Scheduling deliveries to the Slack integration

You can install the Looker app into your Slack workspace to send or schedule data deliveries directly to public and private Slack channels. To enable installation of the Looker app, your Slack workspace owner may need to adjust the app installation settings for your Slack workspace.

The Slack Attachment (API Token) integration is also still available for use.

Enabling the integration in the Looker Action Hub

If your Looker instance meets the required conditions, your Looker admin must enable the Slack integration in the Looker Action Hub, for each Looker instance, before users can deliver data with the Slack integration.

  1. From the Admin panel under Platform, go to the Actions page.
  2. Click the Enable button to enable the Slack integration in the Looker Action Hub.

  3. On the Slack action page, click Connect to connect to your Slack workspace.

    Looker will request access to the Slack workspace that is indicated in the drop-down menu on the top right of the page. To connect multiple Slack workspaces to a single Looker instance, click the + Connect to Slack workspace link.

  4. Click Allow, and return to the Slack action page.

  5. Click the Enable switch, and click Save.

Managing Slack workspace connections to Looker

You can manage the instance's Slack workspace connections from the Slack action page. Click the Settings button next to the Slack integration on the Actions page in the Admin panel.

Admins can perform the following operations with each Slack workspace connection: Connect, Disconnect, and Reset.

  • To connect additional Slack workspaces to the Looker instance, click the + Connect to Slack workspace link.

  • To disconnect an existing Slack workspace connection, click the Disconnect button and click OK on the pop-up warning message. You do not need to click Save on the Slack action page to save these settings, and the action will still show as Enabled even if no Slack workspace is connected.

  • To refresh your Slack workspace connection without having to disconnect and reconnect it, click the Reset button.

Authenticating into your Slack workspace

Users must authenticate into the same Slack workspace that the Looker admin has connected to Looker. Users must also be existing members of the workspace before they can authenticate into it from Looker.

You can authenticate into a Slack workspace for the first time from the:

You receive a confirmation Slack message after you successfully authenticate into Slack from Looker.

Authenticating into a Slack workspace from the Account page

  1. In Looker, click your user profile icon in the upper right of the screen, and select Account.
  2. Any integrations that are enabled for your instance appear under Integrations. If your Looker admin has enabled at least one Slack workspace, a button to Sign in with Slack will be present. If your Looker admin has connected more than one Slack workspace to your Looker instance, a list of workspaces appears with options to log in to each one individually.
  3. Looker will request access to the Slack workspace. If your Looker admin has connected multiple Slack workspaces to your Looker instance, a drop-down menu appears in the upper right of the OAuth page. Select the appropriate Slack workspace from the drop-down. Click Allow.
  4. When you return to your Account page, an option will now appear in the Integrations section that will let you revoke your Slack credentials for any workspaces that you're connected to. Caution: Be careful not to revoke your Slack token — if you do, any schedules that you created will fail.

Now that you're authenticated, you can send or schedule dashboards, Looks, and Explores. See the Delivering Data to Slack section on this page for more information.

Authenticating into a Slack workspace from the Send or Schedule window

  1. In Looker, navigate to the content to be delivered, click the gear menu, and click Send or Schedule. For dashboards, select Schedule delivery.
  2. In the Send or Schedule window of an Explore or a Look, select the Slack action as the delivery destination under Where should this data go?. For dashboards, select Schedule delivery in the Schedule and send window.
  3. Next to Slack, click Log in.
  4. Looker will request access to the Slack workspace. If your Looker admin has connected multiple Slack workspaces to your Looker instance, a drop-down menu appears in the upper right of the OAuth page. Select the appropriate Slack workspace from the drop-down. Click Allow.
  5. The Send or Schedule window (or the Schedule delivery window for dashboards) now shows your Slack delivery options, including your Slack workspace's public and private channels.

Delivering data to Slack

You can deliver content to one of multiple Slack workspaces. After a Looker admin sets up the workspace connections, you can sign in to each one from your user Account page. Then, you can select a destination workspace from those listed in the Workspaces drop-down of the Send or Schedule pop-up, or Schedule delivery window for dashboards.

