Troubleshoot Claude Tag setup

claude-tag/admins/troubleshooting Changed · +7 / -7 lines

 
 **What it means**
 
-A member selected **Add to channel** on a channel Claude suggested in a direct message. Claude's welcome message, the introduction it posts when a member first opens a direct message with it, suggests a few public channels, each with an **Add to channel** button. Selecting one directs Claude to add itself to that channel.
+Either a member selected **Add to channel** on a channel Claude suggested in a direct message, or the channel's name matches an [auto-join channel pattern](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#block-or-auto-join-channels-by-name) an admin set, and Claude joined the public channel when it was created or renamed. Claude's welcome message, the introduction it posts when a member first opens a direct message with it, suggests a few public channels, each with an **Add to channel** button. Selecting one directs Claude to add itself to that channel.
 
-Claude performs that join with its own `channels:join` permission, so Slack's audit log records the join as the Claude app and shows no inviter; the member's selection is not visible in Slack's log. Claude never joins a channel unprompted. [What the Claude Slack app can access](/docs/claude-tag/admins/for-slack-admins) covers how members add it.
+Claude performs that join with its own `channels:join` permission, so Slack's audit log records the join as the Claude app and shows no inviter; the member's selection is not visible in Slack's log. Outside those two paths, Claude never joins a channel unprompted. [What the Claude Slack app can access](/docs/claude-tag/admins/for-slack-admins) covers how members add it.
 
 **How to resolve**
 
-Nothing is misconfigured, and no setting changed. If Claude shouldn't be in the channel, remove it with `/remove @Claude`, or [set the scope's Claude Tag version to Off](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#quiet-or-remove-claude-tag) so it stops responding there even if it's added again. If you want every join in the audit log attributed to a person, ask members to add Claude with `/invite @Claude` rather than the buttons; Slack records an invite as the inviting member's action.
+Nothing is misconfigured. If an auto-join pattern brought Claude in, review the patterns in the scope's **Advanced** section. If Claude shouldn't be in the channel, remove it with `/remove @Claude`, or [set the scope's Claude Tag version to Off](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#quiet-or-remove-claude-tag) so it stops responding there even if it's added again. If you want every join in the audit log attributed to a person, ask members to add Claude with `/invite @Claude` rather than the buttons; Slack records an invite as the inviting member's action.
 
 ## Guest and shared channels
 

claude-tag/admins/troubleshooting First recorded · 610 lines, first recorded

# Troubleshoot Claude Tag setup ## Slack app permissions ### This workspace's Claude app installation is out of date ### Unapproved permissions requested ### Only Slack workspace admins or Grid org admins can link this workspace ### Missing the required Slack permission (users:read) ### The audit log shows Claude joining channels no one invited it to ## Guest and shared channels ### Claude doesn't respond in channels that include guests ### Couldn't check this channel just now ### This channel is shared across multiple workspaces ### This channel is shared among several Claude workspaces ### This channel is shared across several Slack workspaces ### Claude isn't available in channels shared across your Enterprise Grid ### This channel is now shared across multiple workspaces ## Console errors ### Couldn't load Slack scopes ### The page shows your plan as Free ## Nothing responds ### Claude went silent in one thread, but responds elsewhere ### Claude is silent everywhere on Enterprise Grid ### This workspace isn't set up for Claude Tag yet ### Claude Tag is turned off for your organization ### Claude Tag is unavailable because Routines are not enabled ### Restricted compliance settings block Claude Tag ### Claude is disabled in this channel ## Access and connections ### Claude says a host isn't allowed or it can't reach the internet ### A connection works in one channel but not another ### GitHub doesn't work in this channel ### I hit an authentication error and couldn't finish this turn ### Your Claude account is connected, but it doesn't have access in this organization ## Session start errors ### Still waiting for available capacity ### Session failed to start: the session container never connected ### Something went wrong starting a session ### Channel sessions use the wrong environment, or can't find one ## Related resources

The first capture of this source. The page was already there, and this is what it said.

