Getting started
Find help in your Slack community with WhoCan
WhoCan helps you find a person with the skills to answer your question. Install the bot, tell it what you can help with, and try a question your community can answer.
WhoCan is free during the public beta. You'll need a Slack workspace and permission to add apps, or an admin who can approve the installation.
1. Add WhoCan to your workspace
Choose Add to Slack and check that you've selected the right workspace. Review the requested permissions before approving. If your workspace restricts app installations, ask an admin to review WhoCan.
Once installed, WhoCan joins public channels and sends the installer a welcome message. Open that message in Slack to get started. You can read about the information it collects in our privacy policy.
2. Add the skills you can help with
Sign in with Slack on this website using the workspace where WhoCan is installed. Open your profile and add the subjects you'd be comfortable helping someone with.
Specific skill names give people more to go on. If you're happy to help with Postgres, list Postgres. Other members can add their skills too; a newly installed workspace needs those records before WhoCan has much to match against.
3. Ask a question in Slack
Post in a channel where WhoCan is present, or send the bot a direct message. Say what you're trying to do and where you're stuck.
“Who can help me debug a Postgres deadlock?”
When WhoCan offers to find someone, confirm the search and the relevant skill. It then asks potential helpers in Slack. A helper can accept, decline, or suggest someone else. If someone accepts, WhoCan introduces you so you can talk through the problem.
WhoCan doesn't write the answer for you. It depends on members being available and willing to help, so an introduction isn't guaranteed.
If your first search gets stuck
- WhoCan hasn't replied in the channel
- Check that the bot is in the channel. Try sending the question directly to WhoCan in Slack.
- The search hasn't started
- Look for WhoCan's reply in the question's thread or in your direct messages. Confirm that you want it to find help, and choose the skill it should search for.
- Nobody has accepted
- Check the skill you chose and add enough detail for someone to decide whether they can help. In a new workspace, ask members to add their skills. People may also be busy or unavailable.
- You can't sign in on the web
- Use a workspace where WhoCan is installed. If the installation is new, it may still be loading member profiles. Open the bot in Slack, then try signing in again.
Still stuck? Email howdy@whocanbot.com with what you tried and any error message you saw.