Extract Action Items from Slack
AI identifies tasks, owners, and deadlines buried in your Slack threads. Never miss a commitment because it was hidden in message #47.
Tasks Get Lost in Slack Chaos
Sound familiar?
"Who was supposed to do that?"
Someone committed to a task in message #23. Nobody remembers. The deadline passes. Work falls through the cracks.
"I thought you were handling it"
Unclear ownership in a long thread. Two people assume the other is doing it. Neither does. Project delayed.
"When was that due again?"
Someone said "by Friday" in the thread. Now it's Monday. The deadline was buried and completely missed.
"We discussed this — what happened?"
The conversation happened. Action items were mentioned. But nobody wrote them down. Now nobody remembers what was agreed.
In a 50-message Slack thread, 5+ action items are typically buried throughout.
How many are you missing every week?
What Are Slack Action Items?
Action items are tasks, commitments, and to-dos that get mentioned in Slack conversations. They're the things people agree to do — but they're often scattered throughout long threads instead of being tracked properly.
Recal's AI identifies action items by understanding patterns like:
- Explicit requests — "Can you review the PR?" "Please update the docs"
- Commitments — "I'll handle the deployment" "I can take that"
- Delegations — "@sarah to draft the proposal" "Mike's on this"
- Deadlines — "by Friday" "before the demo" "end of sprint"
When you summarize a thread or channel with Recal, action items are extracted and listed separately — complete with owners and deadlines when mentioned. Nothing gets lost.
Example Extraction
Messages in thread:
"@sarah can you review the API changes?"
"I'll write up the migration docs by Friday"
"Mike — please coordinate with the design team"
Extracted action items:
How Action Item Extraction Works
From scattered messages to organized task list.
Summarize any thread or channel
Use /recal in a thread or set up automated channel recaps. Recal reads all messages and analyzes the conversation.
AI extracts action items
The AI identifies tasks, commitments, and requests. It detects owners (from @mentions or context) and deadlines when mentioned.
Get a clear task list
Action items appear in a dedicated section of your summary. Each task shows the owner and deadline. Nothing buried, nothing missed.
What the AI Catches
Real patterns from workplace conversations the AI understands.
Message:
"Can you review the PR?"
Extracted:
Message:
"I'll handle the deployment"
Extracted:
Message:
"@sarah please update docs"
Extracted:
Message:
"We need to fix the bug by Friday"
Extracted:
Message:
"Mike's going to coordinate with design"
Extracted:
Message:
"Let's ship this before the demo"
Extracted:
Action Item Features
Everything you need to stop losing tasks in Slack.
Owner Detection
Identifies who's responsible from @mentions, names, and context ('I'll handle it' = speaker).
Deadline Extraction
Catches 'by Friday', 'end of week', 'before launch', and other time references.
Export to Linear/Notion
Turn extracted action items into tracked issues in your project management tool.
Works Everywhere
Extracts from thread summaries, channel recaps, and any Slack analysis.
More Slack AI Features
Explore other ways Recal helps teams get value from Slack.
Slack Action Items FAQ
Common questions about extracting tasks from Slack. Need more help? Reach out to us.
Recal's AI analyzes your Slack messages looking for commitments, requests, and tasks. It understands natural language patterns like 'Can you...', 'I'll handle...', 'We need to...', '@sarah please...', and 'by Friday'. When you summarize a thread or channel, action items are automatically extracted and listed with owners and deadlines when mentioned.
The AI catches explicit requests ('Can you review this?'), commitments ('I'll send the doc'), delegations ('@mike to handle'), deadlines ('by end of week'), and implicit tasks in context. It's trained on real workplace conversations to catch the subtle ways people assign work in Slack.
Yes! When someone is @mentioned or referenced by name, Recal associates them as the owner. It also understands context — if someone says 'I'll handle it', they're marked as the owner. Owners are shown alongside each action item in the summary.
Recal identifies deadline language like 'by Friday', 'before the launch', 'end of sprint', 'tomorrow', 'next week', etc. When a deadline is mentioned, it's highlighted with the corresponding action item. This helps ensure time-sensitive tasks don't get missed.
In a 50-message thread, action items are scattered throughout — message #7, #23, #47, etc. Recal consolidates them into a single list at the end of the summary. No more 'wait, didn't someone say they'd do X?' or missing the task buried in a tangent.
Yes! Recal integrates with Linear and Notion. You can export extracted action items directly to your project management tool, where they become tracked issues or database entries. This bridges the gap between Slack discussions and actual task management.
Absolutely. Whether you're summarizing a single thread or an entire channel's weekly activity, Recal extracts action items from all messages analyzed. Weekly recaps include all tasks mentioned that week, organized clearly.
No AI is perfect. Recal catches the vast majority of explicitly stated tasks, but very implicit commitments might occasionally be missed. The key benefit is that it catches the obvious ones that humans often miss when skimming long conversations.
Still have questions?
We're here to help you get started.
Stop Losing Tasks in Slack
Let AI extract every action item, owner, and deadline. Nothing buried, nothing missed.