Does Asante Bot work in private channels?

Asante Bot does not work in private Slack channels. We’re working closely with the Slack team to get the approvals needed, but there’s no clear timeline yet. Private Kudos Points are the alternative…

Short answer: no. Asante Bot doesn't work in private Slack channels. It can only give Points, post celebrations, and build leaderboards in public channels it has been invited to.

If you add Asante Bot to a private channel, recognition won't work there — so please don't rely on it for your team's kudos.

Why private channels aren't supported

Slack treats private conversations differently from public ones. Reading and posting in a private channel requires a separate, more sensitive set of permissions, and Slack reviews and approves those permissions app by app. Asante Bot hasn't been granted them, so it has no way to see or respond to messages in a private channel.

This isn't a setting you can flip on your side — no /invite, workspace setting, or plan upgrade changes it.

What we're doing about it

We're working closely with the Slack team to get the approvals required to support private channels. It's something a lot of teams have asked for, and it's a priority for us.

Unfortunately, we don't have a clear path or timeline for when — or whether — that approval will come through. The review is on Slack's side, so we'd rather be upfront than promise a date we can't keep. When it changes, we'll update this page and announce it.

What to do instead

If you don't want recognition to be visible in a public channel, use Private Kudos Points.

Private Kudos are sent one-to-one from the Asante Bot App Home — they're never posted to any channel, public or private, and only the recipient sees them. They still count toward recognition data, analytics, and the recipient's kudos history.

Learn how to send Private Kudos Points in Slack →

If your goal was simply to keep kudos out of everyone's way rather than to keep them secret, another option is to create a dedicated public channel — for example #kudos — and invite Asante Bot there.

Your options at a glance

	Public channel	Private channel	Private Kudos
Supported by Asante Bot	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes
Visible to the whole channel	✅ Yes	—	❌ No
Visible to the recipient	✅ Yes	—	✅ Yes
Counted in analytics & leaderboards	✅ Yes	—	✅ Yes
Best for sensitive recognition	❌ No	—	✅ Yes

Note: Public channels are still the best place for everyday recognition — celebrating out loud is a big part of what makes kudos work. Private Kudos are there for the moments that shouldn't have an audience.