# OpenTag: An open-source alternative to Claude in Slack

> Source: <https://github.com/CopilotKit/OpenTag/>
> Published: 2026-06-26 22:09:07+00:00

Run your own AI agent inside Slack: it reads a thread, answers, calls your tools, and
renders rich results right in the conversation. Think of it as having Claude in your
workspace, except **open-source and self-hosted**: you own the runtime, bring your own
model, and wire it to your own tools. No per-seat pricing, no lock-in.

It's built on —
CopilotKit's open SDK for chat-platform agents (Slack first; the same code also runs on
Discord, Telegram, and WhatsApp). Clone it, point it at your model and tools, and you own
the whole stack.

`@copilotkit/bot`

## demo-slack-opentag.mp4

** Watch the demo** (~50s) — an OpenTag agent working a Slack thread: it renders a breakdown, a table, and a bar chart inline (

**generative UI**) and files a ticket only after an

**Approve** gate (

**human-in-the-loop**).

Two 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 →]

OpenTag ships inside the [CopilotKit monorepo](https://github.com/CopilotKit/CopilotKit) as a
first-class example (`examples/slack`

). That's the dependable way to run it today while the
bot SDK packages finish publishing to npm. (A standalone `npm install`

from this repo lights
up the moment they land — see [setup.md](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/setup.md).)

You'll run two processes: the **agent** (the LLM backend) and the **bot** (the Slack
connection) — and set three secrets.

**1. Create a Slack app.** At [api.slack.com/apps](https://api.slack.com/apps?new_app=1) →
*From a manifest* → paste [ slack-app-manifest.yaml](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/slack-app-manifest.yaml). Install it,
then grab the

**Bot User OAuth Token**(

`xoxb-…`

) and an **App-Level Token**(

`xapp-…`

, with the
`connections:write`

scope). Step-by-step in [setup.md](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/setup.md#1-create-a-slack-app).

**2. Set three secrets** in `.env`

(`cp .env.example .env`

):

```
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-...
SLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-...
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...      # or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY — bring your own model
```

**3. Run it** from the CopilotKit monorepo root:

```
pnpm install
pnpm --filter slack-example runtime   # the agent backend, on :8200
pnpm --filter slack-example dev        # the bot
```

**4. Talk to it.** @mention the bot in any channel thread:

@OpenTag summarize this thread and file it as a bug

That's the whole loop. To wire up Linear, Notion, inline charts, Redis persistence, or to run
on Discord / Telegram / WhatsApp, see ** setup.md**.

We 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.

OpenTag is deliberately small and hackable:

**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`

**Copy** It's the platform-agnostic bot (tools, components, the human-in-the-loop gate).`app/`

to start your own bot.`runtime.ts`

is the agent backend: one CopilotKit`BuiltInAgent`

(an LLM + optional MCP tools — no Python, no LangGraph), served over AG-UI.**One platform, or all of them.**`createBot`

takes an array of adapters; set the secrets for whichever platform(s) you want and the bot starts an adapter for each.

The full architecture, the file-by-file map, and every integration live in
** setup.md**.

Self-hosting means you run and scale the runtime, persistence, and inspection tooling yourself.
A **managed CopilotKit service** is on its way. It's the same agent, without the ops: durable
threads, persistence, hosted inspection, and agents that improve from feedback (**Continuous
Learning from Human Feedback**).

— 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)

The ** CopilotKit Slack quickstart** is the canonical guide
to building a Slack agent — read it alongside this starter. Detailed setup and configuration
lives in

**.**

[setup.md](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/setup.md)MIT — see [LICENSE](/CopilotKit/OpenTag/blob/main/LICENSE).