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Give an AI agent only the message data and actions its specific job requires. Keep reading separate from sending or changing content, restrict access to the smallest relevant conversations, and require your approval for consequential actions. Permission names and controls differ by app, so check the actual access screen rather than assuming one platform’s settings apply everywhere.
Start with the job, not the permission list
Write down exactly what the agent is meant to do before connecting it. “Answer questions in this support channel using the current thread” is a narrower task than searching an entire workspace, starting conversations, or administering membership. A narrowly defined job makes it easier to decide which data and actions are genuinely necessary. OpenAI advises giving agents explicit, specific instructions because broader instructions give them wider latitude: ChatGPT agent guidance.
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Then assess permissions across separate dimensions. Services expose different subsets of these controls, but the questions are useful when reviewing any messaging integration:
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute- Data scope: Does it need the current message or thread, a selected channel, broader history, workspace search, or files?
- Identity: Will it act as its own bot, or on behalf of your user account?
- Actions: Does it only read or draft, or can it send, edit, delete, invite, or administer?
- Audience: Can it respond only in an approved channel, or also in private chats, group conversations, and to external recipients?
- Approval: Does it ask before changes, or can it carry them out automatically?
- Outbound access: Can it make external requests or unfurl arbitrary links, or is external access restricted?
Give the agent the smallest practical data boundary
Choose the narrowest channel, conversation, and history access that supports the task. Avoid workspace-wide search, files, private-channel content, and broad message history unless the agent’s job actually depends on them. Broad access increases the amount of information that could be exposed if the agent is misdirected or mishandles a request.
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Slack’s Marketplace guidance says broad access to workspace messages or files is unlikely to be approved without a clear use case; some broad scopes receive enhanced review. It also says apps must not expose private information or capabilities to people who lack access in Slack. See Slack Marketplace app guidelines for its platform-specific requirements.
Keep reading and writing as separate choices
Let the agent read only the content it needs. Do not grant posting, editing, or deletion capability just because the app requests it or might use it later. If the platform provides separate action controls, begin with write actions disabled or set them to require approval, then enable only the specific action that the task calls for.
For example, ChatGPT workspace controls distinguish supported read actions from write actions. Its documented “Allow read actions” setting permits reads without a prompt while asking before changes. Which controls appear depends on the workspace and connected app. OAuth permissions granted to a provider and actions enabled in the workspace are separate checks; changing one does not necessarily change the other. Administrators can also separately govern who may use a connected app and when approval is required. See OpenAI’s connected-app controls.
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- AI summary ready before you reach your desk: Auto Transfer moves each recording to the Plaud app automatically, and AutoFlow transcribes and summarizes so your notes are ready before you are back at your desk. Upgrade anytime to Pro (1,200 min/mo) or Unlimited
- Access your AI workspace anywhere: One connected workspace across Plaud Desktop, Plaud Web, and the Plaud mobile app, so your conversations and finished work follow you everywhere
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Require approval for consequential actions
Make confirmation the default before the agent sends information to a new audience, shares private content, changes or deletes a message, changes membership or access, or makes a consequential decision. Reviewing a draft is different from authorizing an agent to send it: check the recipient and the content before confirming. OpenAI gives sending an email and completing a purchase as examples of important actions that may need user confirmation in its agent guidance. Slack Marketplace guidance likewise says AI should not make consequential decisions without human review.
Design for hostile or misleading messages
Treat message contents as untrusted input, even in conversations that otherwise look routine. A malicious message can try to manipulate an AI-connected app into disclosing information the app can read. Slack describes this as a risk of “data exfiltration via prompt injection” in its AI security best practices.
Slack’s example shows how access and outbound capabilities can combine: an attacker’s message manipulates an LLM-backed app into putting sensitive channel history in a generated URL, and link unfurling triggers an external request that can disclose it. Slack recommends validating message sources, not responding to messages from the LLM itself, disabling link unfurling by default for generated URLs, and allow-listing permitted external domains. A system prompt by itself is not a permission boundary; limit what the agent can read and where it can send data.
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Check who handles the data and how
A permission grant says what the integration can access or do; it does not by itself explain how the app developer handles information after access. Review the connected app’s terms for data use, retention, model tenancy, and data residency. For Slack Marketplace AI apps, developer guidance calls for disclosure of model use, data retention and use, LLM data tenancy, and data residency in the relevant Security & Compliance fields, and says Slack data must not be used to train LLMs. These are Slack Marketplace requirements, not a universal statement about every messaging app or agent.
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Slack
Slack scopes authorize particular data access or actions. Bot scopes act as the app’s bot user; user scopes act on behalf of the user who authorized them. In Slack’s documented App Home Messages tab example, chat:write is needed to use the tab, while im:history is needed to respond to messages and is described as optional in that setup. These are implementation-specific examples, not a permission recipe for other apps. Slack also states that adding scopes to an existing token requires reauthorization. Consult the Slack scope reference and the App Home Messages tab guidance for the applicable details.
ChatGPT connected apps and workspace agents
Workspace administrators can control app availability, supported read and write actions, and whether users are asked to approve actions. Workspace agents also have per-agent controls set by their builder. Provider OAuth scopes and the app actions enabled in ChatGPT are distinct; supported options vary by workspace and app. Review both layers rather than treating one consent screen as the whole permission model. See OpenAI’s connected-app documentation.
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WhatsApp AI experiences
WhatsApp’s Help Center search excerpt says a third-party agent can access what a user shares with it and that a message is delivered to the destination chosen by the agent. That limited statement should not be read as a description of every WhatsApp agent or as evidence of its data-retention practices. Review the specific experience’s permission screen and terms before sharing messages.
Reassess access when the task changes
If the agent gains a new responsibility, identify the additional data or action it needs and add only that permission. Revisit the audience, approval rules, and external-access boundary at the same time. On platforms such as Slack, new scopes can require reauthorization; in ChatGPT workspace controls, changing provider OAuth scopes does not necessarily alter the actions enabled for the app.
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