The example below shows formatting options for delivering a dashboard, which include:

  • PDF
  • Visualization (PNG)
  • CSV ZIP file

Sending or scheduling a Look or an Explore has different formatting options available, including:

  • CSV
  • XLSX
  • JSON — Simple: In this format, Looker uses a dimension or measure's field name as its rendered value rather than the field's label.
  • JSON — Label: In this format, Looker uses field labels as its rendered value in its JSON output.
  • JSON — Simple, Inline: In this format, Looker uses a dimension or measure's field name as its rendered value rather than the field's label.
  • JSON — Detailed, Inline: In this format, Looker uses a dimension or measure's field name as its rendered value rather than the field's label.
  • Text
  • HTML

To deliver a user-defined dashboard, a LookML dashboard, a Look, or an Explore, navigate to your content and perform these steps:

  1. Click the gear menu, and click Send or Schedule. (You will not have the option to schedule an Explore.) For dashboards, select Schedule delivery from the dashboard's three-dot menu.
  2. In the Send or Schedule window, select the Slack integration as the delivery destination under Where should this data go? For dashboards, select the Slack integration as the delivery destination under Destination. If this is your first time using the Slack integration, you first need to authenticate into the Slack workspace.
  3. Looker displays delivery options that are specific to the Slack workspace or workspaces connected to this Looker instance.
    • In the Share In field, enter the name of the Slack channel to post your data to. You can send direct messages or messages to public or private channels. Include the leading # character, for example, #Sales.
    • In the Comment field, enter any text that you want to include with the delivery. You can also use Slack's advanced formatting with special parsing to mention specific groups, users, or channels or to make any other special mentions.
    • In the Filename field, enter a name for the attachment file.
  4. If you are scheduling a data delivery, click Save All. Your query or dashboard will be delivered to Slack as scheduled. If you are sending your data, click Send. Your data will be delivered to your Slack channel.

Accessing Looker from Slack

You can access Looker data from within Slack by:

Sharing links to Looker content in Slack

You can share links to SQL Runner visualizations, user-defined dashboards, LookML dashboards, Looks (but not publicly embedded Looks), or Explores in Slack.

The link unfurls in Slack to show the content's title and some of its metadata, which is visible only to those who have access to the underlying content. After the link unfurls, you or other users can:

  • Post a link back to the content in Looker and a snapshot of the content in the channel — click Post to this Channel. After the content is posted to the channel, anyone in the channel can view the content snapshot and title, even if they do not have access to the underlying content in Looker.
  • Add the content to a Looker Favorites folder — click Add to Favorites. After you add content to your Favorites folder, the Looker app in Slack displays a message in Slack with a link to access your Favorites folder in Looker.

If you have multiple Looker instances connected to the workspace, you must set the default instance to match the Looker instance from which you're sharing the link.

Using slash commands to retrieve Looker information in Slack

If you also have Lookerbot enabled, you may need to rename some slash commands. Custom Slack commands are not available for the Slack integration, but you can configure custom commands in Lookerbot. Ensure that you are using Lookerbot version 0.0.16 or later by updating from the Lookerbot GitHub repo as instructed in the Getting started with Lookebot section of the Using Lookerbot for Slack Best Practices page.

Use the following slash commands to retrieve information from Looker and post it to Slack:

  • /looker and /looker whoami — The Looker app in Slack greets you by name; tells you the Looker instance to which you're connected; and provides links to your Looker Favorites folder, to your personal folder, and to Help.
  • /looker help — The Looker app in Slack lists supported slash commands.
  • /looker favorites — The Looker app in Slack lists the content from your Looker Favorites folder. Click the ellipsis (...) beside each piece of content to access a menu from which you can Post to this Channel or Remove from Favorites.
  • /looker folder — The Looker app in Slack lists the content from your Looker personal folder. Click the ellipsis (...) beside each piece of content to access a menu from which you can Post to this Channel or Remove from Favorites (if the content is also in your Favorites folder).
  • /looker select — The Looker app in Slack lists the instance or instances connected to that Slack workspace. To set a default instance for your Slack workspace, click it from this list. All instance-specific slash commands would apply to the default Looker instance.

Viewing your Looker app Home tab in Slack

To see a list of your favorite Looker content and folders in Slack, click on the Home tab in the Looker app.

If you set a default Looker instance for your Slack workspace, you only see content from that instance from your Looker app Home tab.

Setting a default Looker instance for your Slack workspace

If your Looker admin has connected only a single Looker instance to your Slack workspace, that instance is your default.

If your Looker admin has connected multiple Looker instances to your Slack workspace, you can set one of the instances as the default Looker instance. Any instance-specific slash commands — most commands besides /looker help — and link unfurling would apply to the default instance.

  1. In Slack, run the slash command /looker select to see a list of the Looker instances connected to your Slack workspace.

  2. The Looker app asks Which instance would you like to set as a default? Click the button corresponding to the name of the Looker instance to set this instance as your default.

    The Looker app will confirm your selection.

To switch your default Looker instance, run /looker select again and select a different Looker instance. You must switch default instances if you're unfurling links from a Looker instance that is not the default instance. If you do not switch instances and try to unfurl a link from a non-default Looker instance, you will be prompted to log in to that Looker instance.