Slack Triage Bot

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What you’ll build

1. Sends the message to GC AI for classification
2. Replies in the same Slack thread with a structured triage: category, risk level, urgency, a summary, recommended next steps, and which playbook to use in GC AI

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API endpoints

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Prerequisites

• A GC AI API key (get one from Settings > API in the app)
• A Zapier account (the free plan works for testing; a paid plan is needed for multi-step Zaps to run automatically)
• Admin access to a Slack workspace

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Part 1: The basic Zap

1

Create a Slack channel

Create a dedicated channel for incoming legal requests — something like #legal-requests. This is the channel the bot will watch.If your team already has a channel for this purpose, you can use that instead.

2

Create a new Zap

Go to zapier.com and click Create → New Zap. You’ll see an empty canvas with a trigger step.

3

Set up the Slack trigger

Click the trigger step and configure it:

1. App: Search for Slack and select it
2. Event: Choose New Message Posted to Channel
3. Account: Connect your Slack workspace (Zapier will walk you through the OAuth flow)
4. Channel: Select your #legal-requests channel
5. Trigger on bot messages: Set to No (this prevents the bot from responding to its own replies)
6. Click Test trigger to pull in a sample message

Post a test message in the channel before testing the trigger so Zapier has sample data to work with.

4

Send a 'working on it' reply

Add a new step: Slack → Send Channel Message.

Field	Value
Channel	Select #legal-requests (or map the Channel ID from the trigger)
Message Text	Working on it...
Thread	Map the Ts field from the Slack trigger (this makes the reply appear in-thread)
Bot Name	GC AI Triage (optional)

This gives the requester instant feedback while the API processes their request. We’ll update this message with the actual result in a later step.

5

Classify with GC AI

Add a new step: Webhooks by Zapier → POST.

Field	Value
URL	https://app.gc.ai/api/external/v1/chat/completions?wait=30
Payload Type	Json
Data	Key: message / Value: see below
Wrap Request In Array	No
Unflatten	Yes
Headers	Key: Authorization / Value: YOUR_API_KEY

For the Data value, paste the following prompt. Replace {{insert Message Text}} with the mapped field from your Slack trigger (click the + button in the value field, then select Message Text from the Slack trigger data):

You are a legal operations triage assistant. A team member posted the following request in Slack:

"{{insert Message Text}}"

Classify this request and respond with:

Category: [Contract Review, Employment, IP, Compliance, Litigation, Corporate, or Other]
Risk Level: [Low, Medium, High, or Critical]
Urgency: [Routine, Expedited, or Urgent]

Summary: [One sentence describing the request]

Recommended Next Steps:
1. [First step]
2. [Second step]
3. [Third step]

Suggested GC AI Playbook: [Which playbook type to use]

Keep the response concise. Use bold (*text*) for labels.

The ?wait=30 on the URL tells the API to hold the connection for up to 30 seconds while it works — comfortably inside Zapier’s 30-second limit for action steps, so the step returns cleanly instead of erroring out. (The API reads wait from the query string or a Prefer: wait=30 header, not the JSON body, so it must live on the URL here.) Click Test step — quick classifications come back with status: "succeeded" and the text inside result → result. If the request needs longer than 30 seconds, the call returns with a non-succeeded status and a job_id; the next step handles that case (and Part 2 polls the job to completion).

6

Branch on the result

Add a new step: Paths by Zapier.The API usually finishes within the wait window, but longer queries can time out. This step handles both cases.Path A — Classification ready:

Field	Value
Condition	Status (from the Webhooks step) exactly matches succeeded

Add a Slack → Edit Message step inside this path. When searching for the action, choose the first “Edit Message” option (the one with just “Edits a message.” as the description).

Field	Value
Conversation ID	Your #legal-requests channel
Message TS (ID)	Map the Ts from the “Working on it…” step (this identifies which message to update)
Message Content	Map the Result Result field from the Webhooks step (the AI’s classification text, found under result → result)
Content Type	Markdown

Path B — Timed out:

Field	Value
Condition	Status (from the Webhooks step) does not exactly match succeeded

Add a Slack → Edit Message step inside this path (same first option):

Field	Value
Conversation ID	Your #legal-requests channel
Message TS (ID)	Map the Ts from the “Working on it…” step
Message Content	This request timed out — it may be too complex for the bot. Try asking in GC AI directly.
Content Type	Markdown

7

Test and publish

1. Post a test message in #legal-requests:

We just signed a new vendor and need their MSA reviewed before onboarding. It’s a 3-year SaaS agreement with auto-renewal and an uncapped indemnification clause. Timeline is end of week.

