SlackGPT
Discover how we seamlessly integrated ChatGPT into Slack for cost-effective, secure collaboration, transforming our team's workflow without the hassle
If you’ve ever tried to send beautifully formatted Markdown text to Slack - especially as part of an AI-powered workflow - you’ve probably run into a frustrating problem: Slack doesn’t natively support standard Markdown. Instead, it uses its own weird version of formatting called
mrkdwn.As a result, you get Slack messages filled with raw Markdown tags like
###, broken links, and formatting that makes the content generated by your beautiful automation hard to read.This is a common pain point for anyone using AI-generated content in their Slack automations, because LLMs typically output content in Markdown.
Fortunately, there’s now a simple solution: a Zapier Function called Slackdown, which converts standard Markdown into Slack’s unique formatting, so your messages look polished every time.
What Are Zapier Functions?
Zapier Functions let you write and run custom code directly inside your Zaps, including code from external libraries.
They support Python and JavaScript, giving you the power to:
- Clean, format, or transform data
- Call external APIs
- Perform advanced logic or calculations
- Extend your automations beyond standard Zapier actions
Think of Functions as an automation Swiss army knife, ideal for power users who want to go beyond point-and-click workflows.
Why Markdown and Slack Don’t Play Nice
Markdown, created in 2004 by longtime Apple blogger John Gruber, is a popular lightweight markup language used for formatting text. It’s the default for many tools, documentation sites, and AI-generated outputs. However, Slack’s formatting syntax, called
mrkdwn, differs in several key ways.For example, Slack uses asterisks for bold (
*bold*) and underscores for italics (_italics_), but doesn’t recognize Markdown’s headings (# Heading), code blocks, or even links in the same way. This mismatch causes Markdown-formatted text to display incorrectly when sent directly to Slack.Introducing Slackdown: A Zapier Function for Markdown to Slack Conversion
To bridge this formatting gap, we used Zapier Functions to create a little utility we call Slackdown. It’s a simple wrapper around the open-source Python library markdown_to_mrkdwn, which expertly converts standard Markdown into Slack’s accepted
mrkdwn format.How It Works
Building a Zapier Function requires a bit of comfort with coding, but using one is as easy as doing anything else in Zapier.
You can call the function from within any Zap. Then just pass your Markdown-formatted text as an input, and it will return the reformatted text, perfectly tailored for Slack. This makes it easy to take AI-generated content and ensure it looks great in your Slack channels or threads.
Real-World Use Case: AI-Powered Slack Q&A
One practical example is integrating Slack with popular AI tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity. At work.flowers, sometimes we like to pull ChatGPT into our group chats, to answer important questions like the one below.
Before ChatGPT’s answer is posted back to Slack, the Slackdown function reformats the Markdown response into Slack’s
mrkdwn. The result: clean, readable, and well-formatted answers in our Slack threads.Why This Matters
- Seamless Automation: Integrate any Markdown-generating tool (including AI) with Slack, without worrying about formatting issues.
- Cleaner Code: Offload the complexity of Markdown-to-mrkdwn conversion to a dedicated library, rather than maintaining custom scripts.
- Better User Experience: Ensure your Slack messages always look professional, improving clarity and engagement.
How to Get Started
If you’re looking to building complex workflows that deeply integrate AI into your existing tools and processes, we can help. At work.flowers, we design and implement custom automations that connect AI tools like ChatGPT with Slack, Notion, CRMs, and more.
Whether you want to build an internal knowledge assistant, streamline reporting, or automate decision-making, we bring the technical know-how and strategic thinking to make it happen.
Final Thoughts
Slackdown is a small example of what’s possible when you combine open-source tools, AI, and automation platforms like Zapier. But it’s just the beginning.
If you’re ready to go beyond formatting fixes and start embedding AI into your daily operations, we’d love to help. From designing intelligent workflows to automating entire business processes, work.flowers helps teams work smarter, not harder.
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