For administrators

Set up Pondros

Add Pondros to Slack, finish setup in the DM, connect your tools, bring your team in, and check it works. Every step on one page.

Setup takes about five minutes. You start on pondros.com, approve Pondros in Slack, answer a few setup screens in your browser, and finish in Slack. This page covers each step in that order, and says where each one happens and what to have ready.

1. Add Pondros to Slack: install the app and approve its permissions
2. Finish setup: pick channels, decide on DMs, choose your tools
3. Try it in Slack: hand off your first task
4. Bring your team in: there’s nothing to configure

When you’re done, verify your setup.

Add to Slack

Before you start: check that you have what setup needs

You need	Why	If you don't have it
A Slack workspace	Pondros works inside Slack. Installing it is also how you sign up: your Slack workspace becomes your Pondros workspace.	Create one at slack.com, or ask to be added to your company's.
Permission to add apps in Slack	Many workspaces only let admins install new apps.	Send your admin the request early; approvals can take a day.
A channel where work gets handed out	Pondros catches asks where people make them. A standup, project or client channel is ideal.	Any channel works to start.
(Optional) A teammate to try it with	The best first test is handing someone a task.	Hand one to yourself instead.

1. Add Pondros to Slack

Where: pondros.com, then Slack’s approval screen.

1
Start from pondros.com
Click Add to Slack on this page, or Get Started on pondros.com. Get Started asks three quick questions first (where your team talks, how big it is, and your work email) and then shows Add Pondros to Slack.
2
Pick your workspace and click Allow
Slack lists every permission Pondros asks for. If you’re signed in to several workspaces, pick the one your team works in from the menu at the top right. See What the Slack app can access.
The screen also has a section called Content and info about you, which is what lets Pondros read your own DMs later if you choose to. Allowing it doesn’t switch that on.

When you click Allow, Pondros creates your workspace, with you as its first admin, and a #pondroschannel for recaps. It also joins your public channels. Then you’re back in your browser for step 2.

If you're not the Slack workspace admin

In many workspaces only an admin can add a new app. If that’s yours, you’ll land on a page saying Pondros wasn’t added to that Slack workspace. Slack gives the same answer when you press Cancel, so the page can’t tell which it was. Send your admin the message below, then press Add to Slack again once they’ve approved it.

Hi — I'd like to add Pondros to our Slack and it needs a workspace admin to approve it. Could you approve it?

Pondros is an AI project manager: when someone in Slack asks a teammate for something, it writes it down with an owner and a due date and follows up until it's done.

Approve it here: https://app.pondros.com/auth/slack/start

Every permission it asks for, and what it can't do: https://pondros.com/docs/pondros/slack-access

Rather not wait? The same page has Set me up by hand: leave your email and someone from Pondros will get you started. Your admin can also book a call or write to hey@pondros.com.

If you use Slack Enterprise Grid

Pondros installs into one workspace at a time; it isn’t deployed across a whole Grid organisation. Install it in the workspace your team works in. Each Slack workspace connects to one Pondros workspace.

2. Finish setup

Where: your browser, straight after Slack.

1
Select channels for Pondros to join
Pick the channels where work gets handed out: standups, projects, clients. For a private channel, type /invite @Pondrosin it instead; Slack doesn’t let an app join a private channel by itself.
2
Pondros is reading your workspace
Pondros reads recent history in its channels to learn your people, projects and open work, and builds a short report on your company. You can move on while it works.
3
Your DMs, too. (optional)
Choose whether Pondros may catch the asks in your own direct messages. It’s off unless you turn it on, it only ever covers you, and you can switch it off any time. See Your DMs.
4
Which tools do you use at work?
Tick the tools your team uses, then connect them one at a time, or skip and do it later. See Integrations.
5
Now go to Slack!
Setup is done. The last screen opens Slack.

3. Try it in Slack

Where: Slack.

In #pondrosyou’ll find a welcome from Pondros. Then try the three things it does most:

1
Ask it something
```
What's overdue, and who owns it?
```
Send it in your DM with Pondros, under Apps in the sidebar.
2
Hand off a task
```
@Sam can you send the vendor list by Tuesday?
```
In a channel Pondros is in. It adds ✅ to your message and DMs you the task it created.
3
Ask it in a channel
```
@Pondros what's open in this channel?
```
It replies in the thread.

4. Bring your team in

Where: Slack. There’s nothing to configure.

Everyone in the Slack workspace can use Pondros the moment it’s installed. The first time a teammate tags @Pondros, DMs it or is given a task, Pondros sets them up and sends a short welcome. Slack guests can use it too, as Pondros guests who see only what’s shared with them. See Who can use Pondros.

Tip

The one thing worth telling your team: to get an answer in a channel, tag @Pondros. It never joins a conversation nobody asked it into.

Verify your setup

Where: Slack, in the workspace you installed into.

Check that Pondros responds

What's overdue, and who owns it?

Passed when: sent in your DM with Pondros, it answers. If not: no Pondros under Apps means the install didn’t finish; see Troubleshoot setup.

Check a channel

@Pondros what's open in this channel?

Passed when: it replies in a thread under your message. If not: it isn’t in the channel; type /invite @Pondros and ask again.

Check a hand-off

@Sam can you send the vendor list by Tuesday?

Passed when: your message gets a ✅ and Pondros DMs you ✅ Added to Pondros with Sam as the owner. If not: check your DMs for a 🤔 Possible task and press Add to board; tagging the person and giving a date makes it certain.

Check a tool you connected

@Pondros what can you see in HubSpot about Acme?

Passed when: the answer includes details from that tool. If not: reconnect it from the Integrations page in the Pondros app, then start a fresh thread.

After setup

To do this	Go to
Add Pondros to another channel	Type `/invite @Pondros` in it. Required for private channels.
Take Pondros out of a channel	In Slack, the channel's settings, under Integrations.
Let Pondros read your own DMs, or stop it	Tell Pondros in a DM: “watch my DMs” or “stop watching my DMs”.
Connect or remove a tool	The Integrations page (All apps) in the Pondros app.
Let Pondros make changes in a connected tool	Integrations → the app → Read & write. For a workspace connection, admins only.
Make someone an admin, or remove someone	Settings → Members. Admins only.
Change plan	Settings → Billing. Admins only.
Disconnect Slack	Settings → Connectors → Disconnect. Your board is kept.
Delete everything	Settings → General → Delete this workspace. Admins only.

Common setup issues

Slack said I need an admin, or the install went nowhere

If you didn’t press Cancel, your workspace needs an admin to approve new apps. Forward the message in If you’re not the Slack workspace admin, then press Add to Slack again once it’s approved.

It says the Slack workspace is already connected

A teammate already installed Pondros there. Tag @Pondrosin Slack and you’ll be set up automatically, or ask an admin to add you in Settings → Members.

Pondros doesn't answer in a channel

It only replies when tagged, and only in channels it’s in. For a private channel, invite it first.

A teammate is told they can't use Pondros

The reply says why. See When someone is refused.

Every other message setup can show is in Troubleshoot setup. Still stuck? Write to hey@pondros.comand we’ll set you up by hand.

1. Add Pondros to Slack

Start from pondros.com

Pick your workspace and click Allow

2. Finish setup

Select channels for Pondros to join

Pondros is reading your workspace

Your DMs, too. (optional)

Which tools do you use at work?

Now go to Slack!