Quickstart

In about 10 minutes you can have an agent that receives Slack messages and replies from your code. Looking for a stack-specific walkthrough? Start with the AI SDK, LangChain, or Mastra quickstart. This page covers the shared onboarding paths (CLI, dashboard, and AI assistant). Prerequisites:

A Novu account.
A Slack workspace where you can install apps.
Node.js on your machine.

Choose your onboarding experience

Pick the path that matches how you like to work. All three get you to the same outcome: an agent connected to Slack that runs your handler code.

Path	Best if you…
CLI	Prefer doing everything from the terminal
Dashboard	Want step-by-step guidance in the Novu UI
AI assistant	Want Cursor or another AI tool to set it up in your repo

CLI
Dashboard
AI assistant

Run one command and follow the prompts. The CLI signs you in, creates the agent, connects a channel, and can generate a starter project for you.

npx novu connect

You’ll be asked to:

Sign in to Novu (or paste your secret key).
Pick a runtime - AI SDK, LangChain, Custom code, or a managed option like Claude.
Name your agent and connect Slack (or another channel).
Confirm creating a starter project, if prompted.

When you’re done, run npm run dev:novu in the project folder and message your agent on Slack.

Use the Novu dashboard to create the agent and connect Slack, then run a small local app on your machine that handles replies.

Create your agent

Go to the Novu dashboard.
In the sidebar, click Agents.
Click Create agent.
Under Custom code, pick AI SDK, LangChain, or Custom code.
Fill in Agent name, Identifier, and optional Description.
Click Set up agent.

Keep the Identifier - your code will use the same value.

Select a provider

On the setup page, open Select provider.
Select Slack.

Create a Slack app

Click Slack App Configuration Token to open Slack API apps.
Under Your App Configuration Tokens, click Generate Token.
Select your workspace and click Generate.
Copy the token.
In Novu, paste the token and click Create app.

The configuration token is used once to create your Slack app and is not stored by Novu.

Install the app in your workspace

Click Install agent.
Review permissions in Slack and click Allow.

You’ll receive a welcome message from the agent when installation completes.

Set up your local project

On the setup page, find Scaffold your agent project.
Copy the command shown there - it already includes your secret key, API URL, and runtime.
Run it in an empty folder on your machine.

When the CLI asks which agent to use, pick the one you created above.This creates a Next.js project with starter handler code and saves your credentials to .env.local. See Connecting your app for how the scaffold wires the bridge endpoint.

Run your agent locally

On the agent page in the dashboard, set the connection mode to Local.
In your project folder, run:

npm run dev:novu

When Novu connects to your machine, you’ll get another message from your agent in Slack.

Send a message

Message your bot in Slack. Your handler code runs and the reply appears in the thread.

Next steps

AI SDK quickstart

Minimal generateText handler for Slack.

LangChain quickstart

Minimal LangChain config for Slack.

Mastra quickstart

Call Mastra generate() from a Novu handler.

Concepts

How agents, handlers, and Novu fit together.

Building blocks

Shared APIs for replies, events, signals, and more.

Agents API reference

Create agents, link providers, and send replies programmatically.

Getting Started

Custom Code Agent

Managed Agent

Observability

Choose your onboarding experience

Create your agent

Select a provider

Create a Slack app

Install the app in your workspace

Set up your local project

Run your agent locally

Send a message

Next steps

AI SDK quickstart

LangChain quickstart

Mastra quickstart

Concepts

Building blocks

Agents API reference

​Choose your onboarding experience

​Create your agent

​Select a provider

​Create a Slack app

​Install the app in your workspace

​Set up your local project

​Run your agent locally

​Send a message

​Next steps

AI SDK quickstart

LangChain quickstart

Mastra quickstart

Concepts

Building blocks

Agents API reference

Choose your onboarding experience

Create your agent

Select a provider

Create a Slack app

Install the app in your workspace

Set up your local project

Run your agent locally

Send a message

Next steps