Swarm for Slack lets your team look up warm intros without leaving Slack. Paste a LinkedIn profile or a company website, mention @Swarm, and Swarm replies in the thread with the teammates who can introduce you, strongest connection first, along with the reason they're connected.
What you need
A Swarm team on a Premium or Enterprise plan
A Slack workspace where you can install apps (a Slack admin, or any member if your workspace allows it)
Your team's Swarm API key (in Swarm under Settings → API)
Set it up (admins)
Click Add to Slack and approve the permissions in Slack. (Link: add the install URL here.)
In Slack, open Swarm in the sidebar and go to the Home tab.
Click Set up Swarm.
Paste your team's Swarm API key.
Pick the channels where Swarm should answer.
If you pick a private channel, type /invite @Swarm in that channel first so Swarm can see it. Swarm doesn't work in Slack Connect channels (channels shared with another organisation).
Run a lookup
In a channel you picked during setup, post one of these:
@Swarm https://www.linkedin.com/in/someoneto see who can introduce you to a person@Swarm https://example.comto see who can introduce you to someone at a company (a company's LinkedIn page works too)/swarm <link>to do the same thing without mentioning the bot
Swarm replies in a thread. Each result shows the teammate, how strongly they're connected, and why, for example that they worked at the same company at the same time.
If nobody on your team is connected to the person directly, Swarm shows teammates who know people at their current company instead.
What the reactions mean
Swarm adds a reaction to your message so you can see where things stand:
Reaction | Meaning |
👀 | Swarm is looking |
✅ | Found teammates who can introduce you |
🟡 | No direct path, but found teammates connected to people at their company |
➖ | Nothing found |
⚠️ | Something went wrong. Try again in a minute |
Add what you know
Your Swarm network can't know everything. Under an answer, click I know them or I know someone there to post a note in the thread saying you can help. Your name is credited so the person asking knows who to talk to.
These notes stay in Slack through Swarm for Slack. They aren't added to your network in Swarm.
Add someone as a connector
A connector is a person whose LinkedIn connections feed your team’s Swarm network. To add one, run:
/swarm add-connector https://www.linkedin.com/in/someone
Swarm shows a confirmation first. Nothing is added until you click Add as connector.
Swarm adds the person and replies in the channel with their name.
The new connector installs The Swarm extension (free, one click) and opens LinkedIn while logged in as themselves. The extension uploads their connections, which show up in lookups once processing finishes.
Adding a connector uses one connector seat from your Swarm plan and 1 credit to look up their name. If your team has no seats left, the person isn’t added and nothing is charged. A Swarm admin can add seats.
What it costs
Swarm for Slack has no price of its own. It’s included with your Premium or Enterprise plan. Almost everything is free, including person lookups with a direct match, company lookups and I know them notes.
Credits are used in two cases:
Case | Cost |
Fallback to people at a person’s company, when nobody is connected to them directly | 1 credit each time it kicks in, only if Swarm has that profile |
Adding a connector with | 1 credit to look up their name, plus one connector seat |
Admins can turn the fallback off in the Home tab. With it off, lookups never use credits. For more detail, see What does Swarm for Slack cost?
Good to know
Swarm only responds when you mention @Swarm, use
/swarm, or click one of its buttons. It never reacts to links on its own and never reads your channel history.Answers are visible to everyone in the channel, including teammate names and connection reasons. There’s no private mode.
Anyone in an enabled channel can run lookups, including Slack guests. Pick the channels with that in mind.
There’s no per-person limit and no credit budget inside Swarm for Slack. Credits come out of your team’s normal Swarm API credits.
Your data
Your Swarm API key and the Slack connection are stored encrypted.
For each lookup, Swarm for Slack keeps who asked, the link they pasted, how many results were found and whether it worked. It doesn't store the results themselves.
Lookup records and notes are deleted after 90 days.
If you click Disconnect Swarm in the Home tab, or uninstall the app from Slack, your API key and all stored data for the workspace are deleted right away.
Troubleshooting
Swarm doesn't reply. Check that the channel is enabled in the Home tab. For a private channel, run /invite @Swarm first. Slack Connect channels aren't supported.
"Nothing found" for a company website. Try the company's LinkedIn page instead. Older website addresses can match outdated company records.
You see ⚠️ or a rate limit message. Swarm allows 60 requests per minute per API key. Wait a minute and try again.
The API key was rejected. Make sure you copied the full key from Settings → API in Swarm, and that your team is on a Premium or Enterprise plan.
Still stuck? Message us through the chat and we'll take a look.