Xplorr Slack Bot: AI-Powered Cloud Cost Queries in Slack

Xplorr Slack Bot

The Xplorr Slack bot lets your team query cloud costs, check recommendations, and manage budgets and alerts directly from Slack. No need to open a dashboard: ask a question in plain language.

The bot runs in Slack only. A Microsoft Teams version is being built and is not available yet; see Microsoft Teams.

What It Does

The bot connects to the same Xplorr APIs that power the console and the MCP server. It has 18 tools covering cost queries, optimization, budgets, alerts, accounts and reports. When you send a message, the bot works out which tools to call, runs them, and returns a formatted answer.

Examples of what you can ask:

• “What did we spend on AWS last week?”
• “Show me the top 5 most expensive services this month”
• “Are there any cost anomalies?”
• “What optimization recommendations do we have?”
• “Create a $10,000 monthly budget for the production account”
• “What’s the forecast for this month’s total spend?”
• “Compare this month vs last month”
• “List all active alerts”
• “Trigger a sync for our Azure account”

How It Works Under the Hood

The bot uses an agentic loop:

1. Your message arrives via the Slack Events API (an @mention in a channel, or a direct message)
2. The bot maps your Slack workspace to your Xplorr organization
3. It sends your message to GPT-4o with the 18 tools defined as function calls
4. GPT-4o selects which tools to call based on your question
5. The bot runs those tool calls against the Xplorr API
6. Results go back to GPT-4o to write a plain language answer
7. If more data is needed, the loop repeats (up to 5 steps)
8. The answer is posted in the same channel or DM as a Slack message

For multi-step questions like “What are my top services and how do they compare to last month?”, the bot chains several tool calls in one turn.

Replies are posted in the channel, not in a thread, and each message is handled on its own: the bot does not remember earlier messages, so include everything it needs in one message.

Available Tools (18)

Category	Tools
Cost Analysis	get_cost_summary, get_cost_trend, get_top_services, get_cost_forecast, get_mom_comparison
Optimization	get_recommendations, get_savings_summary, get_anomalies, update_recommendation_status, get_ai_recommendations
Budgets	list_budgets, create_budget
Alerts	list_alerts, create_alert, delete_alert
Accounts	list_cloud_accounts, trigger_sync
Reports	get_report_preview

compare_periods, get_top_resources, budget updates and deletes, scheduled reports and tagging tools are available through the MCP server (28 tools), not the bot.

To act on a recommendation from Slack, ask the bot, for example “Mark recommendation as in progress”. It can set a recommendation to in progress, applied or dismissed. Buttons that apply, snooze or dismiss a recommendation in one click are being built; see Approval Workflows.

Setup: Adding the Bot to Your Workspace

The Xplorr Slack bot is set up with the Xplorr team during onboarding:

1. Install the Slack app. An admin in your Slack workspace installs the Xplorr Slack app. This grants the bot permission to read messages where it’s mentioned and post responses.

2. Connect to your Xplorr org. Your Slack workspace is linked to your Xplorr organization, so the bot queries the right data.

3. Invite the bot to channels. Add @Xplorr to any channel where you want to use it. The bot only responds when directly mentioned or in DMs.

To get started, reach out at console.xplorr.io or email support.

Using the Bot

Mention it in a channel:

@Xplorr What did we spend on AWS this week?

DM it directly:

What are my top 10 most expensive services this month?

Multi-step requests work:

@Xplorr Show me the cost trend for the last 30 days,
highlight any anomalies, and list our top recommendations.

Answers are posted as Slack Block Kit messages. Dollar amounts are formatted as USD.

Proactive Notifications

Beyond on-demand questions, the bot posts to Slack on its own:

• Daily cost digest: every day at 09:00 UTC, a summary of the last complete day’s spend, top services, anomalies, recommendations, budgets and forecast. See Daily Cost Digest.
• Weekly executive summary: every Monday at 09:00 UTC, with an AI written insight and a budget scorecard. See Weekly Executive Summary.
• Anomaly alerts: when Xplorr detects a cost spike, with an AI written explanation.
• Budget alerts: when a budget threshold is crossed.
• Alert rule triggers: when a custom alert rule fires.
• Credit alerts: when a credit grant is projected to run out, or to expire unused, within 30 and then 7 days.

The digest and weekly summary go to the channels set up in Channel Routing, or to the workspace’s default channel when none are set. Anomaly, budget, alert rule and credit alerts go to the workspace’s default channel. Buttons on these messages open the relevant page in the console.

Approval requests are not posted to Slack today. They are raised and decided on the Approvals page in the console.

Slack Bot vs MCP Server

	Slack Bot	MCP Server
Interface	Slack (any device)	Claude Desktop / Claude Code / Claude.ai
Best for	Team-wide questions and alerts	Deep individual analysis, scripting, automation
Auth model	Workspace-level	Token per user
AI model	GPT-4o	Claude (whichever model you use)
Tools	18	28
Proactive alerts	Yes (Block Kit)	No (reactive only)
Setup	Workspace admin installs app	User adds MCP config

Use both: Slack for team visibility and alerts, MCP for deep analysis and automation.

Common Mistakes

• Not mentioning the bot. In channels, the bot only responds to @Xplorr mentions. It doesn’t read all messages.
• Asking a follow-up that relies on the previous answer. The bot has no memory of earlier messages. Repeat the context in each message.
• Asking about accounts that aren’t connected. If you ask about Azure costs but only have AWS connected, the bot returns empty results. Check connected accounts with “List my cloud accounts.”
• Expecting real-time data. Cost data syncs once a day. The bot returns the most recent synced data, and the most recent day is partial.

FAQ

Can multiple people use the bot at the same time? Yes. Each message is processed independently.

Does the bot store conversation history? No. Each message is a standalone request. The bot doesn’t keep context between messages.

Can I restrict who can use the bot? Currently, anyone in the Slack workspace who can see the bot can use it.

What if the bot is slow to respond? Questions that need several tool calls take longer. If it consistently takes long, check that your cloud accounts are syncing successfully.

Related Guides

• Daily Cost Digest: proactive daily cost briefing
• Weekly Executive Summary: AI written leadership report
• Approval Workflows: approvals today, and the chat buttons being built
• Channel Routing: which channels receive what
• Microsoft Teams: in development
• MCP Server Overview: use Claude for in-depth cost analysis
• Budget Alerts: set up budget alerts that also post to Slack