OPA Workflow Approvals in Slack
The approval request appears in Slack. You see the details. You see the policy outcome. You decide. No browser tabs. No digging through systems.
Open Policy Agent (OPA) can enforce complex workflow approvals directly from Slack. It gives you a central place to define rules but puts the decision in the chat where work happens. This means faster approvals, less confusion, and consistent enforcement.
OPA works by defining policies in Rego. These policies can check conditions: user roles, project states, risk thresholds, or custom business logic. When a request triggers an approval, OPA evaluates the inputs and returns a decision. With a Slack integration, the decision and context are posted into a channel or DM, along with approve/deny buttons.
To run OPA for Slack workflow approvals, you need:
- An OPA instance running with your policy files.
- A service to send approval events from your system to Slack.
- A way to pass the decision back once the Slack action is taken.
The flow looks like this:
- A workflow step needs approval.
- Your backend sends the request data to OPA.
- OPA evaluates the policy and decides if it needs human review.
- If human review is required, the system posts a structured message in Slack with full context.
- The approver clicks a button. The choice is sent back to your system.
- The workflow continues or stops based on the decision.
Security and auditability come built-in. Every policy evaluation can be logged. Slack keeps a record of messages and actions. OPA’s central policy store means no hidden exceptions in code.
This setup is ideal for CI/CD deployments, sensitive data access, production changes, or any workflow where rules and approvals must be consistent. Policy changes happen in one place, in version-controlled files, and take effect instantly across all workflows.
Stop switching tools for approvals. Keep the speed of Slack, the power of OPA, and the safety of enforced policy.
See OPA workflow approvals in Slack live in minutes at hoop.dev.