# Troubleshoot Claude Tag setup

> Error messages from Claude Tag setup and what fixes each. Covers permission mismatches, GitHub access gaps, session start failures, and account errors.

export const BetaNote = () => <Info>Claude Tag is in public beta. Features and behavior described here may change before general availability.</Info>;

<BetaNote />

This page covers errors you might hit setting up and administering Claude Tag: Slack app permissions, guest and shared channels, console errors, channels and threads where nothing responds, access and connections, and session starts. Each entry has the same three parts: what you see, what it means, and how to resolve it.

<Note>For problems people can resolve on their own in a channel, like a missing reply or a thread that lost its work, see [Troubleshoot Claude Tag in channels and DMs](/docs/claude-tag/users/troubleshooting).</Note>

If someone reports that Claude can't reach a service you connected, check two things before anything else:

* The connection is in a [bundle attached to that channel's scope](/docs/claude-tag/admins/attach-to-scope).
* The test ran in a new thread; an existing thread isn't told about a connection added after it started, though the connection works there if the request names the service.

## Slack app permissions

Most errors in this section appear when Claude needs a Slack permission that wasn't part of the app when your workspace approved it. For those, the fix is a Slack workspace admin re-approving the Claude app from [Claude for Slack](https://claude.com/claude-for-slack), which grants the current permission set. Nothing else changes, and existing settings carry over.

### This workspace's Claude app installation is out of date

**What you see**

Claude replies to `@Claude connect`:

> This workspace's Claude app installation is out of date — it hasn't granted the \[permission name] permission(s). I can't create a link code until a Slack admin reinstalls the Claude app or approves its updated permissions. Once that's done, ask me to link again.

Two phrases in the message are links:

* **reinstalls the Claude app** opens the reinstall flow. The fix below starts from this link.
* **approves its updated permissions** opens Slack's Manage apps page for the workspace.

On Enterprise Grid the message names "this Slack organization's Claude app installation" and asks a Slack organization admin to reinstall the org-wide app. The org-wide reinstall works from inside one of the Grid's workspaces with **Install to entire organization**, following the steps in [Claude is silent everywhere on Enterprise Grid](#claude-is-silent-everywhere-on-enterprise-grid).

Sometimes the reply issues a code anyway, with a footnote that the install "is out of date". The reinstall steps below clear the footnote too.

**What it means**

Claude needs a Slack permission that wasn't part of the app when your workspace approved it, so the app was never granted it. Claude can't issue a link code until the updated permission set is approved.

**How to resolve**

A Slack workspace admin runs these three steps:

1. Click the **reinstalls the Claude app** link in the reply, or open [Claude for Slack](https://claude.com/claude-for-slack) and click **Add to Slack**. Don't uninstall first; this installs over the existing app, so your settings carry over.
2. Approve the consent screen Slack shows; it lists each permission being added. If Slack shows **Unapproved permissions requested** instead of completing, see [Unapproved permissions requested](#unapproved-permissions-requested).
3. Run `@Claude connect` again. If the reinstall worked, the reply contains a pairing code (the link code the original message said it couldn't create) instead of this message.

Send that pairing code to whoever runs Claude setup in the console; it expires after 15 minutes. Slack's **Manage apps** page lists the permissions the app requests, not the permissions your workspace has granted, so seeing the missing permission listed there doesn't mean it's approved. The grant happens on the consent screen. For the app's permissions in one place, see [What the Claude Slack app can access](/docs/claude-tag/admins/for-slack-admins).

### Unapproved permissions requested

**What you see**

**Unapproved permissions requested** is a message from Slack, not a Claude reply. It appears in either of two places:

* On the consent screen after **Add to Slack**, including for a workspace admin who approved the app before
* As the pending status on the Claude entry under **Settings & administration** → **Manage apps** → **App requests**, in workspaces that require admin approval for apps

**What it means**

The permissions the Claude app requests have changed since your workspace approved it, and Slack requires a fresh approval for the additions. The consent screen lists each permission being added, so you can review exactly what you're granting before approving; approval applies only to the Claude app already installed in your workspace.

