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🚨Disclaimer: Custom Agents are currently in alpha and aspects, including best practices are subject to change.

The steps in this guide are intended as a starting point rather than a comprehensive implementation plan. We encourage you to iterate on your agent’s design and configuration based on your team’s needs.

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This guide outlines how to set up a Custom Agent that “lives” in Slack and answers questions using your Notion knowledge base. You describe the workflow and knowledge sources once. The agent then handles repeated Q&A for the whole team.

What this agent does

With this setup, your team can:

• Ask questions in Slack (for example, in #ask-product or #support-qa) and @‑mention a Notion Custom Agent in the thread to get answers based on the Notion pages and databases you choose as the source of truth.
• Optionally log unanswered questions as tasks so your team can fill content gaps.

Before you start, make sure you:

1. Have a Notion workspace with a structured knowledge base (for example, a Help Center, internal FAQ, or product docs database) that your Custom Agent can reference.

2. Installed and approve the Slack AI Connector for your Notion workspace.

   1. Reach out to your Slack Admin to set this up in Notion from Settings → Notion AI. Under Slack, click Connect (or + next to Slack).
   2. Follow the Slack prompts:
      • Choose the correct Slack workspace (or Grid org, if applicable).
      • Select which Slack channels Notion AI can read from.

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   Tip: Start with a few high‑signal channels (for example, #ask-support, #product-questions) and expand later.

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Create your Custom Agent

1. Click "New agent" and use chat box to describe the Agent, or select "Create blank"

1. Give your agent:

   • A clear name, like “Support Q&A Bot” or “Product Ask Bot”.

   • A short description, for example:

     “Answers internal questions about our product and policies using our Notion knowledge base.”

2. Add instructions that explain:

   • Scope: What types of questions it should answer.
   • Sources of truth:
     • Name the specific Notion databases/pages it should rely on (for example, “Support Knowledge Base”, “Product FAQ”). This is optional. Any Notion page you specify in the "Instructions" section must also be attached in the "Tools and Access" section.
   • Response style:
     • Keep answers concise.
     • Link back to the underlying Notion page or article where possible.
     • If information is missing or unclear, say so and suggest what the user can do next.

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Example instruction snippet:

“You are an internal Q&A agent for our support and product teams.

Use the ‘Support Knowledge Base’ database and the ‘Product FAQ’ page as your primary sources of truth.

Answer questions in clear, concise language and include links back to the most relevant Notion page.

If you can’t find a reliable answer, say you’re not sure, explain what’s missing, and suggest who or where to ask next.”

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