# Slack — Self-Hosted Setup
source: https://docs.chalk.ai/docs/slack-self-hosted

## Configure a custom Slack app for fully self-hosted Chalk deployments.

This page covers setting up Slack alerting for fully self-hosted Chalk deployments.
For standard Chalk deployments, see the Slack integration guide.

If you are running Chalk as a fully self-hosted deployment, you will need to
create your own Slack app and configure its credentials in the metadata plane Helm chart.

### 1. Create a Slack app

- Go to api.slack.com/apps and click Create New App → From scratch.
- Name your app (e.g. Chalk Monitoring) and select the Slack workspace where it will be installed.

### 2. Configure OAuth scopes

Under OAuth & Permissions → Scopes → Bot Token Scopes, add the following scopes:

| Scope               | Purpose                                        |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| `chat:write`        | Post alert messages to channels                |
| `chat:write.public` | Post to public channels without being a member |
| `channels:read`     | List available channels                        |
| `team:read`         | Read workspace metadata                        |

### 3. Set the redirect URL

Under OAuth & Permissions → Redirect URLs, add:

```
https://<your-chalk-frontend-host>
```

Replace <your-chalk-frontend-host> with the hostname of your Chalk dashboard.

### 4. Get your credentials

From the Basic Information page of your app, copy for the next step:

- Client ID
- Client Secret

You will also need your app's display name (the name you chose in step 1, e.g. Chalk Monitoring).

### 5. Create a Kubernetes secret

Using whichever secrets workflow your team prefers (kubectl, Vault, External Secrets Operator, etc.), create a Kubernetes secret containing all three values:

| Key                   | Value                                              |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| `SLACK_CLIENT_ID`     | Your app's OAuth client ID                         |
| `SLACK_BOT_NAME`      | Display name shown to users in the Chalk dashboard |
| `SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET` | Your app's OAuth client secret                     |

The key names must be exactly as shown — Chalk reads these env vars by name.

Note: This secret is not managed by Helm. Create it before or alongside your helm upgrade — the pods will pick it up on start.

### 6. Configure the Helm chart

In your values.yaml for the chalk-metadata-plane chart, reference the secret you created:

```
chalk:
  metadata:
    load_vars_from_secrets:
      - chalk-slack-credentials   # (or whatever name you used)
```

### 7. Deploy

```
helm upgrade <release-name> chalk-metadata-plane -f values.yaml
```

After the pods restart, reload the Slack settings page in the Chalk dashboard to connect your workspace.