Slack

Towbar posts operational notifications through one Slack bot token. Create a Slack app with a bot allowed to post messages, install it in the intended workspace, and invite the bot to each target channel. Copy the channel ID rather than the display name so channel renames do not change routing.

/etc/towbar/towbar.yml

notifications:
  enabled: true
  providers:
    slack:
      botToken: "xoxb-..."
  routes: []

Run sudo towbar config validate and sudo towbar restart. Open Manage → Notifications → Slack and add a destination for each channel ID. Select Deployments, Backup & Restore, and Alerts & Incidents per channel; preview events follow Deployments. Checkbox changes save immediately.

Test and troubleshoot

Use the row’s test action to send a sample notification. If Slack rejects it, verify the bot token, app installation, posting permission, channel ID, and channel membership. A private channel must include the bot. Use delivery history for the provider-safe error and retry state. A successful response proves Slack accepted the post, not that someone saw it. For a single workload, additional Slack channel IDs can be declared in its manifest notification routing. Those appear read-only under the entity’s Monitor → Notifications page after sync. Keep the bot token in YAML, never in the manifest. Rotate it by applying new YAML, restarting Towbar, and testing a destination before revoking the old token.

Slack notification destinations and category subscriptions in Towbar.

Each Slack channel can subscribe to different operational categories.

Overview

Source control

Container registries

Backup providers

External secrets

Platform services

Notifications

Test and troubleshoot

​Test and troubleshoot

Test and troubleshoot