**How to resolve**

A Slack workspace admin approves the Claude app's updated permissions in either place:

* In Slack, go to **Settings & administration** → **Manage apps** → **App requests** and approve the Claude request.
* Or open [Claude for Slack](https://claude.com/claude-for-slack), click **Add to Slack**, and approve the consent screen.

Both paths grant the same permissions, and neither requires uninstalling first.

If the approval worked, `@Claude connect` returns a pairing code without mentioning the installation again.

### Only Slack workspace admins or Grid org admins can link this workspace

**What you see**

Claude replies to `@Claude connect`:

> Only Slack workspace admins (or Enterprise Grid org admins) can link this workspace to a Claude organization. Please ask a workspace admin to mention me with `@Claude connect`.

**What it means**

Slack reports that the person who ran `@Claude connect` doesn't hold the workspace admin role, so no pairing code was issued. This reply is itself the signal, and there's nothing else to check. The Claude Owner role doesn't satisfy the check; it's the Slack-side role that matters.

**How to resolve**

Have a Slack workspace admin run `@Claude connect` instead. On Enterprise Grid, a Grid organization admin works too. If the fix worked, their reply contains a pairing code.

### Missing the required Slack permission (users:read)

**What you see**

Claude replies in the channel:

> Claude can't check this channel for guests because it's missing the required Slack permission (users:read). A workspace admin needs to reinstall Claude to grant it.

If the failure happens while Claude is posting a message rather than replying, there's no fixed message; Claude describes the problem in its own words, and the underlying error it relays reads "message not delivered: Claude can't check this channel for guests because the Slack app is missing a permission (users:read); a workspace admin must reinstall Claude to grant it."

**What it means**

**Allow Claude to respond to guests** is set to **Restrict** for this channel's [scope](/docs/claude-tag/concepts/glossary#scope), so Claude checks the channel for guests before replying, and this install predates the `users:read` permission that check needs.

**How to resolve**

Re-approve the app from [Claude for Slack](https://claude.com/claude-for-slack). Don't uninstall first; the re-approval installs over the existing app. If the fix worked, a mention in the affected channel gets a reply instead of the permission message.

### The audit log shows Claude joining channels no one invited it to

**What you see**

Slack's audit log shows Claude joining a channel with no inviter recorded, and no one in the workspace remembers adding it.

**What it means**

A member selected **Add to channel** on a channel Claude suggested in a direct message. Claude's welcome message, the introduction it posts when a member first opens a direct message with it, suggests a few public channels, each with an **Add to channel** button. Selecting one directs Claude to add itself to that channel.

Claude performs that join with its own `channels:join` permission, so Slack's audit log records the join as the Claude app and shows no inviter; the member's selection is not visible in Slack's log. Claude never joins a channel unprompted. [What the Claude Slack app can access](/docs/claude-tag/admins/for-slack-admins) covers how members add it.

**How to resolve**

Nothing is misconfigured, and no setting changed. If Claude shouldn't be in the channel, remove it with `/remove @Claude`, or [set the scope's Claude Tag version to Off](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#quiet-or-remove-claude-tag) so it stops responding there even if it's added again. If you want every join in the audit log attributed to a person, ask members to add Claude with `/invite @Claude` rather than the buttons; Slack records an invite as the inviting member's action.

## Guest and shared channels

Claude checks a channel for guests and for sharing across workspaces before it replies there. The messages those checks post look alike, but most are refusals and one is a notice on a reply Claude goes on to give. Match the exact message text before changing anything; each message has a different cause and a different fix.

A channel created at the Enterprise Grid organization level rather than inside a single workspace counts as shared across workspaces even when it appears in only one workspace's sidebar, so a channel can hit the shared-channel messages below despite looking like an ordinary single-workspace channel.

