How to send Private Kudos Points in Slack using the Asante Bot

Private Kudos Points in Slack are a way to recognize teammates one-to-one, without posting the message publicly in a Slack channel. With Private Kudos, your appreciation is still meaningful and tracked — just shared discreetly.

Send Private Kudos Points in Slack

This feature is ideal when recognition should stay personal, sensitive, or context-specific.

Asante Bot keeps recognition flexible — public when you want to celebrate loudly, private when appreciation is better shared quietly.

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Important: Asante Bot does not work in private Slack channels

Asante Bot cannot be used in private channels. Slack restricts the permissions an app needs to read and post in private conversations, and Asante Bot has not been granted them. If you invite the bot to a private channel, recognition will not work there — Points, leaderboards, and celebrations only run in public channels.

We're working closely with the Slack team to get the approvals required to support private channels. Unfortunately, we don't have a clear path or timeline for when — or whether — that approval will come through, so we can't promise a date.

In the meantime, if you don't want your recognition to be visible in public channels, use Private Kudos Points instead. They're sent directly to the recipient, never posted to any channel, and still count toward your recognition analytics.

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When (and why) to use Private Kudos in Slack

Private Kudos are especially useful in situations like:

• Recognition that shouldn't be public
  The recommended alternative when a private channel isn't an option.
• Personal encouragement
  Supporting a teammate during a challenging moment.
• Sensitive feedback with appreciation
  Acknowledging effort without drawing attention.
• Manager → direct report recognition
  Praise that doesn’t need to be visible to the whole team.
• Cross-team or leadership kudos
  When public channels aren’t the right place.

Private recognition helps build trust while still reinforcing positive behavior.

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How Private Kudos Points in the Asante bot work

Sending Private Kudos is quick and natural inside Slack with Asante Bot.

Go to the Asante Bot Home page inside Slack and click the Give Private Kudos button.

A pop-up will open where you can select the team members you want to award Kudos Points, choose the number of points, and add a personal message.

Once you hit the Send button, they will be notified by Asante Bot, and their number of points will be increased.

Because Private Kudos are sent from the App Home rather than from inside a channel, they work regardless of which channels Asante Bot is in — no channel invite needed.

Example use case:

You want to thank a teammate for stepping in late to help a client, but don’t want to call it out publicly.

Instead of posting in a channel, you send a private kudos — visible only to the recipient.

What still happens behind the scenes:

• The kudos are logged in Asante analytics
• It counts toward recognition data
• It appears in the recipient’s personal kudos history

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Public channels vs private channels vs Private Kudos

Feature	Public channel Kudos	Private channel Kudos	Private Kudos
Supported by Asante Bot	✅ Yes	❌ Not supported	✅ Yes
Visible in channels	✅ Yes	—	❌ No
Visible to recipient	✅ Yes	—	✅ Yes
Counted in analytics	✅ Yes	—	✅ Yes
Best for sensitive moments	❌ No	—	✅ Yes

Private channels aren’t available today, so Private Kudos are the way to keep recognition out of public view.

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Final thoughts

Recognition doesn’t always need an audience.

Private Kudos allow teams to stay human, thoughtful, and respectful — while still reinforcing appreciation as part of company culture. And until private channel support is approved by Slack, they’re the best way to recognize someone without posting in a public channel.