The GitHub integration for Slack allows you to connect your GitHub account to the GitHub app in Slack. Once connected, you can use slash commands to interact with GitHub, receive notifications about repository activity, and collaborate with your team directly within Slack.

You can also use the GitHub integration to initiate and steer Copilot cloud agent sessions in a conversation, including asking Copilot to perform deep research, planning and triage tasks within a thread. Teammates can collaborate with each other and the agent, add context, correct assumptions, continue an agent task, and review the resulting artifacts. You can also select the model, connect MCP servers, work across multiple repositories in one session, and benefit from Copilot Memory.

Connecting your GitHub account to the GitHub app in Slack

1. In Slack, start a direct message with the GitHub app.
2. The direct message will be pre-populated with a welcome message and a link to connect your GitHub account. Follow the prompts on screen in Slack, and in GitHub in your browser, to authenticate and authorize the connection.

Once your GitHub account is connected, Slack will show you a list of available commands and features you can use.

Using Slash commands to interact with GitHub in Slack

To use a slash command, type /github followed by the command you want to execute in the message input field of any Slack channel or direct message where the GitHub app is present. To invite the app to a channel, type /invite @github in the channel.

Command	Description
/github help	Displays a list of essential commands and their descriptions.
/github subscribe OWNER/REPO	Subscribes the channel to notifications for the specified repository.
/github unsubscribe OWNER/REPO	Unsubscribes the channel from notifications for the specified repository.
/github subscribe list	Lists all repositories the channel is subscribed to.
/github open OWNER/REPO	Opens an issue in the specified repository. You will be prompted to provide a title and description for the issue.
/github close [ISSUE-LINK]	Closes the specified issue as completed.
/github close [ISSUE-LINK] reason:"NOT-PLANNED"	Closes the specified issue with a reason. Replace "NOT-PLANNED" with your reason.
/github reopen [ISSUE-LINK]	Reopens the specified issue.
/github signin	Restarts the "Connect your GitHub account" workflow.
/github signout	Disconnects your GitHub account from your Slack user.

To change the repositories, default owner, or default model for new conversations in a channel, run @GitHub settings. These defaults are separate from repository notification subscriptions. To change the model only for the current conversation, ask Copilot to choose a model.

Initiating Copilot cloud agent sessions within Slack

The GitHub integration includes Copilot cloud agent in Slack. You can summon GitHub Copilot in threads where discussions are taking place and ask it to make changes based on the context of those discussions.

Use Copilot in direct messages, threads, and channels. Besides creating issues, pull requests and other artifacts, working with Copilot in Slack allows you to:

• Move from discussion to investigation, planning, and implementation.
• Ask questions, investigate failures, and steer an agent together with teammates.
• Delegate work from any device and let tasks run asynchronously.
• Choose the model, connect MCP servers, and work across multiple repositories.
• Use Copilot Memory to help Copilot learn from your work over time.
• Review the resulting work in the open, then resume it outside of Slack, in GitHub, the terminal, or your preferred code editor.

For example:

@GitHub Investigate this failed workflow and explain the cause before changing code.
@GitHub Update the API in octo-org/service and its client in octo-org/web, then open linked pull requests.
@GitHub Choose a model for this conversation.

You need write access to every selected repository to start or steer work. Other participants in the thread can still add context. For a task moved to a Slack Code channel, continue steering it there.

For more information, see Integrating Copilot cloud agent with Slack.

Working with issues and pull requests

You can create, comment on, and manage issues and pull requests directly from Slack with or without using Copilot.

To have Copilot perform an action, @mention the app in any chat by typing @GitHub followed by your task.

For step-by-step instructions to work with issues and pull requests independent of Copilot, see Creating issues with the GitHub integration in Slack and Managing issues with the GitHub integration in Slack.

Notification mentions in Slack

When you subscribe to a repository in Slack, you will see yourself mentioned in notifications for repository events in which you have been referenced. For example, if you are assigned to an issue, or mentioned in a comment, you will see yourself mentioned in the notification in Slack.

Mentions require you to be logged in to your GitHub account through the GitHub app in Slack. This enables GitHub to map your Slack identity to your GitHub identity. See Connecting your GitHub account to the GitHub app in Slack.

The following are scenarios in which you will be mentioned:

• You are assigned to an issue.
• Your review is requested on a pull request.
• You are mentioned in a pull request, issue description, comment, or discussion.
• Your review is requested on a deployment.
• You receive a scheduled reminder for a pull review request.

You can see a summary of your GitHub mentions in the "Mentions" view in Slack. For more information, see Triage notifications in the Activity tab in the Slack documentation.

To learn how to customize your GitHub notifications in Slack, see Customizing notifications for GitHub in Slack.

Threading conversations

Notifications for each issue or pull request are grouped into a thread in Slack. The parent message always shows the latest status of the issue or pull request, along with other meta-data like title, description, assignees, reviewers, labels and checks. Threading helps keep conversations organized, making it easier to follow updates and discussions related to a specific issue or pull request. When the state of an issue or pull request changes, the associated reply is posted both in the thread and in the channel, so that everyone in the channel is aware of the update.

You can disable threading for issue and pull request notifications in individual channels.

1. In the Slack channel where you want to disable threading, type /github settings.
2. In the settings menu, to the right of "Disable threading for Pull Request and Issue notifications", click Disable.

You, or any other member of the channel, can re-enable threading at any time by following the same steps and clicking Enable in the settings menu.

Notification threading and Copilot sessions serve different purposes. Changing notification threading settings does not change the repositories or model of an agent session. To ask for investigation or implementation, reply to a notification and mention @GitHub.

Broadcasting comments and reviews to the Slack channel

By default, comments and reviews will only show up in their related thread. If you want the channel members to see them instead of just those who are participants of the issue, you can opt-in to broadcasting with the following commands:

• For comment broadcasting, use /github subscribe OWNER/REPO comments:"CHANNEL"

• For review broadcasting, use /github subscribe OWNER/REPO reviews:"CHANNEL"

Unfurling links to GitHub activities in Slack

Link previews provide additional context when sharing links to GitHub activities in Slack. Link previews are shown in Slack for the following GitHub activities:

• Pull requests
• Issues
• Directly linked comments
• Code blobs with line numbers
• Organizations, repositories, and users

Previews of links will not be shown if any of the following apply:

• Link previews are disabled in your Slack workspace. See Share links and set preview preferences in the Slack documentation.
• The same link has already been shared in the channel in the past 30 minutes.
• 3 or more links are shared in the same message.
• The repository is private, and the user who shared the link:
  • Has not connected their GitHub account to the GitHub app in Slack.
  • Asked not to show link previews when prompted.
  • The GitHub app is not in the channel where the link is shared. See Using slash commands to interact with GitHub in Slack.

Scheduling reminders for pull request reviews

You can schedule reminders for pull request reviews in Slack. Reminders can be sent to you directly in a direct message with the GitHub app, or to a channel where the GitHub app is present. For example, you can schedule a reminder to be sent to you in a direct message every weekday at 10 AM including all open issues that are assigned to you.

You can configure scheduled reminders for yourself, your team, or your entire organization. For more information, see:

• Managing your scheduled reminders
• Managing scheduled reminders for your team
• Managing scheduled reminders for your organization