Slack App

Slack App integration for Currents - test notifications and alerts

Integrate Slack with Currents to receive real-time test notifications and failure alerts directly in team channels. The Slack App helps engineering teams stay informed about test results without leaving their workflow.

Use Cases

• Instant failure alerts: Notify teams immediately when tests fail so they can respond quickly before issues reach production.

• Flaky test detection: Receive Slack alerts when tests exhibit flaky behavior, helping maintain test suite reliability.

• Team routing: Automatically mention the right team members based on which tests failed - route checkout failures to the payments team, API failures to backend engineers.

• Release gating: Send notifications to release managers when smoke tests or critical tests fail on main or release branches.

• On-call escalation: Page on-call engineers when critical tests fail in production environments.

The integration supports organization-level installation, per-project configuration, multiple notification destinations, and advanced filtering options.

Requirements and permissions

Currents and Slack permissions are separate:

Role	Access
Currents organization administrator	Connect, re-authenticate, disconnect, and change the Slack App settings in Currents
Slack administrator	Authorize the Currents app in Slack; the exact role depends on whether Slack uses a single workspace or Enterprise Grid

A Currents organization administrator starts the connection from Currents. The Slack authorization step must be completed by a user with the correct Slack administrator permissions:

Slack setup	Who must install the app
Single workspace	A Workspace Owner or Workspace Admin
Enterprise Grid (multiple workspaces / org)	An Org Owner or Org Admin (workspace-level admins are not sufficient on their own)

When the Slack account belongs to an Enterprise Grid organization, the app must be installed by an Org Owner or Org Admin.

If a workspace-level admin installs the app while the workspace is part of a larger Slack organization, the installation may appear to succeed and Currents will store the access token, but Slack can later invalidate that token. When this happens, Currents receives an account_inactive error from the Slack API and notifications silently stop working.

This occurs because, in an Enterprise Grid organization, apps are managed and approved at the org level. Tokens tied to a workspace-only installation can be deactivated when the installation is not authorized by an Org Owner/Admin. See Slack's documentation on managing apps in an Enterprise organization and org-level app policies for details.

Installation checklist

1. Determine whether the Slack account is a single workspace or part of an Enterprise Grid organization. A Slack administrator can confirm this if it's unclear.

2. For a single workspace, the Currents Slack App must be installed by a Workspace Owner/Admin.

3. For an Enterprise Grid organization, an Org Owner/Admin must perform the installation (or approve and complete it). A workspace-level admin alone is not enough.

4. If the app was already installed and notifications stopped working with an account_inactive error, the integration should be disconnected and reinstalled by an Org Owner/Admin. Reinstalling generates a new, valid token.

The account_inactive error generally means the stored bot token is no longer valid - typically because the app was uninstalled or the installation was not authorized at the right level. The fix is to reinstall the app with an account that has the required permissions. See Slack's note on deactivated members' apps and integrations.

Installation

Connecting Slack to Your Organization

The Slack App integration is installed at the organization level and can be configured for individual projects.

1. Navigate to Project Settings > Integrations

2. Find the Slack section and click Connect

3. You'll be redirected to Slack to authorize the Currents app

4. Click Allow to install the application in your Slack workspace

Review and authorize the Currents app in Slack.

After installation, you'll receive a welcome message in Slack confirming the connection.

The Slack installation is organization-wide. Once connected, you can enable Slack notifications for any project within your organization.

Enabling Notifications for a Project

After connecting Slack to your organization:

1. Navigate to Project Settings > Integrations > Slack

2. Click Enable Notifications to create a Slack configuration for the project

3. Configure your notification preferences (see sections below)

4. Click Save to apply your settings

You can enable or disable Slack notifications for each project independently without affecting the organization-level installation.

Enable Slack notifications independently for each project.

Installation Status and Recovery

The Slack integration page reports installation and configuration issues and provides the appropriate recovery action.

