User Permissions and Roles

A Slack user is mapped to a Salesforce user via the proxy layer that connects Slack to Salesforce. The proxy layer provides authorization and org routing capabilities.

When you connect a Slack app to a Salesforce org, a Slack user can perform activities and tasks that are granted to the corresponding Salesforce user. Actions in Slack apps are run in Salesforce within the user’s context and follow the user’s access rights.

For example, an approval that’s sent from Salesforce is routed directly to the approver on Slack, such as the user with the sales director role. Only this Slack user receives the message in Slack and can approve or reject the request.

Understand Salesforce and Slack Permissions

In Salesforce, you can control who sees what by using these methods:

Permission sets and profiles for object-level security
Permission sets and profiles for field-level security
Sharing settings for record-level security

Slack users don’t have roles and permissions like those defined in Salesforce. However, a Slack user has a role with its own permissions and access. See Permissions by role in Slack.

For example, a guest role can be granted permission to send messages and upload files but it can’t join a public channel.

Create Permissions for a Slack App

Admins can create and assign permissions in Setup on the Permission Sets page. However, if you’re distributing your Slack app, it’s useful to include a permission to simplify installation and setup for users.

To grant a user access, use the PermissionSet metadata type and create a MyPerms.permissionset-meta.xml file in the force-app/main/default/permissionsets/ directory of your project.

1project
2|_myslackapp
3      |_force-app/main/default/
4            |_ permissionsets/
5                  |_ MyPerms.permissionset-meta.xml
6            |_ slackapps/
7                  |_ MySlackApp.slackapp
8                  |_ MySlackApp.slackapp-meta.xml
9      |_package.json
10      |_sfdx-project.json

In the metadata file, include the user permissions you want to assign to users. Use one <userPermissions> element for each permission.

1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<PermissionSet xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
3    <hasActivationRequired>false</hasActivationRequired>
4    <label>SlackPerms</label>
5    <license>Salesforce</license>
6    <userPermissions>
7        <enabled>true</enabled>
8        <name>UserSlackCapabilities</name>
9    </userPermissions>
10</PermissionSet>

The Apex SDK sample app provides an example of defining a permission set. See Sample Apex SDK for Slack App.

Tip

Beta Feature

This feature is not generally available. It is not part of your purchased Services. This feature is subject to change, may be discontinued with no notice at any time in SFDC’s sole discretion, and SFDC may never make this feature generally available. Make your purchase decisions only on the basis of generally available products and features. This feature is made available on an AS IS basis and use of this feature is at your sole risk.