# How to use a Righthand with Slack

Build a Slack decision digest from selected channels and complete threads, retaining message references and unresolved ownership.

By Righthand Team · 2026-10-09

Source: https://www.righthand.ai/blog/how-to-use-righthand-with-slack

## Turn Slack discussion into a decision queue

Righthand can help prepare a decision digest from selected Slack channels. The useful unit is a discussion with a source message, current conclusion, owner, and unresolved question. A channel-wide paraphrase often hides which messages actually support the conclusion.

Slack's [conversation history method](https://docs.slack.dev/reference/methods/conversations.history/) retrieves conversation messages with pagination. A history read does not necessarily include every reply in a thread. Use a supported thread read or an approved export containing replies before calling a discussion complete.

## Define the channels and reporting window

Give exact channel identifiers or links, a bounded interval, and the topics to review. For an illustrative release coordination task, select the release channel and the linked incident discussion, not every channel the account can see.

Inspect Slack's actual tools through [Righthand integrations](/integrations). Read-only access is enough for a digest. If thread retrieval is absent, the channel owner can provide a complete exported discussion or authorize a browser review. The report should show which route supplied the evidence.

## A complete example request

> At 4 PM America/Los_Angeles on weekdays, review the approved release channel messages and their accessible replies since the last checkpoint. Prepare a private digest grouped into decisions made, questions awaiting an owner, and conflicting statements. Include the channel, source message link, latest relevant reply time, and named owner only when explicit. Send the digest to me for release-lead review. Do not post to channels or message colleagues. Reconcile the time window and mark threads whose replies were unavailable.

This example is illustrative. Mentioning someone in a discussion does not assign responsibility. A reaction can express agreement without providing the exact decision the release lead needs.

## Preserve disagreement in the output

An example entry might read: “Deployment timing disputed; initial message suggests Thursday; later reply requests a dependency check; no final owner decision found.” That is more useful than selecting the most recent positive statement and labeling the deployment approved.

Keep quoted excerpts short and connected to their source. Identify edits or deleted content when the retrieval exposes them; otherwise avoid claims about the discussion's historical completeness. Separate a proposed next step from a recorded team commitment.

## Handle pagination and repeat runs

Reconcile the retrieved window and pages before reporting that no new decisions exist. An incomplete page, permission change, or rate limit can produce a partial digest. Return the partial coverage and missing interval, rather than treating inaccessible messages as silence.

Use message identity and channel context to avoid duplicate digest items on a rerun. When a thread receives a new reply, update its prior item and describe the change. This keeps a recurring digest from making one unresolved question look like several separate problems.

After the first reviewed run, define the responsibility and its checkpoint in [Righthand's workflow guide](https://docs.righthand.ai/guides/responsibilities-and-workflows). If you later authorize posting, specify the destination and permitted content separately. Review [pricing](/pricing) for the ongoing responsibility.