Configuring Channels
To configure channels for a team:- Open your team in the sidebar
- Go to Settings → Channels
- Enable and configure your preferred channels
Available Channels
Slack
Private DM experience with your branded help desk agent. Employees can message directly, use slash commands, or post in designated help channels.
Microsoft Teams
Submit requests directly in Teams. Employees can chat with the Serval bot or use designated help channels.
Accept requests via email. Configure in Settings → Channels → Email to set up your support email address. Customize auto-response messages per team or disable them entirely.
Web Portal
Automatically available at app.serval.com. Employees can log in and submit tickets directly.
Channel Comparison
Recommended Setup
For Most Organizations
- Primary channel: Slack or Microsoft Teams (based on your company’s main communication tool)
- Secondary channel: Web portal (always available as a fallback)
- Optional: Email for users who prefer traditional support requests
Multi-Channel Strategy
You can enable multiple channels simultaneously. Serval routes all requests to the same ticketing system regardless of how they’re submitted, so your agents see everything in one place.Email Configuration
For detailed information on email intake, auto-responses, CC handling, subscribers, and sender trust, see the Email guide.Slack Channel Options
Team Inbox
A private Slack channel where all tickets created for your team appear for triage. Two modes are available:- Team Inbox — All tickets for the team appear in this channel
- Team Inbox on Escalation — Only tickets that are escalated to a human agent appear in this channel
Private Internal Notes with Lock Emoji
Members of the Serval team that owns a ticket can add a private internal note to it by replying in the ticket’s Slack thread with a message that starts with the lock emoji (🔒). The message is stored on the ticket as an internal note: it is visible only to members of that Serval team and is not shared with the ticket requester. The leading lock emoji is stripped from the stored note. Keep in mind:- The lock emoji must be the first thing in the message.
- It only works as a reply in the thread of an existing ticket. A top-level message starting with 🔒 creates a regular ticket, with the emoji left in the message text.
- Only members of the Serval team the ticket belongs to can create internal notes this way. If the sender is not on that team, the message is added to the ticket as a regular message.
- Serval controls visibility of the note within Serval, not within Slack. The Slack message itself remains visible to anyone who can see that Slack thread, so use this in team-only channels (such as the Team Inbox) rather than in channels the requester can read.
Manual Escalation from Slack
Escalate a ticket to a human agent directly from Slack without AI involvement. Use the manual escalation button on the ticket card in Slack to immediately route the ticket to your team’s triage queue.Personal help desk in WhatsApp
WhatsApp personal help desk is currently restricted to a controlled Serval internal text-beta cohort. It is not available for customer rollout. Within that cohort, the personal help desk can coordinate several requests in one WhatsApp chat. A conversation can create separate tickets for the appropriate teams, and their replies return to the same chat. Connect Twilio in your organization management team. Open the integration’s Help Desk tab and use Add number in the WhatsApp numbers card. Each connected number shows its routing; use Edit routing on that number’s row to change it. Verification settings apply across the organization’s WhatsApp senders. Configure the sender’s incoming-message webhook in Twilio. If the sender’s routing dialog says WhatsApp personal help desk is paused, Manage in settings opens Personal help desk in organization settings. The shortcut appears only when Personal help desk settings are available to your organization. Saved routing takes effect when you enable the personal help desk and WhatsApp. Use Enable personal help desk to turn requests, follow-ups, and replies on or off for this number. Enabling a new connection requires an explicit routing choice, even when it retains teams from an earlier configuration. Choose All Auto teams to include every team marked Auto, including teams added later. For Specific teams routing, select Add teams to search for destinations. Selected teams appear in a scrollable list below the picker. Environment destinations include their workspace and environment names. Use the remove button to remove a team, then select Save routing to apply your changes. Removing a team also stops follow-ups to its linked tickets through this number. Then open Personal help desk in organization settings, turn on Enable personal help desk and Enable WhatsApp, and save. Return to the Twilio integration’s Help Desk tab. Organization admins configure verification in the WhatsApp numbers card. After you connect a number, the card shows Sender identity verification. Select Challenge and verify to configure