2. Click Test on each step to run the Zap manually, or click Publish and post the message to see it run automatically.
3. You should see a threaded reply with the structured triage.

Once it’s working, click Publish to turn the Zap on. Every new message in the channel will now be triaged automatically.

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Exercise: trigger the bot only on certain messages

Hint

Add a Filter by Zapier step between the Slack trigger and the Webhooks POST. Set the condition to only continue if Message Text contains hey legalbot. Every other message in the channel will be ignored.

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Part 2: Handling long-running queries

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How it works

• Job succeeded → updates the “Working on it…” message with the result
• Max attempts reached → updates the message with an error
• Still running → calls itself again with attempt_number + 1

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Build the polling sub-Zap

1

Create a new Zap with a webhook trigger

Create a second Zap. For the trigger, choose Webhooks by Zapier → Catch Hook.In the Configure tab, leave Pick off a Child Key empty and click Continue.

Zapier will give you a unique webhook URL (something like https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/123456/abcdef/). Copy this URL — the main Zap will call it.In the Test tab, click Test trigger. Zapier will wait for a request. To send test data, you’ll need a real Job Id — go to your main Zap, open the Webhooks POST step, and copy the Job Id from its test results.Then paste both values below and click Send test request:Go back to Zapier — it should pick up the request and show the four fields: job_url, attempt_number, channel, and message-ts. Once the request appears, select the record and click Continue with selected record.

2

Check the job status

Add a step: Webhooks by Zapier → GET.

Field	Value
URL	Map job_url from the Catch Hook trigger
Send As JSON	Yes
Unflatten	Yes
Query String Params	Key: wait / Value: 30
Headers	Key: Authorization / Value: YOUR_API_KEY

The wait parameter makes this GET long-poll the job for up to 30 seconds, so each attempt gives GC AI real processing time before the path branches. It also paces the recursion — there’s no need for a separate Delay step, since every loop spends up to 30 seconds here before deciding whether to try again.

3

Branch on the result

Add a step: Paths by Zapier with three paths.Path A — Job succeeded:

Field	Value
Condition	Status (from the GET step) equals succeeded

Add a Slack → Edit Message step (the first option):

Field	Value
Conversation ID	Map channel from the Catch Hook trigger
Message TS (ID)	Map message-ts from the Catch Hook trigger
Message Content	Map Result Result from the GET step
Content Type	Markdown

Path B — Max attempts reached:Without this path, a job that never completes would recurse forever. This is the safety valve — after 4 attempts, stop and tell the user.

Field	Value
Condition 1	Status (from the GET step) does not equal succeeded
Condition 2	Attempt Number (from the Catch Hook trigger) is greater than or equal to 4

Add a Slack → Edit Message step (the first option):

Field	Value
Conversation ID	Map channel from the Catch Hook trigger
Message TS (ID)	Map message-ts from the Catch Hook trigger
Message Content	Sorry, this request is taking too long to process. Please try again in GC AI directly.
Content Type	Markdown

Path C — Try again (recurse):

Field	Value
Condition 1	Status (from the GET step) does not equal succeeded
Condition 2	Attempt Number (from the Catch Hook trigger) is less than 4

First, add a Formatter by Zapier → Numbers step:

Field	Value
Transform	Perform Math Operation
Operation	Add
Values	1 and map attempt_number from the Catch Hook trigger

Then add a Webhooks by Zapier → GET step that calls the sub-Zap’s own webhook URL:

Field	Value
URL	Your sub-Zap’s Catch Hook URL (the one from Step 1)
Query String Params	job_url: map from Catch Hook trigger
	attempt_number: map the Output from the Formatter step
	channel: map from Catch Hook trigger
	message-ts: map from Catch Hook trigger

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Wire the sub-Zap into the main Zap

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Customizing the prompt

• Add your team’s categories — replace the generic list with your actual practice areas
• Include routing rules — tell the model which attorney or team handles which category
• Reference your playbooks by name — if you know your GC AI playbooks, list them in the prompt so the model suggests a specific one
• Change the output format — ask for a numbered priority score, a deadline estimate, or a link to the relevant GC AI playbook page

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Going further