The Discovery Agent brings Learnerbly's AI learning assistant into Slack.
Describe what you want to learn in plain language, and the agent recommends resources from your Learnerbly catalogue and lets you request them without leaving the conversation.
It is the same agent that powers the experience on the Learnerbly web app, so it already knows your role, your budget and what you have learned before.
Before you get started
Two things need to be in place before you can chat to the agent.
Your organisation has the Slack integration connected. A Learnerbly admin sets this up once. See For admins: connect or reconnect Slack below.
Your Slack email matches your Learnerbly email. This is how the agent recognises you. If the two differ, the agent will tell you it could not match your account.
Already had the Learnerbly Slack app before the Discovery Agent launched?
The agent needs new Slack permissions that older installations do not have. Your admin needs to reconnect the integration before the agent will answer. Your existing request notifications and weekly digest keep working in the meantime, so nothing breaks while you wait.
Start a conversation
There are two ways in.
Direct message the Learnerbly app
Open a DM with Learnerbly in Slack and just type. You do not need to mention the app or use a command. This is the best option for anything personal, such as spending your own budget, because only you can see the conversation.
Each new DM conversation becomes its own thread, named after your first message, so you can come back to it later.
Mention @Learnerbly in a channel
In any channel the Learnerbly app has been invited to, type @Learnerbly followed by your question. The app adds a đ reaction to show it has picked up your message, then replies in a thread.
Remember to mention @Learnerbly on every message in a channel, including your follow-up replies inside the thread. Without the mention the agent will not see your message. In a DM you never need to mention it.
Channel threads are shared, so a colleague can join in and carry on the same conversation, and the agent keeps the context. If anyone in the thread requests a resource, it is submitted against their own Learnerbly account and budget, not yours.
What to ask
Talk to it the way you would talk to a colleague. Describing the problem usually works better than naming a product.
I want to get better at public speaking
I have just been promoted to manager and I am struggling with difficult conversations
I've just been provided with this feedback [insert feedback here], what learning should I do off the back of that feedback?
Recommend a short course on financial modelling I can finish in a weekend
What can I get with my remaining budget?
You can keep refining in the same thread. Ask for cheaper options, a different format, or something shorter, and the agent will adjust.
What the agent sends back
The reply streams into the thread as it is written, so you can start reading straight away. While it works you will see a status such as "Scanning the Learnerbly libraryâŚ".
Recommendations arrive as a set of cards (up to five per reply, which you can swipe through). Each card shows:
The resource title, its cover image, and the supplier and price
A short description
A View on Learnerbly link, if you would rather read the full resource page
Tell me more, which opens the full description without leaving Slack, whenever the resource has one
Request this, to request it there and then
Free resources such as articles, podcasts, videos and file downloads do not need a request, so those cards show View article, Listen, Watch video or Download instead, taking you straight to the content.
Tell us how it did
Every reply has đ and đ buttons. Please use them. That feedback is exactly what we use to improve the recommendations, and it takes a second.
Request learning from the thread
Tap Request this on any card and Learnerbly walks you through the same request it would on the web, in two short steps.
1. Choose an option. If the resource comes in more than one form (paperback, eBook, Kindle, different course dates, and so on), pick the one you want. Each option shows its price in your currency and whether it is ⥠Auto-approved or Needs manager approval, and you will see how much is left in your learning budget.
2. Add your reason and submit. Tell us why you are choosing it. A line on how it helps your goals genuinely speeds up approval. You will also confirm a delivery address, pre-filled from your Learnerbly profile: Slack asks for it on every request, and it is only used if what you are requesting is a physical item such as a printed book. Finally, choose whether to show your request to others, then hit Submit request.
You will get a confirmation in the thread, naming the resource: either "Your request for ⌠was auto-approved and is on its way" or "Your request for ⌠has been submitted and is awaiting approval".
Requests made in Slack are ordinary Learnerbly requests. They appear in your requests list on the web app, they go to your usual approver, and they are fulfilled in exactly the same way. Nothing about approvals, budgets or delivery changes. You can read more in How to make a request.