Status	Recommended action
Credentials expired	Select Re-authenticate
Installation archived	Re-authenticate or reinstall
Installed but not configured	Enable notifications and save the project settings
Project notifications disabled	Enable the project-level toggle
Destination has no channel	Select or manually enter a channel
All destinations disabled	Enable at least one destination

Re-authenticating normally preserves the existing project configuration. If Slack continues returning account_inactive, disconnect the integration and reinstall it using the required Slack administrator role.

Notification Destinations

The dashboard shows the destination limit for the organization; the default is 10. Destinations allow notifications to be sent to different Slack channels based on project needs.

Adding a Destination

1. In the Slack integration settings, click Add Destination

2. Select a Slack channel from the dropdown, or enter the channel details manually

3. Configure the notification settings for this destination

4. Click Save

Manual Channel Entry: For organizations with many channels, you can manually enter the Channel ID and Channel Name instead of selecting from the dropdown. This is useful when Slack's API limitations prevent listing all channels.

Public and Private Channels

The channel picker can return public channels and private channels that are visible to the Currents Slack App, even if the dashboard label says Slack Channel (Public Only).

The Currents app must be invited to a private channel before it can post there. If an accessible channel does not appear in search, select Manual Input and enter its Channel ID and Channel Name.

Managing Destinations

Each destination can be:

• Enabled/Disabled individually - Toggle notifications for specific channels without deleting the configuration

• Configured independently - Each destination has its own notification settings, filters, and mention rules

Message Threading

Each destination has a Message Threading toggle that controls how notifications are organized in Slack:

Setting	Behavior
Enabled	Messages related to the same run are grouped in a single thread, keeping channels organized
Disabled	Each notification is sent as a standalone message in the channel

Message threading is enabled by default for new destinations. Disable it if your team prefers individual messages or if you're using Slack workflows that process messages independently.

Run Notifications

Run notifications provide a summary of the entire test run. These are sent when a run completes and can use Slack threads to organize related messages.

A run summary and its detailed results grouped in a Slack thread.

How Threading Works

When Message Threading is enabled for a destination, Currents organizes notifications as follows:

1. A main message is posted indicating notifications are available for the run

2. Detailed results are added as replies in a thread

3. Subsequent updates (like individual test failures) appear in the same thread

This keeps your Slack channels organized and prevents notification overload.

When Message Threading is disabled, each notification is sent as a standalone message in the channel.

Run message appearance

Run notifications include a colored bar beside the message that reflects the run state:

Color	Run state
Blue	The run is still in progress
Green	The run finished with a passing outcome
Red	The run finished with a failed or otherwise error outcome
Yellow	The run timed out
Gray	The run was cancelled

The threaded groups table displays test results with status colors in the message: green for passed tests, red for failed and skipped tests, grey for ignored tests, and purple for flaky tests.

Results table updates during a run

When Message Threading is enabled, Currents posts a main thread for the run and updates the groups table on that thread as groups finish while the run is still in progress. Teams see partial group results without waiting for every group to complete first.

Notification Modes

Configure when run notifications are sent:

Mode	Description
Always send	Send notifications for every run, regardless of outcome
Only when there are failures	Send notifications only when there are failed tests
Only when there are failed or flaky tests	Send notifications when failed or flaky tests are detected
Only when all tests are passing	Send notifications only when all tests pass (passing-only run outcome)

When Only when there are failures is selected, the platform can also send a recovery notification: if a run already triggered a failure notification for that destination, a later completion with a passing outcome can post a success update so the channel shows when the pipeline is green again.

Additional Run Events

You can also enable notifications for:

• Run Canceled - When a run is canceled manually or via fail-fast strategy

• Run Timeout - When a run times out before completion

Filtering Run Notifications

Apply conditions to control which runs trigger notifications:

Filter	Type	Description
Git Branch	String	The git branch name for the test run
Git Commit Message	String	The git commit message that triggered the run
Tags	Array	The tags associated with the test run

Example: To only receive notifications for production deployments:

• Set Tags includes any: production

Or to notify only for main branch runs:

• Set Git Branch matches: main

Configure run-result delivery and optional conditions for each destination.

