Using the agent

You talk to the HockeyStick agent in plain language, in your own private conversation with it. This page covers where to ask, how follow-up answers work, and how to stop a request.

Ask in your private Messages

Open HockeyStick in Slack's agents and apps, then choose Messages. Everything you ask there, and every answer, is visible only to you.

Mentioning it in a channel

You can @mention HockeyStick in a channel, but it does not answer business questions there. Instead it sends you a private note, visible only to you, asking you to open HockeyStick in your agents and apps, choose Messages and send your request there. This keeps your partner data out of shared channels.

Get help

Type Help (it is also the suggested prompt). The agent lists the requests available to you right now, with examples. Help is free and works even without credit.

Threads keep context

When the agent needs one more detail, it asks in the same thread. Reply in that thread with just the answer. For example:

You: "Partner performance"
Agent: "Which partner? Name the partner, or ask from that partner's channel."
You: "Acme"
Agent: "Which month? For example “August 2026” or “last month”."
You: "last month"

The agent remembers the question for about ten minutes. After that, or if you start a clearly new request, it starts fresh. If it says it could not confirm the thread's follow-up context, repeat the full request.

Stopping a request

While the agent is working, Slack shows that it is busy. If you use Slack's stop control on that conversation, the agent stops and replies "Stopped." Stopping cannot undo something you already confirmed.

Limits on a single request

Each request has a time and step limit so nothing runs away. If a request is too big, the agent says it took too long or needed more steps than allowed, and that nothing was recorded. Try a smaller, more specific request.

Tips for good answers

Use partner names exactly as they appear in HockeyStick.
Name the month, for example "September 2026" or "last month".
One request per message works best.