Use Sawmills Agent in Slack

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Overview

Sawmills Agent in Slack lets you investigate telemetry, continue existing conversations, and share results with teammates without leaving Slack. You can use Sawmills Agent in a direct message, by mentioning it in a channel, or inside a thread.

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Ways to Use Sawmills Agent in Slack

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Direct messages

Use a direct message when you want to explore an issue privately, draft a summary, or narrow down a problem before sharing it with others.

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Channel mentions

Use a channel mention when you want other people to follow the conversation as it happens.

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Threads

Use a thread to keep one investigation in one place. This is the best option for incident work, follow-up questions, and team handoffs.

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Best Practices

To get better results in Slack:

• keep one topic per thread
• include the service, timeframe, or environment early
• ask follow-up questions in the same conversation
• ask for a short summary when you are ready to share findings

Example prompts:

• “Why did ingest volume spike after the deploy?”
• “Summarize the biggest telemetry changes for checkout today.”
• “Write a short update for this alert thread.”

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Conversation Context in Slack

Sawmills Agent uses the current Slack conversation as context. This means follow-up questions work best when they stay in the same direct message or thread. If you start a new thread or move to a different channel, restate the main context so the investigation stays focused.

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When Slack Works Best

Slack is especially useful for:

• incident follow-up
• sharing investigation progress
• drafting a team update
• continuing a conversation with teammates in the same thread

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Notes

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If Sawmills Agent cannot answer or perform a requested action, add more context or continue the conversation in the same thread before starting over. *** Add File: /Users/yogev/repos/docs/docs/sawmills-agent-conversations.mdx

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title: “Conversations” description: “Use conversations to investigate telemetry, continue follow-up work, and keep related context in one place.” sidebarTitle: “Conversations”

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Overview

Conversations are the main way to work with Sawmills Agent. A conversation keeps your question, follow-up messages, files, and results together so you can continue the same investigation over time.

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What You Can Do in a Conversation

Use a conversation to:

• ask a new question
• continue a previous investigation
• attach files or other supporting context
• request a summary or next step
• keep related work in a single history

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Conversation Flow

A typical conversation looks like this:

1. Start with a question or problem statement.
2. Review the response from Sawmills Agent.
3. Add follow-up questions to narrow the answer or request a summary.
4. Continue the same conversation until you reach a useful outcome.

In some cases, Sawmills Agent may ask a follow-up question before returning a final answer.

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Attachments

Conversations can include file attachments. Use attachments when the investigation depends on content that is easier to share as a file than as a message. Examples include:

• logs or samples
• screenshots
• supporting documents

When you attach a file, continue the same conversation so the follow-up questions stay connected to that context.

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Conversation Titles

Conversations can have titles to make them easier to find later. Titles are useful when you return to an investigation or share it with a teammate.

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When to Start a New Conversation

Start a new conversation when:

• the topic has changed significantly
• you are switching to a different service or incident
• the previous context is no longer useful

If the topic is still related, continue the same conversation instead of starting over.

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Best Practices

• start with a clear question
• include the service, timeframe, or environment early
• keep related follow-up questions together
• ask for a short summary when you are ready to share results *** Add File: /Users/yogev/repos/docs/docs/sawmills-agent-collaboration.mdx

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title: “Collaboration” description: “Share conversations and continue investigations with teammates.” sidebarTitle: “Collaboration”

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Overview

Sawmills Agent supports collaborative work by allowing conversations to be shared and continued with teammates. This is useful for handoffs, incident follow-up, and team reviews.

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Shared Conversations

A shared conversation keeps the same message history, context, and results in one place. This allows teammates to review what has already been asked and continue the conversation without starting over.

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When to Share a Conversation

Share a conversation when:

• you want another teammate to review the findings
• you are handing off an investigation
• the same issue needs input from multiple people
• you want to keep discussion and results attached to one investigation

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Typical Collaboration Flow

1. Start an investigation in a conversation.
2. Share the conversation with the relevant teammate or team.
3. Continue follow-up questions in the same conversation.
4. Use the shared history as the record of the investigation.

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Best Practices

• keep one topic per shared conversation
• use clear follow-up questions so new readers can catch up quickly
• ask Sawmills Agent for a summary before handing work to someone else
• continue the same conversation during a handoff instead of creating a duplicate conversation

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Notes

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*** Add File: /Users/yogev/repos/docs/docs/sawmills-agent-memory.mdx

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title: “Memory” description: “Understand how Sawmills Agent uses conversation context to support follow-up questions and longer investigations.” sidebarTitle: “Memory”

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Overview

Memory in Sawmills Agent means conversation context. It allows the agent to use earlier messages in the same conversation so you do not need to repeat the full situation in every prompt.