### Claude doesn't respond in channels that include guests

**What you see**

Claude replies in the channel:

> Claude doesn't respond in channels that include guests. You can remove the guests from this channel (Channel details -> Members -> filter by "guests"), or a claude.ai organization owner can allow it here.

In the message, "here" is a link to the guest setting described below. The role it names is a claude.ai organization owner, not a Slack admin.

**What it means**

The channel includes at least one Slack guest account, and **Allow Claude to respond to guests** is set to **Restrict** for this channel's scope. **Restrict** is the default.

**How to resolve**

Either fix works:

* Remove the guests from the channel, or move the conversation to a channel with no guests; this changes no settings, so no other channel is affected.
* Or set **Allow Claude to respond to guests** to **Allow** for the scope covering this channel. The setting is at [`claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-tag`](https://claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-tag), on the **Slack** tab under **Claude Tag's access**, in the scope's collapsed **Advanced** section. **Allow** applies to every guest channel that scope covers, and guests there can see Claude's replies and interact with it. To limit it to one channel, set it on the channel's own scope. See [restrict guest channels](/docs/claude-tag/admins/restrict-access#restrict-guest-channels) for the full exposure picture.

**Allow** restores replies, not workspace search. Claude can't search the workspace from a channel that includes guests, even when the setting is **Allow**. Removing the guests restores search as well.

If the fix worked, a mention in the channel gets a reply.

### Couldn't check this channel just now

**What you see**

Claude replies in the channel:

> Couldn't check this channel just now. Please try again in a moment.

**What it means**

Claude couldn't complete its check for guests in this channel; either the guest-policy lookup or the Slack membership check briefly failed, so Claude declined this reply rather than risk posting where a guest might see it. This isn't a configuration error.

**How to resolve**

1. Mention Claude again; the retry usually clears it.
2. If one channel hits this repeatedly, the membership check may be failing on an unusually large channel. Setting **Allow Claude to respond to guests** to **Allow** on the channel's scope removes the guest check for every channel that scope covers, which usually stops the message from recurring; weigh [what Allow exposes](#claude-doesn%E2%80%99t-respond-in-channels-that-include-guests) first.

### This channel is shared across multiple workspaces

**What you see**

Claude replies in the channel:

> This channel is shared across multiple workspaces, and Claude can't verify whether it includes guests, so Claude can't respond here.

The same check also refuses requests made from another conversation, such as asking Claude to post a message in the channel, with a message ending "shared across multiple workspaces and Claude can't verify whether it includes guests".

**What it means**

This message comes from the guest check, not from workspace sharing. **Allow Claude to respond to guests** is set to **Restrict** for this channel's scope, and the channel's membership can't be verified, most often because the channel is shared across an Enterprise Grid organization, so Claude declines.

**How to resolve**

Use a channel that belongs to a single workspace. Setting the scope's guest setting to **Allow** removes the guest check that posts this message, but a Grid-shared channel still doesn't behave like a single-workspace one. When its workspaces connect to different Claude organizations, Claude posts the refusal in [This channel is shared among several Claude workspaces](#this-channel-is-shared-among-several-claude-workspaces) instead of replying. When they all share your one Claude organization, Claude replies with only your organization's default access and settings, described in [This channel is shared across several Slack workspaces](#this-channel-is-shared-across-several-slack-workspaces).

### This channel is shared among several Claude workspaces

**What you see**

Claude replies in the channel:

> This channel is shared among several Claude workspaces, so Claude cannot respond here.

The reply appears only when someone mentions Claude directly, or addresses it in a thread it already joined. Other messages in the channel get no reply at all.

**What it means**

The channel is shared across more than one Slack workspace in your Enterprise Grid, and those workspaces are paired to different Claude organizations. No single organization's settings cover the channel, so Claude declines regardless of the guest policy or any scope setting. Claude also declines when it can't confirm that the workspaces share one Claude organization.