Start verification and Check identity, or Verify only to run just Check identity. Both modes let you set Maximum failed checks. Select None to disable verification, then save your changes. Build Start and Check on Organization Management’s Workflows page. Choose enabled, deployed workflows that do not require form confirmation. Start must have no required inputs. Choose a Failure destination team before enabling verification. Search by team name in the picker; choose a standard or environment team in the same environment as Organization Management. Serval rejects a destination in another environment when you save. Approved internal participants need an active Serval account and a matching phone number on their profile. Deactivated accounts cannot use this channel. Send a test message to confirm both incoming messages and replies. A profile match alone does not enable access to the beta. Challenge and verify runs Start before prompting the sender. Verify only skips Start. When Sender identity verification is set to Challenge and verify or Verify only, your first message starts a challenge and Serval asks for the Check workflow’s single required text input, such as a GMIN. Reply with that value; Check must finish within two minutes and return{"verified": true} only after confirming the claimed employee’s identity. After success, Serval replies “You’re verified. How can I help?” Send your support request again to start the conversation. The first message and verification replies are not added to support transcripts. Verification lasts 24 hours for that phone assignment across your organization’s WhatsApp senders; an unfinished challenge expires after one hour and the next message starts a fresh challenge.
If Start fails, Check is unavailable, or the sender reaches Maximum failed checks (three by default), Serval creates a human-support ticket with AI and creation automation disabled and notifies the sender. The ticket identifies the unverified sender and claimed employee, without their verification reply. Agents can reply over WhatsApp, but must verify identity before sharing employee information or taking action. Later inbound messages start a fresh challenge and are not appended to the handoff ticket. Reassigning a phone number blocks replies from its old handoff ticket. Changing or re-adding a phone number requires fresh verification. Disabling the policy bypasses verification without marking the number as verified.
While verification is enabled, a number unknown to your organization creates a system-owned human-support ticket. Serval includes the messages, disables AI and creation automation, and tells the sender that a person will follow up. Later messages append to that open ticket; a message after it closes creates a new ticket. If you reopen an older ticket, new messages continue on the newest open ticket. When verification is off, unknown numbers receive no reply and create no ticket. It does not link the number to an employee or grant verification.
The Failure destination team receives tickets for failed verification, unavailable verification workflows, and unknown senders. That team’s custom escalation workflow, configured in Assignment preferences, runs on each new handoff ticket. These tickets have a system requester; the claimed employee’s identity is unverified. Other creation automation stays disabled. As a defensive fallback, if an existing destination belongs to a different environment from the receiving WhatsApp connection, Serval creates the ticket in the connection team and uses that team’s escalation workflow. Changing the destination does not move existing tickets or interrupt unknown-sender follow-ups.
Check must be an enabled, deployed workflow in the organization management team with exactly one required string parameter and no form confirmation. Its field label determines the prompt, falling back to the field name. Verification values are passed directly to the workflow and are not stored in the help desk database. Workflow-service input retention is separate.
This beta supports text messages. Use the ticket link to upload files, complete
forms, or review workflow approvals. WhatsApp feedback prompts are not supported.
Serval can send freeform replies within 24 hours of your latest message. A reply
that arrives later waits until you send another message.
Channel-Specific Guides
Slack Setup
Complete guide to configuring Slack channels, DMs, and slash commands
Using Serval in Slack
End-user guide for all Slack interaction methods
Teams Setup
Complete guide to configuring Teams channels and DMs
Using Serval in Teams
End user guide for all Teams interaction methods
Next Steps
After configuring your channels:- Test each channel — Submit a test request through each enabled channel
- Train your team — Share the End User Guide with employees
- Monitor adoption — Check which channels employees prefer and adjust accordingly
Welcome Message Template
Below is a template your admin can customize and send to employees when introducing Serval:Admins: Copy and customize this message for your Slack announcement or email.