Report problems from Slack

Mention @Volcano in a Slack thread that describes a problem, and LavaFlow reads the report, picks the project, and runs its usual diagnosis, fix, review and pull request. It answers in the thread and updates that answer with the outcome.

Slack reports need the project's lavaflow.slack capability. Reporting from Slack is rolling out environment by environment, so check it first. It is available where the project's lavaflow capability is and Slack reports have launched in the environment:

curl "https://api.volcano.dev/projects/$PROJECT_ID/capabilities" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VOLCANO_TOKEN"

Set up

Set up Slack in the dashboard; the CLI does not manage it yet.

1. Install. As the project's owner, open LavaFlow settings and choose Add to Slack. Slack asks you to install the Volcano app in your workspace.
2. Connect. Everyone who will report problems opens account settings and chooses Connect Slack, while signed in to the Volcano account that owns the projects. Slack confirms who they are with Sign in with Slack, and the connection is tied to the Volcano session they connected in. Several people can connect to one account, and one Slack account can connect to several Volcano accounts.
3. Add Volcano to a channel. In Slack, invite the app to each channel that will report problems, for example with /invite @Volcano.
4. Bind. In LavaFlow settings, the owner picks which channels report problems for which projects. The picker lists only channels the app and the Slack account you connected in this Volcano session are both in, and you can bind only such a channel, so on an account several people share, each picks from their own channels. After signing in to Volcano again, connect Slack again to pick channels. Archived, Slack Connect and shared channels can't report. Binding a channel the app isn't in answers 400: invite the app, then bind again. A channel reports for nothing until it is bound.

Report a problem

In a bound channel, reply to the message that describes the problem with @Volcano, or mention @Volcano in that message itself. LavaFlow picks the project:

• One bound project: it uses that project.
• Several, and your reply names one: the reply after the mention must be exactly one project's Volcano name, such as @Volcano checkout-api. Quotes, backticks and trailing punctuation are ignored. Anything else gets a question listing the channel's projects.
• Several, and you only mention @Volcano: it uses the project whose name the original message contains. Otherwise LavaFlow's AI picks one of the channel's projects, or asks.

Only Volcano project names select a project, not repository names. When the original message names a bound project LavaFlow can't work on now, it asks instead of picking another. To answer a question, mention @Volcano again in the same thread with only the project's name. If you described the problem in replies rather than in the original message, the answer keeps them, up to your ten newest in the thread. If they don't all fit a report's limit of 8,200 characters, it keeps the newest that fit, and the report LavaFlow works from notes how many it left out.

LavaFlow then answers in the thread with the project it picked, and updates that answer with the outcome. A run from Slack goes as far as opening a fix pull request, even where the project lets LavaFlow merge, and so does a run someone starts again on the report's issue: merging a fix someone reported in Slack stays a person's step. The outcome is the fix pull request's link, or why it stopped, and the run's ID. Follow the run in Volcano like any other; see Follow runs. Each report becomes an issue on the project, titled Problem reported in Slack, and counts toward the project's open issues until its fix pull request merges, which resolves it. A project at its limit of open issues is refused in the thread, and so is one that has used its LavaFlow runs for the day; that reply says when to mention Volcano again.

While LavaFlow is paused, it keeps a report for up to 10 days after it arrives, and picks it up if LavaFlow resumes in that time. A reporter who may report for no project is refused even while LavaFlow is paused.

Answers and fix pull request links are posted in the channel, where everyone in it can see them.

Who can report

A mention starts work only when all of these hold:

• Volcano's app is installed in the workspace.
• The channel is a regular channel in that workspace. Slack Connect channels and direct messages can't report problems; Volcano ignores mentions there.
• The person mentioning @Volcano has connected their Slack account to the Volcano account that owns the project.
• The project's owner bound the channel to the project.
• LavaFlow can work on the project: it is turned on, offered, and included in the owner's plan.

A person who hasn't connected gets a reply with a link to connect. A connected person in a channel bound to none of their projects gets a reply with a link to LavaFlow settings, where the owner binds it. Each person hears each refusal once a day in a thread, and a report limit's refusal once an hour: mentioning @Volcano again in the same thread for the same reason posts nothing new, while someone else, or a new reason, gets an answer.

Report limits

A report over a limit starts no work and reads nothing from Slack. The runs reports start count toward the project's LavaFlow run limits like any other.

Each run checks these again as it goes. Disconnecting a Slack account, unbinding a channel, or uninstalling the app takes effect at the next check, and cancels the report's queued work.

Enterprise Grid org-wide installs are not supported.

What LavaFlow reads

Text files reach LavaFlow's AI along with the message. Logs often hold credentials, tokens or personal data; remove them before you report, or leave the file out.

Other attachments, such as PDFs, videos, WebP images and binary files, are left out, and so is anything past these limits. The report still goes ahead, and the answer in the thread says how many attachments were left out.

Data and retention

Ten days after a report's run finishes, after LavaFlow answers without starting one, or 10 days after it arrived if it is still open, as when LavaFlow is paused, whichever comes first, Volcano deletes the report's text, its screenshots and files, and who reported it. A run still waiting for a deleted report stops. An issue still open then becomes ignored, so it stops counting toward the project's open issues without being counted as fixed. If its fix pull request merges later, the issue resolves. Deleting a message in Slack does not delete the report sooner. Deleting the project deletes its reports at once.

The run itself is kept like any other LavaFlow run, and its diagnosis may quote the report.

API

The dashboard uses these routes. Where Slack reports are not available in the environment, installing, connecting, the channel picker and binding a channel answer 404 with code feature_unavailable. Listing and removing connections and bound channels work either way, so nothing you set up is stranded.

Bind a channel as the project's owner:

curl -X POST "https://api.volcano.dev/lavaflow/slack-channels" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VOLCANO_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"project_id": "'"$PROJECT_ID"'", "team_id": "T0123ABCD", "channel_id": "C0456EFGH"}'

{
  "id": "9b0d4e2a-3f1c-4b7e-8a6d-2c5f7e9a1b34",
  "project_id": "5c2e8f14-7a3b-4d9e-b1f6-0a8c3e5d7b92",
  "team_id": "T0123ABCD",
  "team_name": "Acme",
  "channel_id": "C0456EFGH",
  "created_at": "2026-11-04T18:20:31Z"
}

A new binding answers 201. Binding again answers 200 with the same binding, so a retry is safe. Unbind with the binding's id:

curl -X DELETE "https://api.volcano.dev/lavaflow/slack-channels/$BINDING_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VOLCANO_TOKEN"

Unbinding and reading the bindings work even while lavaflow.slack is unavailable. Any credential that can read the project reads its bindings.

Agents

The MCP endpoint reads a project's bound channels with the get_lavaflow_slack_channels tool. Binding a channel is the owner's decision, so no tool changes the bindings.