Slack Adds In-Chat App and Dashboard Generator Through Slackforce Surfaces

Slack is pushing deeper into generative workplace tooling with the rollout of Slackforce Surfaces, a new feature that allows users to create interactive dashboards, reports, and lightweight applications directly inside chat channels by prompting Slackbot.

Rather than navigating external business intelligence tools, workers can describe a visual asset in natural language. Slackbot then synthesizes data from workspace message history and connected platforms, such as Salesforce and Google Drive, to generate interactive polls, financial forecasts, slide decks, or custom status trackers that can be pinned to channels and edited collaboratively.

"You're not exporting your data to some other tool to make sense of it, you're asking Slackbot to build the dashboard, the deck, the report right where the conversation already is, and your whole team can act on it together," Ryan Gavin, chief marketing officer of Slack, told The Verge.

Expanding the Chat Interface

The launch follows a series of updates aimed at evolving Slackbot into an active administrative assistant capable of summarizing lengthy discussion threads, scheduling meetings, and facilitating collaborative coding channels. Slack stated that Surfaces will adhere to existing enterprise data boundaries, accessing only the files and conversations that users have explicitly permitted the AI tools to query.

Enterprise software providers are increasingly treating workplace chat platforms as operational hubs rather than passive communication channels. By embedding dynamic UI creation directly into the message feed, Slack is attempting to curb context switching and dissuade corporate teams from relying on standalone dashboarding tools for everyday reporting.

Slackforce Surfaces is rolling out across all tiers, including free workspaces that have Slackbot enabled. Full support for live, real-time data integrations is scheduled to arrive in October.