Ask Rig in Slack with @rig

    Mention @rig in a Slack channel with a question and it answers in the thread, from your warehouse, with the same governed context as the app. This guide covers installing it, who it will answer, and what it is allowed to show a channel.

    What @rig is

    @rig is a Slack app for asking questions, and in Slack it shows up as Rig. In the Rig app its card is titled Ask Rig in Slack (@rig). It is a separate install from the Slack connector that syncs your Slack messages into the warehouse, whose bot is called Rig Data Sync. You can have either one without the other. If you want Slack conversations in your data, read Connect Slack to Rig instead.

    Install it

    Installing needs a workspace owner in Rig, and a Slack admin to approve the app in Slack. They can be the same person.

    1. In Rig, open Admin → Access (Settings also links to it as Access Gateway) and go to Roles. Find the card headed Ask Rig in Slack (@rig). The same card is also under Connections → Connectors: open the Slack tile, and it is on the Write tab, or directly in the panel if the tile has no tabs.
    2. Click Generate install link.
    3. If you are a Slack admin, click Authorize in Slack and approve it. Otherwise, copy the link and send it to a Slack admin. The link expires after about an hour, and Regenerate makes a new one.

    The card only appears for owners. If you cannot find it, ask an owner to do the install.

    Add it to channels

    @rig only hears channels it is a member of, so invite it to each channel where you want to ask questions. Public and private channels both work. In a direct message @rig does not answer, and in a group DM it tells you privately I can't answer in a group DM — ask me in a channel instead.

    A Slack Connect channel, one shared with another organisation, stays closed until an owner opts it in. Do that in the Slack Connect channels card, which sits under the install card, by entering the channel ID or name and clicking Opt in. The card is not shown when you open the Slack panel from a connected source's row, so use the Slack tile or Admin → Access instead. Invite @rig to the channel first, because Rig refuses to opt in a channel its bot is not a member of. Until then, @rig tells the person who tagged it, privately, that it cannot answer in that channel. People from the other organisation still need a Rig account in your workspace and a linked Slack account before @rig answers them. Until they link, @rig does not reply in the thread: it sends them a private note with a Link your Slack account link.

    Who can ask

    @rig answers people who have a Rig account in your workspace. It matches the person who tagged it by the email on their Slack profile. When that email is the one they log in to Rig with, there is nothing to set up.

    When the two emails differ, the person links their accounts once:

    1. Tag @rig in a channel. It replies in the thread that it can only answer teammates with a Rig account, and sends a private note that only they can see.
    2. In that note, click Link it to this Slack account. The link is valid for seven days.
    3. Rig opens on a page headed Slack. Check the two accounts it names and click Confirm link, then tag @rig again.

    To see or remove a link, go to Settings → Slack (in the Account group) and open Slack account. Your links are listed under Linked Slack accounts, each with an Unlink button.

    Ask a question

    • Put the question in the same message as the mention. A bare @rig gets a reply asking you to include one, with an example.
    • A thread is one conversation. Follow-ups in the same thread keep the context of what came before. A new top-level mention starts a fresh conversation.
    • You do not have to tag it again in its own thread. Once @rig has answered in a thread, it reads the replies that follow and decides whether each one is meant for it. It stays quiet when people are talking to each other, and may just react with a thumbs up to a "thanks". Tag it to be sure.
    • It shows it has started. @rig adds an eyes reaction to your message when it picks the question up. If nothing has picked the question up within a minute, it posts Taking longer than usual in the thread and replies there once it is done. If nothing arrives after that, send the question again.
    • A chart comes back as an image, posted after the written answer. Only the first chart in an answer is posted, and an answer sent to you privately comes without its chart. A long answer arrives as a short summary with a link to the full write-up.

    The same habits that make a good question in the app apply here: name the measure, the grain and the time window. See Ask your data.

    What @rig can see

    A Slack answer is posted to a whole channel but asked by one person, so the role @rig reads data with is a separate decision. Owners set it under Roles in Admin → Access, in the card headed Slack bot access. There are three kinds of choice:

    • Least-privileged role (broadcast-safe) is the default. @rig reads data as the least-privileged built-in role (owner, editor, analyst or viewer) that has been granted access to data, so it never shows a schema that role could not see. A built-in role with no data granted is skipped, and if no built-in role has any, @rig uses the asker's own role. Custom roles are not counted, so someone on a narrower custom role may see more in the channel than their own role allows.
    • Asking user's own role uses the access of whoever tagged @rig. It suits a workspace where everyone in a channel may see the same data, but it can show restricted data to people in the channel with less access.
    • Pinned role: <role> makes @rig always read data as the role you pick. Only the built-in roles are offered.

    Two things always follow the person who asked
    Anything @rig does in another tool, such as writing back to a system, runs with the asker's own role whatever this setting says. Row filters also apply to the asker: when the rows in an answer would be filtered differently for anyone in the channel, @rig sends the answer to the asker privately and tells the channel it has done so. For more on scoped rows, see Row scoping.

    Common problems

    • @rig does not react at all. It is not a member of the channel, or you asked in a direct message. Invite it to a channel and ask there. In a group DM it replies only to you, saying it cannot answer there.
    • It says you need a Rig account. Your Slack email does not match your Rig login, or it matches an account that has no role in this workspace. Link the accounts as described above, or ask an owner to add you to the workspace.
    • It says your linked Rig account has no access to this workspace. Slack is not sharing your email, and the account you linked has no role in this workspace. Ask an owner to give that account a role under Admin → Access.
    • It says Slack isn't sharing your email with Rig. The Rig Slack app was installed without email access and your accounts are not linked. A Rig workspace owner needs to reinstall the app with the install card described above, which only owners see, so it can read email addresses.
    • It refuses to answer in a shared channel. Only you see the refusal. The channel is a Slack Connect channel that has not been opted in. An owner can add it in the Slack Connect channels card.
    • It says the query involves restricted data. The answer touches data Rig will not post into Slack. Ask the same question in a chat in the Rig app, where it can show you the result.
    • An answer you expected to see was sent privately. Its rows would be filtered differently for someone else in the channel, so @rig kept it out of the channel.

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