Individual Test Notifications

Individual test notifications provide detailed information about failed or flaky tests.

An individual failed-test notification with retry and error details.

Enabling Individual Test Notifications

1. In your destination settings, find the Individual Tests section

2. Toggle Enable to activate individual test notifications

3. Select the notification mode

4. Optionally, add conditions to filter which tests trigger notifications

Notification Modes

Mode	Description
Notify on failed	Send notifications only for failed tests
Notify on flaky	Send notifications only for flaky tests
Notify on failed or flaky	Send notifications for both failed and flaky tests

Filtering Test Notifications

Filter individual test notifications based on test and run properties:

Filter	Type	Description
Git Branch	String	The git branch name for the test run
Git Commit Message	String	The git commit message that triggered the run
Tags	Array	The tags associated with the test
Test Title	String	The title of the test
Test File Path	String	The file path of the test

Example: To only receive notifications for checkout tests:

• Set Test File Path matches: checkout/.*

Or to notify for critical tests:

• Set Tags includes any: critical, smoke

Message Content

Individual test notifications include:

• Test name and file location

• Failure reason and error message

• Attempt details (for retried tests)

• Direct link to the test in Currents dashboard

• Mentioned users (if configured)

Messages display up to five test results. When more tests require attention, the message includes the number of omitted tests, mentions collected from the omitted tests, and a View in Currents button.

Fix with AI

Failed-test messages include a Fix with AI button. Clicking it presents options to:

• Open the failure context directly in Cursor or GitHub Copilot

• Copy a prompt for Claude Code, Codex, Zed, Conductor, or another AI tool

• Install the Currents MCP server so an agent can retrieve additional test and run context

See AI-powered test troubleshooting for other Fix with AI entry points.

Annotation-Based Mentions

The Slack App integration supports mentioning users directly in notifications based on test annotations. When a test fails, the configured users or groups are notified in the Slack message.

Enabling Annotation Mentions

1. In your destination settings, find the Annotation Mentions section

2. Toggle Enable to activate annotation-based mentions

3. Notifications will now include mentions based on test annotations

Add annotations to your tests to trigger Slack mentions using the notify:slack annotation type. See Mention Formats for supported formats.

Example

test(
  "critical test",
  {
    annotation: {
      type: "notify:slack",
      description: "@engineering-team, [e-mail]",
    },
  },
  async ({ page }) => {
    // test code
  }
);

See Playwright Annotations for more details on using annotations, including how to combine notify:slack with other annotation types like owner.

UI-Based Mention Rules

In addition to code annotations, you can configure mention rules directly in the Currents UI. This allows you to set up notification routing without modifying your test code.

Route matching test notifications with UI-based mention rules.

Creating Mention Rules

1. In your destination settings, find the Mention Rules section

2. Click Add Rule

3. Configure conditions using the available filters

4. Add the users and groups to mention (see Mention Formats for supported formats)

5. Click Save

If no conditions are defined in a rule, the specified users and groups will be mentioned for all matching test notifications.

Available Conditions

Mention rules support the following filters:

Filter	Type	Description
Git Branch	String	The git branch name for the test run
Git Commit Message	String	The git commit message that triggered the run
Tags	Array	The tags associated with the test
Test Title	String	The title of the test
Test File Path	String	The file path of the test

Rule Examples

Condition	Mentions	Use Case
Test File Path matches .*checkout.*	@payments-team	Route checkout failures to payments team
Tags includes any critical	@oncall, [e-mail]	Escalate critical test failures
Git Branch eq main	@release-managers	Notify release team of main branch failures

Mention Formats

Both Annotation-Based Mentions and UI-Based Mention Rules support the following formats for specifying users and groups to mention:

Format	Description	Example Value
User Email	Email address associated with Slack account	[e-mail]
User ID	Slack user ID	user:U01RWNBFGER
User Group (Team)	Slack user group ID	team:S07JCUP81EG
Slack Handle	Slack username or group handle	@engineering-team
Multiple Mentions	Comma-separated combination of formats	user:U01RWNBFGER, team:S07JCUP81EG, [e-mail]

Finding Slack IDs: See Slack's documentation for instructions on finding user and group IDs.

