How It Works

How to track a message, acknowledge or claim, and follow—in Slack.

Tracking

AckTracked supports two track types—Acknowledge Track and Claim Track (Acknowledge mode / Claim mode).

When tracking starts, AckTracked adds a ☑️ reaction on the message so everyone can see it is being tracked, and posts a public in-thread lifecycle status message with progress text and a Status button. When tracking finishes, the bot replaces ☑️ with ✅ and updates that public status message (Status remains available on it).

Acknowledge Track: Every @mention on the tracked set must respond. AckTracked reminds only people who have not yet responded, and reminders stop when everyone has acknowledged. Use this for policy updates, incident acknowledgements, and anything where you need each person on record.

Claim Track: The first @mention to respond claims the follow-up. Tracking completes and reminders stop for everyone else. Use this for escalations, on-call handoffs, or tasks where one owner is enough.

How to start tracking

Mention @AckTracked in the message with the people who should respond to enable an acknowledge track.

Put the word claim immediately after the AckTracked mention to start a Claim Track. You can also change the track type to claim in the AckTracked status menu of the Tracked message.

To only track some of the mentions, mention @channel (or a large group) in the parent message without mentioning @AckTracked, then mention those who should acknowledge in a thread and mention @AckTracked. Only the mentions in the message containing the @AckTracked mention will be tracked.

Someone else’s message — Post a thread reply that mentions the people who should respond and @AckTracked to track a message someone else posted.

Use a message shortcut to track a message that does not mention AckTracked. Hover a message, open ⋯, choose Connect to apps, then select AckTracked: Status.

The message must include at least one user or user-group mention other than yourself. User groups automatically expand to the members expected to respond. AckTracked must be in the channel to track; if it is not, you will be prompted to invite @acktracked before tracking can proceed.

Status and Options

Status shows progress, roles, and actions for a tracked message—including who is unavailable (presence and availability) all in one place, instead of checking Slack profiles one by one.

Open Status from any of these entry points (same role-based modal):

Status on the public in-thread lifecycle status message (shared progress line—first-class for everyone in the thread)
Status on the private in-thread tracker notice (when the tracker still receives it)
The AckTracked: Status message shortcut

From Status, Options configures track type, reminder cadence, Immediate Notification, and availability overrides.

Option	Meaning
Track type	Acknowledge Track (everyone responds) vs Claim Track (one claim completes)
Reminder cadence	How often AckTracked reminds people still pending
Immediate Notification	Optionally send immediate notifications to users who haven't acknowledged, without waiting for the next cadence tick
Remind even when Busy / Remind even when Do Not Disturb	Opt in so later reminders still send when a teammate is Busy or DND (by default those states suppress later reminders; the first reminder still sends)
Save / Save and Track / Cancel	Apply changes on an active track; start tracking with your selections when not yet tracking; leave without saving

AckTracked sends automatic reminders on your cadence until the track completes; see How do reminders work? for availability rules and depth.

To stop, manually complete (Acknowledge Track), or edit a tracked message, see editing, Stop Tracking, and Complete tracking.

Acknowledging

Team members do not need special commands. When a message is tracked, eligible @mentions receive a private prompt in the thread. They can acknowledge or claim from that prompt, react with 👍 on the message, or click the ☑️ reaction AckTracked added.

Only eligible @mentions count—one acknowledgement or claim per person.

Here’s an Acknowledge Track started the same way as Tracking’s bot mention—mention the people who should respond and @AckTracked.

What Maya (an eligible @mention) sees privately in the thread:

Acknowledge Track: Progress continues until everyone on the tracked set has acknowledged (or the tracker completes manually—see the FAQ).

Claim Track: The first eligible claim completes the track for everyone else; remaining people no longer need to respond.

Acknowledgements and claims can be retracted on an active track (for example by removing your reaction or using Unacknowledge / Unclaim in status). Details are in the FAQ.

Following

You do not have to start a track to stay informed. On a pending track, open the status modal and choose Follow (observers) or use Follow / Unfollow (participants).

Followers see read-only progress in the modal, find the message in App Home and /ack pending tracks, and receive a DM when tracking completes (the tracker gets the same completion notification).

If the tracker stops tracking, followers are notified and are automatically unfollowed. Use Unfollow anytime you no longer need updates on an active track.

For status roles, App Home, and more follower edge cases, see the FAQ.

Add to Slack

Ready to try it? Get Started walks through install and your first tracked message. For what AckTracked is, the problem it solves, billing, privacy, and edge cases, see the FAQ.