Once Dock is connected to your Slack workspace, it becomes your AI teammate, available to answer questions, generate replies, and pull information from your connected systems like your Knowledge Hub, ERP, or CRM. Here's how to interact with Dock across Slack:
1. Use Dock from any Slack message (via shortcuts)
Dock integrates directly into message actions, so you can get context-aware help without switching tools.
Hover over any message
Click the three dots (⋯) next to the message
Select “Ask Dock (Dock by BackOps AI)” from the shortcut menu
Dock will analyze the message, fetch relevant data from your systems, and reply with a summarized answer
2. Chat with Dock directly (in a DM)
You can also talk to Dock one-on-one in a private message. This is great for:
Testing Dock’s capabilities
Asking general questions that aren’t tied to a specific Slack message
Exploring how Dock pulls knowledge from your systems
To start, just search for “Dock by BackOps” in your Slack sidebar and open a direct message.
3. Use Dock in Slack channels (after inviting it)
If you want Dock to work inside specific channels (e.g. #customer-support, #sales, or #ops-help), you’ll need to invite it manually:
/invite @Dock by BackOps
Once Dock is in the channel, you can:
Use the “Ask Dock” shortcut as described above
Or interact with Dock by tagging
@Dockdirectly (if enabled for your workspace)
Note: Dock won’t see or respond to messages in channels it hasn’t been explicitly invited to. This is a Slack limitation to protect user privacy and channel permissions.
4. Generate responses, refine them, and post
When Dock replies to a question, you’ll see options to:
Generate a draft (great for replying to a customer or teammate)
Edit the response in a text field
Send now if the draft looks good
Ask follow-up questions to clarify or improve the answer
Dock uses your system integrations and documentation to ensure responses are accurate and aligned with your internal knowledge.
Right now, Dock replies as standalone messages—not threaded replies. Thread support is coming soon, and we’re actively improving how Dock fits into conversational workflows.