Automated Reports to Slack

Scheduled Automated Reports can be delivered to Slack channels through the Currents Slack App, in addition to email. Delivery uses the same report definition (schedule, lookback period, and tag, author, and branch filters) as email; only the destination changes.

Automated report messages are separate from run notifications and individual test notifications. Report Slack settings are configured on each report in the Reports section of the project, not under Project Settings > Integrations > Slack destinations.

Prerequisites

Before a report can post to Slack:

1. The organization must connect the Slack App with a user who has the required Slack administrator role (see Requirements and permissions).

2. The Currents app must be allowed to post in the target channel. For private channels, the app must be invited to the channel before delivery succeeds (see Public and Private Channels).

Configuring Slack delivery for a report

1. Open the project Reports section and create or edit a report (see Managing Automated Reports).

2. Enable the report and configure label, filters, lookback period, and schedule as for email delivery.

3. In the report's Slack settings, enable Send to Slack.

4. Select the Slack channel for the report. If the channel does not appear in the picker, use Manual Input and enter the channel ID and name.

5. Optionally keep email recipients configured so the same report is sent to both email and Slack.

6. Save the report.

What appears in Slack

When a scheduled report runs, Currents posts a message on the configured channel. The message summarizes the same performance insights as the email report (runs, tests, specs, and trend highlights for the selected period) and includes links to open the full report and related views in the Currents dashboard.

Troubleshooting report delivery

Symptom	What to check
No Slack message at the scheduled time	Report Enable/Disable is on; Send to Slack is enabled; at least one channel is selected; schedule and timezone are correct
Email arrives but Slack does not	Slack-specific settings on the report; organization installation status (Credentials expired, Installation archived, and similar)
Slack API errors for a channel	App membership in the channel (especially private channels); channel ID when using manual entry
Run notifications work but reports do not	Reports use per-report Slack settings on the Reports page, not integration destinations

Disabling Slack Integration

Disable for a Project

To disable Slack notifications for a specific project:

1. Navigate to Project Settings > Integrations > Slack

2. Toggle off Enable Notifications

The project configuration is preserved but notifications are paused.

Disconnect Slack

To completely remove the Slack integration:

1. Navigate to Project Settings > Integrations > Slack

2. Click Disconnect

This removes the organization-level Slack installation and disables notifications for all projects.

FAQ

Can I send notifications to multiple channels?

Yes. The dashboard shows the destination limit for the organization; the default is 10. Each destination can target a different Slack channel with its own configuration.

Why am I not receiving notifications?

Check the following:

1. Project-level toggle - Ensure "Enable Notifications" is turned on

2. Destination toggle - Ensure the specific destination is enabled

3. Notification mode - Confirm the selected run-result mode matches the expected outcome

4. Filters - Check whether any tag or branch filters are excluding runs

5. Mention rules - Ensure conditions match test properties

6. Installation permissions - If notifications stopped entirely, the Slack token may have been invalidated (account_inactive). See Why did notifications stop with an account_inactive error?

Why did notifications stop with an account_inactive error?

This usually means the Slack access token was invalidated because the app was installed without the required administrator permissions. In an Enterprise Grid organization, apps must be installed (or approved) by an Org Owner/Admin - a workspace-level admin alone is not sufficient, and Slack may later deactivate that installation's token.

The fix is to disconnect the integration and reinstall it with an Org Owner/Admin (or a Workspace Owner/Admin for single-workspace accounts). See Requirements and permissions for the full breakdown.

Can I use both annotation mentions and UI rules?

Yes, both methods work together. Annotation-based mentions take precedence and are combined with UI-configured rules.

What happens when a run has multiple groups?

With Message Threading enabled, Currents keeps one run thread per destination and updates the groups table on that thread as groups complete during the run. Individual test failures and run-result replies stay in the same thread instead of filling the channel with separate run summaries for each group.