Connecting Slack and email to an AI employee so results reach the right people

To get an AI employee's results into Slack or email, add a block at the end of its flow. For email, add an Email block with the addresses; for Slack, add the Slack app block, press Sign in with Slack once, pick the channel and leave the message empty so xMap writes it for you. Both send only on real runs (Run once, or the employee's own scheduled runs), never on a test. Then decide one thing: one message per run with the whole list, or one message per item for alerts.

This guide is for the person setting up where an employee reports. It explains the two ways an employee talks to people (its results, and its notes about its work), how to choose between Slack and email for each audience, and the settings that most often go wrong.

Two kinds of message, two places to set them

• Results: the list of places, postings or incidents a run found. These come from blocks in the flow: Email, the Slack app block, or both.
• Notes about the work: the short daily note, an urgent note when a run fails, the answers when you ask it something. These live in the employee's thread in the Team inbox, and that thread can also be linked to a Slack channel or a WhatsApp number.

Keeping them apart helps. A sales channel wants the list of new leads; the person who owns the employee wants to hear when it broke. Send the first with a block and the second through the inbox link.

Setting up email

1. Add the Email block after the last step that filters or scores. Templates usually have one already, addressed to you.
2. Type the addresses, separated by commas.
3. Choose One email per run for a list: the first 50 are shown with each name linked to its map page, and a link downloads every field as a CSV for 30 days.
4. Choose One email per item for alerts, at most 20 items a run. With this choice the To box can also take a field such as {{contact_email}}, so each item's email goes to its own address.
5. Leave the subject empty to use the flow's name, or write one with {{count}} in it.

Setting up Slack

1. Add the Slack app block and press Sign in with Slack. The connection asks only for what posting needs.
2. Pick the channel from the list. For a private channel, use Create a private channel in the list, or invite the xMap Flows app to the channel first.
3. Leave the message empty. Once a run, xMap writes the flow's name, the date, the count and a list where each name links to its map, and attaches the results as a CSV in the message's thread. Once per item, it writes one linked line per item.
4. Press Test run. Nothing is posted, but the run panel shows What it would send, so you can read the message before it is real.

Which one for whom

A flow can have both blocks side by side, each fed by the same step.

A worked example (made up)

Femi coordinates a property maintenance company in Vancouver with vans out from early morning. He has one AI employee watching road closures near 40 buildings the company looks after. A closure is useful only if a driver sees it before setting off, so he adds the Slack block set to once per item, posting to a #dispatch channel: each closure arrives as one line with its street and a map link.

The building managers do not need every closure, but they like a Friday summary. Femi adds a second flow that runs on Friday mornings, lists the closures still open near the buildings and sends one email per run to the four managers, with the CSV link for their records. Finally he links the employee's Team inbox thread to his own direct messages, so the note about a failed run reaches him, not the drivers.

Settings that go wrong

• One message per item on a long list. Fifty Slack posts in a minute will get a channel muted. Use one per run for lists and keep per item for alerts.
• A private channel the app cannot see. The run fails at the Slack block. Create the channel from the block, or add the app to it.
• Expecting a test run to post. Tests never send. Use the preview, then Run once.
• No Only new before the message. Without Only new, a daily flow sends the same places every day. Put it before the sending blocks.
• Mixing work notes and results in one channel. A team channel full of "this employee failed" notes gets ignored. Send results with the block and notes through the inbox link to the owner.

Linking the Team inbox thread

In the employee's thread in the Team inbox, its owner or an admin can link a Slack channel. A first message is posted at once so you know it works; if Slack refuses because the app is not in the channel, you are told and nothing is linked. From then on the daily notes go there too, and a reply in that Slack thread from a colleague whose Slack email matches their xMap account reaches the employee as if typed in the app: ask a question, pause it, or ask for a change.