# Install and connect



<Steps>
  <Step title="Get SAM switched on">
    SAM is in beta and enabled per workspace, so the install link comes from us
    rather than an app directory. Book the call at the bottom of this page and
    we'll send it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add to Slack">
    Open the link and approve the Slack permissions. You'll need permission to
    install apps in your Slack workspace.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect Surface">
    You'll land on a **Connect Surface** button. Sign in and choose which
    environment this workspace may read. You can only pick an environment your
    own Surface account already has access to.

    Closed the tab? Open SAM in your Slack sidebar and hit **Connect Surface**
    from its **Home** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Invite it where you work">
    `/invite @Surface Marketing Agent` in any channel, public or private. DMs
    work with no invite.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  SAM is listed in Slack as **Surface Marketing Agent**, which is the handle to
  `/invite` and the name in your sidebar.
</Note>

<Info>
  One Slack workspace connects to exactly **one** Surface environment. Whoever
  connects it grants the whole workspace read access to that environment. App Home
  names them, so it's visible rather than silent.
</Info>

## Slash commands [#slash-commands]

`/surface` is the fallback. &#x2A;*App Home is the control panel.**

| Command                     | What it does                                                        |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `/surface status`           | Which environment, which modules, read-only or writes enabled       |
| `/surface connect`          | Connect, or tell you what to do to switch environments              |
| `/surface disconnect`       | Revokes the Surface grant immediately                               |
| `/surface remember <thing>` | Teach it something without starting a conversation                  |
| `/surface digest`           | Toggle the [weekly digest](/docs/sam/schedules) in this channel     |
| `/surface shared`           | Who can ask in a [Slack Connect channel](/docs/sam/shared-channels) |

Every reply is ephemeral: only you see it.

<SlackThread channel="#marketing">
  <SlackMessage from="Priya" time="11:20">
    `/surface status`
  </SlackMessage>

  <SlackMessage from="sam" time="11:20">
    ✅ Connected to **Acme Production**

    Enabled: Surface App · Surface CMS · Content Analytics & Review

    Writes: enabled
  </SlackMessage>
</SlackThread>

## The Home tab [#the-home-tab]

Click SAM in your Slack sidebar. Everything it will do without being asked is
listed there, with a way to take it back:

* Connection status, the environment, and who connected it
* Which capability modules are enabled
* Starter questions with an **Ask** button
* **What I remember about you**, each with a **Forget** button
* **On a timer**: every schedule and digest, in *your* timezone
* Shared channels you've opened to everyone in them
* **Disconnect**

## Capability modules [#capability-modules]

A Surface admin decides which of these SAM gets. A tool outside an enabled
module is never shown to the model, so it cannot be called. That's structural,
not an instruction it could talk itself out of.

| Module                         | Covers                                                                          |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Surface App**                | Forms, responses, leads, analytics, workflows, lead scoring, and your **Vault** |
| **Surface CMS**                | Content types, entries, assets, scheduling                                      |
| **Content Analytics & Review** | Blogs, the review pipeline, content performance, AI traffic                     |
| **AI Visibility**              | Tracked prompts, cited sources, visibility scans                                |

<Note>
  **Vault has no separate switch**; it arrives with Surface App. It is worth
  knowing about anyway, because it is the one that compounds: SAM reads your Vault
  before it drafts anything, and the **Save in Vault** button under a good answer
  files it back. See [what it remembers](/docs/sam/memory).
</Note>

Whether it can **write** at all takes two yeses: a Surface admin, and the OAuth
grant. Off means fully read-only, and it says so rather than pretending.

## Switching or disconnecting [#switching-or-disconnecting]

Reauthorizing against an existing grant is auto-approved and skips the
environment picker, so to point the workspace somewhere else, run
`/surface disconnect` first, then connect again.

`/surface disconnect` revokes the grant immediately. Uninstalling stops SAM
outright; install history is kept for support, and reinstalling restores the
workspace.

<Cta title="Need the install link?" href="https://app.withsurface.com/book/saharsh-agrawal-scheduler" label="Book a 15-minute call">
  We'll enable SAM for your workspace on the call and send the link while
  you're on it.
</Cta>