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What Memory Helps With

Memory is useful when you want to:

• ask follow-up questions
• narrow down a previous answer
• continue a longer investigation
• refer back to earlier findings or attached files

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What Carries Forward in a Conversation

In a conversation, Sawmills Agent can use context such as:

• previous user messages
• previous agent responses
• files and supporting material shared in that conversation
• earlier conclusions reached in the same investigation

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Best Way to Use Memory

To get the most value from memory:

• keep related questions in the same conversation
• restate the scope only when it changes
• start a new conversation when you change topics entirely

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Limits

Memory should not be treated as a replacement for a clear prompt. If a request is too broad or the context changes significantly, provide a short restatement of what you need.

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If an answer looks off, add more detail in the same conversation before starting over. *** Add File: /Users/yogev/repos/docs/docs/sawmills-agent-skills.mdx

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title: “Skills” description: “Use skills to make common Sawmills Agent workflows more consistent and repeatable.” sidebarTitle: “Skills”

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Overview

Skills give Sawmills Agent a predefined way to handle common tasks. A skill can guide how the agent approaches a request, which steps it follows, and how it structures the result.

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Why Skills Matter

Skills help make repeated work more consistent across a workspace. They are useful when a team wants the agent to follow the same process for similar requests. Examples include:

• recurring investigation patterns
• standard summaries
• team-specific ways of working

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Using Skills

When a skill applies to a request, Sawmills Agent can use it to follow a more consistent workflow than a general conversation alone. From a user point of view, this means:

• more predictable results for common tasks
• fewer repeated instructions
• easier reuse of proven workflows

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Managing Skills

In workspaces where custom skills are enabled, administrators can manage skills for their organization. Common management actions include:

• creating a new skill
• updating an existing skill
• reviewing previous versions
• rolling back to an earlier version

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Notes

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*** Add File: /Users/yogev/repos/docs/docs/sawmills-agent-tasks.mdx

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title: “Tasks” description: “Run Sawmills Agent work in the background on demand or on a schedule.” sidebarTitle: “Tasks”

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Overview

Tasks let Sawmills Agent run work in the background. Use tasks when a request should run later, run regularly, or continue without waiting in an active conversation.

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Common Uses for Tasks

Tasks are useful for:

• recurring summaries
• scheduled checks
• one-time follow-up work
• manual runs that you want to repeat later

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Task Types

Sawmills Agent tasks can be used in several ways:

• Manual: created for later use and run when needed
• One-time: runs once at a specific time
• Interval: runs on a repeating interval
• Recurring schedule: runs on a regular schedule

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Managing Tasks

Depending on your access, you can:

• create a task
• edit the task prompt or schedule
• enable or disable a task
• run a task immediately
• review task run history

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Best Practices

• use a clear task name
• keep the prompt focused on one outcome
• choose a schedule that matches the pace of the work
• review early runs before relying on a recurring task

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Notes

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Tasks work well together with Notifications when results need to be delivered to a person or team. *** Add File: /Users/yogev/repos/docs/docs/sawmills-agent-notifications.mdx

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title: “Notifications” description: “Deliver Sawmills Agent results through supported notification channels.” sidebarTitle: “Notifications”

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Overview

Notifications allow Sawmills Agent results to be sent to the right person or team instead of staying only in the original conversation. Notifications are especially useful for scheduled work, summaries, and updates that need to reach other people.

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Common Notification Uses

Use notifications when you want to:

• send a result to yourself
• share a summary with a team
• deliver the output of a task
• post an update into Slack

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Supported Channels

Supported notification channels depend on your workspace configuration. Common examples include:

• Slack direct messages
• Slack channels
• email summaries

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Notifications with Tasks

Tasks and notifications are often used together. For example, a recurring task can generate a regular update and deliver it to the appropriate person or team.

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Best Practices

• send only the information people need
• use short summaries for recurring updates
• choose the destination that matches the audience
• review the first few runs before relying on an automated workflow

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Notes

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*** Add File: /Users/yogev/repos/docs/docs/sawmills-agent-roles.mdx

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title: “Roles and Access” description: “Understand how user and administrator access affects what Sawmills Agent can do in your workspace.” sidebarTitle: “Roles and Access”

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Overview

What Sawmills Agent can do depends on your role and your workspace configuration. In many workspaces, members can use Sawmills Agent for day-to-day investigations while administrators can also manage workspace-level behavior.

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Common Access Pattern

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Members

Members can commonly:

• start and continue conversations
• use available shared conversations
• ask follow-up questions
• use the agent in Slack when enabled
• use skills and workflows that are already available to them

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Administrators

Administrators can commonly do everything members can do, and may also be able to:

• manage custom skills
• manage task automation
• manage notification behavior
• configure other workspace-level agent capabilities

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Read and Write Actions

Some Sawmills Agent actions only read information. Other actions create, update, or send something. Workspaces often allow broader access to read actions and more limited access to write actions.

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Notes