Slack
Orla in Slack, in three steps.
Balances, cash flow, invoices and expense splits, answered in the channel where the question was asked. The app is bound to an Orla space, so it answers the people in that space and nobody else.
- 01
Open Orla and go to Chats
Sign in at app.orla.finance, open Settings and then Chats. The app has nothing to say until it knows which ledger it is answering for, so the install starts here rather than in Slack.
- 02
Connect the workspace
Press Connect Slack. Slack asks which workspace to add Orla to and shows what it may do there. Approving it returns you to Orla, installed.
- 03
Bind yourself, then bind a channel
Mint a code in Chats and paste it in a direct message with the app as /orla link CODE. That ties your Slack identity to your Orla account. A space owner or admin then runs /orla linkspace in a channel to bind that channel to one space.
- /orla link CODE
- Ties this Slack identity to an Orla account. Single use, expires in 15 minutes
- /orla balance
- Where the money is right now, per connected account
- /orla balances
- The same, grouped by currency
- /orla cashflow
- Money in and out for the current period
- /orla invoices
- What is outstanding and what is overdue
- /orla cards
- Active cards and their limits
- /orla goals
- How the savings goals are pacing
- /orla split 60 lunch
- Splits an expense across the channel and answers in the channel, because it changes what people owe
- /orla linkspace
- Binds this channel to a space. Owner or admin only
- /orla unlinkspace
- Detaches the channel again
- /orla mute
- Shows what this channel receives; /orla mute cards toggles one kind off
It answers the space, not the room
Commands and questions are answered for members of the connected space. Everyone else gets silence rather than a refusal, because a refusal with a number in it still leaks the shape of the answer.
Its memory is the thread
To answer a follow-up it reads the thread it is replying in, and nothing else. We do not index your channels and we keep no copy of the conversation on our side.
Files only when you send them
Drop a receipt or a statement and ask the app to record it, and it reads that file. It comes back as a draft with a Save button, so nothing is written to your ledger until you press it.
It cannot move money
Bank connections are read-only through open banking, exchange keys are refused if they carry trade or withdrawal rights, and wallet keys never leave your browser. Approving a payout in Slack signs an instruction you already set up in Orla.
A client can have a channel of their own.
Bind a chat to one contact and it gets that client's invoices and a Pay button, nothing else from the space. The client needs no Orla account, and that channel never talks to the assistant.
Do I need an Orla account to use the Slack app?
Yes, for anything that reads your money. The app answers from a ledger, so it has to know which one. A client invited to a client channel is the exception: they can press Pay without an account.
Which plan is it on?
Personal chats and DMs work on every plan. Binding a space channel or a client channel is part of the paid plans, starting with Starter.
Can a teammate see numbers I cannot?
The other way round: everyone sees what their role in that space allows. A viewer can read the figures but cannot ask the assistant or press the action buttons.
How do I remove it?
Run /orla unlinkspace to detach one channel, or remove the app from the workspace in Slack. Removing it deletes the installation and every channel binding on our side, and the stored token stops working.
Does it work in a shared Slack Connect channel?
External members can press the buttons in a client channel, which is how a client pays an invoice. They cannot type commands, so they cannot read the space's numbers.
Put Orla in the channel where the question gets asked.
One code, one channel, the same ledger.