

`/invite @swarmia`

## **Step 4.** Refresh the [team notifications](https://app.swarmia.com/settings/team/notifications) page.

You should be able to see your channel in the list now.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://help.swarmia.com/settings/integrations/messaging-apps/slack/adding-swarmia-to-a-private-slack-channel.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
