{"slug": "opentag-an-open-source-alternative-to-claude-in-slack", "title": "OpenTag: An open-source alternative to Claude in Slack", "summary": "CopilotKit released OpenTag, an open-source, self-hosted AI agent for Slack that reads threads, answers questions, calls tools, and renders rich results inline. The tool allows users to bring their own model and tools, avoiding per-seat pricing and vendor lock-in, and also supports Discord, Telegram, and WhatsApp.", "body_md": "Run your own AI agent inside Slack: it reads a thread, answers, calls your tools, and\nrenders rich results right in the conversation. Think of it as having Claude in your\nworkspace, except **open-source and self-hosted**: you own the runtime, bring your own\nmodel, and wire it to your own tools. No per-seat pricing, no lock-in.\n\nIt's built on —\nCopilotKit's open SDK for chat-platform agents (Slack first; the same code also runs on\nDiscord, Telegram, and WhatsApp). Clone it, point it at your model and tools, and you own\nthe whole stack.\n\n`@copilotkit/bot`\n\n## demo-slack-opentag.mp4\n\n** Watch the demo** (~50s) — an OpenTag agent working a Slack thread: it renders a breakdown, a table, and a bar chart inline (\n\n**generative UI**) and files a ticket only after an\n\n**Approve** gate (\n\n**human-in-the-loop**).\n\nTwo ways to run it:host it yourselfwith the open-source SDK below — or skip the ops andcoming soon from CopilotKit.[sign up for the managed service →]\n\nOpenTag ships inside the [CopilotKit monorepo](https://github.com/CopilotKit/CopilotKit) as a\nfirst-class example (`examples/slack`\n\n). That's the dependable way to run it today while the\nbot SDK packages finish publishing to npm. (A standalone `npm install`\n\nfrom this repo lights\nup the moment they land — see [setup.md](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/setup.md).)\n\nYou'll run two processes: the **agent** (the LLM backend) and the **bot** (the Slack\nconnection) — and set three secrets.\n\n**1. Create a Slack app.** At [api.slack.com/apps](https://api.slack.com/apps?new_app=1) →\n*From a manifest* → paste [ slack-app-manifest.yaml](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/slack-app-manifest.yaml). Install it,\nthen grab the\n\n**Bot User OAuth Token**(\n\n`xoxb-…`\n\n) and an **App-Level Token**(\n\n`xapp-…`\n\n, with the\n`connections:write`\n\nscope). Step-by-step in [setup.md](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/setup.md#1-create-a-slack-app).\n\n**2. Set three secrets** in `.env`\n\n(`cp .env.example .env`\n\n):\n\n```\nSLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-...\nSLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-...\nOPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...      # or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY — bring your own model\n```\n\n**3. Run it** from the CopilotKit monorepo root:\n\n```\npnpm install\npnpm --filter slack-example runtime   # the agent backend, on :8200\npnpm --filter slack-example dev        # the bot\n```\n\n**4. Talk to it.** @mention the bot in any channel thread:\n\n@OpenTag summarize this thread and file it as a bug\n\nThat's the whole loop. To wire up Linear, Notion, inline charts, Redis persistence, or to run\non Discord / Telegram / WhatsApp, see ** setup.md**.\n\nWe won't lie to you, though. Setting up hosting for chat agents is not easy. To skip all of that heartache, go [join the waitlist](https://go.copilotkit.ai/opentag-managed-gh) for the CopilotKit managed service hosted on our Intelligence platform.\n\nOpenTag is deliberately small and hackable:\n\n**Change what it does.** The agent's behavior is steered by a single system prompt in— rewrite it and you have a different agent.`runtime.ts`\n\n**Copy** It's the platform-agnostic bot (tools, components, the human-in-the-loop gate).`app/`\n\nto start your own bot.`runtime.ts`\n\nis the agent backend: one CopilotKit`BuiltInAgent`\n\n(an LLM + optional MCP tools — no Python, no LangGraph), served over AG-UI.**One platform, or all of them.**`createBot`\n\ntakes an array of adapters; set the secrets for whichever platform(s) you want and the bot starts an adapter for each.\n\nThe full architecture, the file-by-file map, and every integration live in\n** setup.md**.\n\nSelf-hosting means you run and scale the runtime, persistence, and inspection tooling yourself.\nA **managed CopilotKit service** is on its way. It's the same agent, without the ops: durable\nthreads, persistence, hosted inspection, and agents that improve from feedback (**Continuous\nLearning from Human Feedback**).\n\n— be first in when the managed service opens.[Join the waitlist →](https://go.copilotkit.ai/opentag-managed-gh)— building something real on this? We'd love to help you ship it.[Talk to an engineer →](https://copilotkit.ai/talk-to-an-engineer)\n\nThe ** CopilotKit Slack quickstart** is the canonical guide\nto building a Slack agent — read it alongside this starter. Detailed setup and configuration\nlives in\n\n**.**\n\n[setup.md](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/setup.md)MIT — see [LICENSE](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/LICENSE).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/opentag-an-open-source-alternative-to-claude-in-slack", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/CopilotKit/OpenTag/", "published_at": "2026-06-26 22:09:07+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-26 22:35:08.389125+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["CopilotKit", "OpenTag", "Slack", "Discord", "Telegram", "WhatsApp", "OpenAI", "Anthropic"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/opentag-an-open-source-alternative-to-claude-in-slack", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/opentag-an-open-source-alternative-to-claude-in-slack.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/opentag-an-open-source-alternative-to-claude-in-slack.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/opentag-an-open-source-alternative-to-claude-in-slack.jsonld"}}