Automation is powerful, but sometimes, you need a human to make a decision before your workflow can continue. That’s where Zapier’s new Slack “Request Approval” action comes in.
Now, instead of pausing a process or sending a notification and hoping someone responds, you can build structured approvals directly into Slack, and have your Zap resume based on the response.
When should you use the Request Approval action in Slack?
With the new Request Approval action in Slack, you can:
✅ Pause your Zap until someone takes action
🧠 Add human-in-the-loop decision-making to your AI automation
🔐 Define specific approvers to control who can respond
📩 Keep the conversation in Slack, where your team is already collaborating
Whether you're approving a deal, reviewing a task, or making a go/no-go call, this action helps you keep things moving, but with a human touch.
How to set up your first Request Approval action
Here's how you can get started with our latest Slack action.
1. Add a Slack action to your Zap
Choose “Request Approval” as the action event.
2. Customize your approval message
Write the request and pick the Slack channel to post the approval request in.
3. Define approvers
Limit who can respond by selecting specific Slack users. Others will see a message that they're not authorized to approve or decline.
4. Zap waits for a response
Once someone clicks Approve or Decline, the Zap resumes—with structured data like status and responder ID.
5. Use the response to drive next steps
Send an email, update a CRM, kick off a follow-up process—whatever your workflow needs.
👉 Learn more about how to set up Slack approval actions
👉 Learn how to interact with Slack’s approval bot
How to customize your Slack approval requests
Slack approval requests are easy to set up and include:
✅ Custom button labels (e.g., “Send offer,” “Request more info”)
✅ Button URLs (e.g., link to a record, dashboard, or confirmation page)
✅ Dynamic confirmation modals
✅ Posting in threads or DMs
Use case: Streamline your sales process with approvals and routing
So, how might this work for you? Let’s say you use Zapier’s robust AI functionality to craft personalized responses at scale to inbound sales inquiries. You can then use this Slack Request Approval step to request the relevant sales rep to review the email draft. Once they approve, that email is then sent to the inbound lead, ensuring that the right message is sent at the right time.
It's where sophisticated AI meets essential human judgment, a powerful combination that delivers results.
Try it out
If you’ve been using Zapier to automate tasks but have been craving that human in the loop intervention, this feature bridges the gap—keeping the workflow in motion while giving people control where it counts.
Start using the Slack Request Approval action in your Zaps today!
