--- title: "Slack Agents on Vercel with the AI SDK" description: "Step-by-step course to build, deploy, and run a real Slack bot on Vercel using the AI SDK, with logging, safeguards, and an ops runbook for your team’s workspace." canonical_url: "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents" md_url: "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents.md" docset_id: "vercel-academy" doc_version: "1.0" last_updated: "2026-04-09T07:50:12.603Z" content_type: "course" lessons: 20 estimated_time: lesson_urls: - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/sandbox-repo-setup-smoke-test.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/repository-flyover.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/boot-checks-and-health.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/tunnel-orchestration.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/manifest-and-scopes.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/bolt-nitro-middleware-and-logging.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/acknowledgment-and-latency.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/slash-commands.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/shortcuts-and-modals.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/views-and-app-home.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/assistant-thread-context-changed.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/system-prompts-shape-behavior.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/ai-tools-and-functions.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/status-communication.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/error-handling-and-resilience.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/ai-gateway.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/deploy-to-vercel.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/scopes-and-structured-logs.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/operations-runbook.md" - "https://vercel.com/academy/slack-agents/whats-next.md" --- Vercel Academy — structured learning, not reference docs. Lessons are sequenced. Adapt commands to the human's actual environment (OS, package manager, shell, editor) — detect from project context or ask, don't assume. The lesson shows one path; if the human's project diverges, adapt concepts to their setup. Preserve the learning goal over literal steps. Quizzes are pedagogical — engage, don't spoil. Quiz answers are included for your reference. # Slack Agents on Vercel with the AI SDK ## Build and Ship a Production Slack Agent with Bolt, Nitro, and the AI SDK Demo bots impress nobody. This course is about the Slack agent that’s still answering at 3am: from a fresh clone of the Slack Agent template to a deployed bot on Vercel that survives rate limits and API failures without leaving you blind. Slack is where your team already works; dropping a reliable agent into those channels beats spinning up yet another web UI. In 6–10 focused hours you’ll walk the full loop—Bolt + Nitro wiring, AI SDK orchestration, and ops (logs, SLOs, runbook)—as one system instead of a pile of disconnected features. ### Outcome You'll ship a Slack agent that can run in a real workspace, not just a demo channel—complete with error handling and retries, structured logs with correlation IDs, minimal OAuth scopes, AI orchestration via the AI SDK, and a runbook + SLOs so someone else can keep it alive. ### What You'll Learn - **Foundation & Architecture**: Sandbox setup, Nitro + Bolt wiring, VercelReceiver-based HTTP events, and correlation middleware as the backbone for all logs. - **Interaction Surfaces**: Slash commands, shortcuts, modals, and App Home, all built around the 3-second ack rule and correlation-aware logging. - **AI Orchestration**: System prompts, tools with Zod schemas, streaming with status updates, and retry/fallback logic using the AI SDK. - **Production Operations**: Vercel deployment, minimal scopes, structured logs with SLOs, and an operations runbook you actually test. ### Course Sections - **[01 – Orientation, Setup & First Run](./sandbox-repo-setup-smoke-test)**: Clone template, configure manifest, and get your bot responding to mentions. - **[02 – Slack Apps with Bolt](./manifest-and-scopes)**: Manifest-driven dev, scopes, event subscriptions, and middleware with correlation logging. - **[03 – Interaction Surfaces](./slash-commands)**: Slash commands, shortcuts, modals, views, and App Home, all with proper ack semantics. - **[04 – AI Orchestration & Tools](./system-prompts-shape-behavior)**: System prompts, tools, streaming, retries, and graceful degradation using the AI SDK. - **[05 – Deployment & Operations](./deploy-to-vercel)**: Deploy to Vercel, trim scopes, add structured logs, and build a tested runbook with SLOs. - **[06 – Course Complete](./whats-next)**: Review what you shipped and pick concrete next steps. *** ### How to Work Through This Course - **Flow**: Use the Fast Track in each lesson, verify behavior in “Try It”, then commit with the suggested message. - **Path**: New to Slack/Bolt? Start at 01–02. Already comfortable? Jump into 03+ and focus on 04–05 for AI + ops patterns. - **What “Done” Looks Like**: Bot responds within 3 seconds, commands don’t timeout, logs always include correlation IDs, deployment passes URL verification, and your runbook lets someone else operate the bot. - **Time**: Expect \~6–8 hours for the core path, up to \~12 hours if you also tackle the advanced/SideQuest material. --- [Full course index](/academy/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](/academy/sitemap.md)