Two similar messages come from different situations. [This channel is shared across multiple workspaces](#this-channel-is-shared-across-multiple-workspaces) is the guest case, and [This channel is shared across several Slack workspaces](#this-channel-is-shared-across-several-slack-workspaces) is the case where every workspace belongs to your one Claude organization, so Claude replies.

**How to resolve**

Move the conversation to a channel that belongs to a single workspace, or to a DM.

### This channel is shared across several Slack workspaces

**What you see**

Claude posts a notice in the thread, then answers the request:

> This channel is shared across several Slack workspaces, so Claude is using only your organization's default Slack access and settings here — not any workspace- or channel-specific repos, instructions, or memory you've configured.

**What it means**

The channel is shared across more than one Slack workspace, and every one of those workspaces belongs to your Claude organization. Claude works there, but only with the access and settings on your [**Default Slack access**](/docs/claude-tag/admins/attach-to-scope) scope. Bundles, instructions, and memory attached to a workspace or to this channel don't apply.

The notice posts at most about once a month per channel, so replies in this channel run under the same defaults even when no notice accompanies them.

**How to resolve**

Nothing is broken. To use a channel's own repositories, connections, or instructions, work in a channel that belongs to a single workspace, or add what the channel needs to the **Default Slack access** scope. In a single-workspace channel, requests use that channel's own configuration and the notice doesn't appear.

### Claude isn't available in channels shared across your Enterprise Grid

**What you see**

You ask Claude to do something that involves a channel shared across your Enterprise Grid, and the refusal names the request it declined and ends:

> Claude isn't available in channels shared across your Enterprise Grid

**What it means**

The request needed Claude to act in a channel that's shared across more than one workspace in your Enterprise Grid. The message appears in whichever conversation you made the request; the entries above cover the replies Claude posts in the shared channel itself.

This refusal covers both sharing cases. Even when the shared channel's workspaces all belong to your one Claude organization and Claude answers direct mentions there, Claude still declines requests made from another conversation.

**How to resolve**

Point the request at a channel that belongs to a single workspace, or move the conversation to one.

### This channel is now shared across multiple workspaces

**What you see**

Claude posts in the thread:

> This channel is now shared across multiple workspaces, so this thread's earlier session can't continue here. Please @-mention me in a new thread.

**What it means**

The channel became shared after this thread's session started, so the session is still bound to one workspace's configuration and can't continue in front of every workspace that now sees the channel.

**How to resolve**

Mention Claude in a new thread; new threads start under the channel's current sharing.

## Console errors

### Couldn't load Slack scopes

**What you see**

A banner at [`claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-tag`](https://claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-tag), on the **Slack** tab under **Claude Tag's access**, reads:

> Couldn't load Slack scopes. Reload the page to try again.

**What it means**

The request that loads your scope list from Claude's backend failed; it isn't a Slack permissions problem, and your configuration is intact. The page shows the error instead of an empty list so that a failed load doesn't look like an unconfigured workspace.

**How to resolve**

1. Reload the page. If the reload worked, the scope list renders. That's the usual outcome.
2. If the banner persists across reloads, check [`status.anthropic.com`](https://status.anthropic.com) for an active incident and try again in a few minutes.
3. If it continues with no incident posted, contact [Anthropic support](https://support.claude.com) with the time it occurred.

### The page shows your plan as Free

**What you see**

You open the admin console expecting your organization's settings and land on your personal account settings instead, showing the **Free plan** and no Claude Tag section anywhere.

**What it means**

You're signed into a personal claude.ai account, which is a separate workspace from your organization. claude.ai sends a personal account to its own settings page rather than to the admin console, so the **Free** you see is your personal account's plan, not a broken admin page.

**How to resolve**

Use the workspace switcher in claude.ai to switch to your organization, then reopen [`claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-tag`](https://claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-tag). If the switch worked, the page shows your organization's plan and the Claude Tag settings.

## Nothing responds

Cut at 300 lines.