Talking to Scout
DMs, @mentions, threads, attachments, what you can ask for, and which actions ask you to confirm.
Scout is a conversation, not a command line. Say what you want in plain words and it works out the rest, asks for anything missing, and tells you what happens next.
Where Scout listens
- Direct message. Open Scout from your Slack sidebar and type. No @mention needed.
- @mention in a channel. Invite Scout to the channel, then start your message with
@Scout. Scout replies in a thread under your message. - Inside a thread. Mention
@Scoutagain in every message. A reply in a thread without the mention is ignored, even in a thread Scout started.
Two exceptions where you do not need the mention: replying in a "Needs a human answer" thread, and answering when Scout has asked you for your booking link.
Each thread is its own conversation. Scout remembers what was said in that thread, so follow-ups like "add remote to that role" work without repeating yourself.
Attach files
Drop a file into your message and Scout reads it. Job descriptions, CVs, and lists of people to contact all work this way.
| Accepted | Not accepted |
|---|---|
| PDF, Word (.doc, .docx), text (.txt, .md), CSV and TSV; up to five files, 10 MB each | Excel and Numbers spreadsheets. Export them as CSV first. Scanned PDFs with no text layer cannot be read. |
What you can ask for
Anything on this site. A few of the most common:
| You say | Scout does |
|---|---|
| "Here's our careers page: acme.com/careers" | Imports the open roles with their full job descriptions, up to ten at a time |
| "Create a role for this" with a JD attached | Creates the role, then drafts the interview |
| "Show me the questions for the AE role" | Lists the interview guide |
| "Swap question 3 for one about discovery calls" | Edits the guide |
| "Let me try it" | Sends you a demo interview link |
| "Skip the interview for the Head of Sales role" | Switches the role to CV review |
| "Queue these people for the SDR role" with links or a CSV | Prepares a batch of up to 50 and asks you to confirm |
| "Suggest candidates for the CSM role" | Ranks people already in your pipeline against the role |
| "Go live" or "Pause outreach" | Starts sending after a confirm, or stops immediately |
| "How many interviews finished this week?" | Answers from your pipeline |
| "Weekly summary" | Posts the pipeline digest in the thread |
| "Add jane@x.com to do-not-contact" | Suppresses her everywhere |
| "Invite tom@acme.com as an admin" | Sends a team invite after a confirm |
| "What plan are we on?" | Checks billing and links you to the billing page |
Scout only knows about your workspace. It will not discuss other customers, guess prices, or invent identifiers.
What asks for a Confirm
Most requests run immediately. These post a card with Confirm and Cancel first:
- Queueing people for outreach, and going live
- Deleting a role, an interview round, a candidate, an interview guide or a scorecard
- Revoking or resetting a candidate's interview, and re-grading an interview
- Inviting a teammate and revoking a team invite
- Changing workspace settings and the digest schedule
Only the person who asked can press the buttons, and the card expires after 15 minutes. Cancel leaves everything as it was.
Outreach controls are limited to owners and admins: queueing, cancelling, going live, pausing, test mode, and removing someone from the do-not-contact list. Members who try get "Only an agency owner or admin can do that."
What Scout never does in Slack
- It never pastes a candidate's interview link, token or password into Slack. Candidates get their link by email or as a LinkedIn message. The demo link for you is the one exception.
- It never sends anything to a candidate on a paused sender, or to anyone on your do-not-contact list.
- It never guesses. If it does not know, it asks you or points you to the right page.
Tone and format
Scout keeps replies short and leads with the answer, in Slack's own formatting. It ends each reply with a single line saying what happens next. If Scout hits a problem mid-task it says so plainly, for example "Sorry - I hit an AI provider error partway through", and you can simply ask again.
Slash commands
Linking, choosing the channel and quick status counts are slash commands rather than conversation. See Slash commands.