What the agent can and cannot do
It can | It cannot |
Recommend resources from your organisation's Learnerbly catalogue | Recommend anything outside the catalogue. It never invents resources, prices or suppliers |
Take your role, budget and learning history into account automatically | Raise an external expense or virtual card. It creates a request, which follows your normal approval route |
Submit a request, tell you whether approval is needed, and show your remaining budget â unless your organisation hides budget amounts from learners | Approve or decline requests on your behalf. Managers still approve from the notification in Slack, email, or on Learnerbly |
Hold a multi-turn conversation and refine its suggestions | Share the conversation history with anyone if the conversation is in a DM |
Inviting the Learnerbly app to a channel so people can use the agent there does not subscribe that channel to request notifications or the weekly digest. Those only ever go to the single channel your admin chose when connecting.
For admins: connect or reconnect Slack
Whoever sets this up must be an admin on both Slack and Learnerbly.
Connect Slack
Go to your Admin Hub Settings and find Integrations.
Click Connect on the Slack card.
Sign in to your Slack workspace and review the permissions Learnerbly is asking for.
When Slack asks you to choose a channel, pick the one where Learnerbly should post the weekly digest and request notifications. This is a notifications channel only, and it does not limit where people can use the agent.
Approve the installation. The Slack card will show Connected.
To let people use the agent by mentioning it in a channel, open that channel and type /invite @Learnerbly. Direct messages to the app work straight away, with no invite needed.
Reconnect an existing installation
The Discovery Agent needs Slack permissions that older Learnerbly installations were never granted, such as reading mentions and replying in threads. If your workspace was connected before these were added, the Slack card in your Admin Hub Settings shows a Reconnect button and a short banner explaining why.
Click Reconnect on the Slack card.
Sign in to Slack and approve the updated permissions.
Choose the channel for the weekly digest and request notifications, as above. Picking the same channel you used before keeps everything exactly where your team expects it.
Nothing stops working while you wait to reconnect. Your existing request notifications and digest carry on as normal, and the agent simply will not respond until the new permissions are granted.
What we use the permissions for
What we access | Why |
Your workspace members' names and email addresses | To match a Slack user to their Learnerbly account, so recommendations and budgets are correct |
Messages that mention @Learnerbly, and direct messages to the app | To read the question being asked. We do not read channel conversations that do not involve the app |
Links to Learnerbly pages posted in a channel the app is in | To show a preview of the resource in the channel. Slack sends us the link itself, not the surrounding conversation |
Posting messages and replying in threads | To send recommendations, request confirmations, notifications and the weekly digest |
Your channel list | So you can choose which channel receives notifications |
For the wider Slack integration, including request notifications, reviews and approving requests from Slack, see Setting up your Slack integration.
Troubleshooting
"I couldn't match your Slack account to a Learnerbly account"
The email on your Slack profile does not match an active Learnerbly account. This usually means one of the following:
You use a different email address on Slack than on Learnerbly. Ask your admin which address your Learnerbly account uses.
You do not have a Learnerbly account yet, or it has been archived.
You are in a Slack workspace that belongs to a different organisation from your Learnerbly account.
"The Learnerbly discovery agent is not enabled for your workspace yet"
The agent has not been switched on for your organisation. Get in touch with us through the chat and we will sort it out.
The app does not reply at all
In a channel: check you mentioned @Learnerbly in the message, including on follow-up replies in the thread, and that the app has been invited to the channel with
/invite @Learnerbly.Everywhere: your workspace may need reconnecting. Ask a Learnerbly admin to check the Slack card in Admin Hub Settings for a Reconnect button.
"I couldn't find anything for that"
The agent only recommends what is in your catalogue, so a very narrow or very unusual request may come back empty. Try describing the skill or the problem rather than naming a specific product. If the resource you want genuinely is not on Learnerbly, you can still ask us to add it.
Notifications are appearing in the wrong channel
The weekly digest and request notifications go to the single channel chosen during setup. To change it, a Learnerbly admin can reconnect the integration and pick a different channel.