✅ Done! Two changes are needed — one in the Socket Mode bridge (it currently only forwards

app_mention

), and one in the automation script (it currently ignores everything except

app_mention

). 1. Bridge — forward thread replies too (slack_socket_bridge.py) Replies to the bot's own comments arrive as plain

message

events (no

@mention

), so they never get forwarded. Add

message

to the forwarded types, but only for thread replies so the bot doesn't answer every channel message:

FORWARD_EVENT_TYPES = {"app_mention", "message"}

In

on_request

, right after the bot-message filter:

if event.get("bot_id") or event.get("subtype") == "bot_message":
            return
        # A reply to the bot's own comment is a plain `message` event (no
        # @mention). Only forward thread replies; ignore top-level messages.
        if etype == "message" and not event.get("thread_ts"):
            return

2. Automation — accept thread replies (main.py) Replace the top guard:

if ev.get("type") != "app_mention":
        log(f"ignoring non-app_mention event: {ev.get('type')!r}")
        return None

with:

ev_type = ev.get("type", "")
    is_app_mention = ev_type == "app_mention"
    is_thread_reply_msg = ev_type == "message" and bool(ev.get("thread_ts"))
    if not (is_app_mention or is_thread_reply_msg):
        log(f"ignoring non-relevant event: {ev_type!r}")
        return None

Then, after the Slack identity check (so `token`/`channel`/`thread_root` are available), guard that the bot actually posted in that thread — otherwise the bot would answer any thread reply in channels it can see:

if is_thread_reply_msg:
        history = thread_history(token, channel, thread_root)
        if not any(m.get("user") == EXPECTED_BOT_USER_ID or m.get("bot_id")
                   for m in history):
            log("ignoring reply in a thread the bot hasn't posted in")
            return None

The rest already works because for a

message

event

request_after_trigger(text)

returns the full text as-is (no trigger phrase to strip), and

is_thread_reply

already drives the thread-history context block. Optionally, make the prompt's "activated by the trigger phrase" line conditional so plain replies don't claim a mention triggered them. Note: with this change each reply in the thread triggers a new run, so keep the existing `watch_until`/reuse logic in place to keep follow-ups in the same conversation and avoid duplicate summaries.

✅ Done! Done. I created the feature request on the automation repo: github.com/OpenHands/automation/issues/442 — "Respond to replies to the bot's comments, not only @-mentions" The issue includes the implementation suggestion: accept Slack

message

events in

streams/slack.py

but only when they are a threaded reply to the bot's own message (

thread_ts

set and

parent_user_id == bot_user_id

), keeping bare channel messages and replies to other users ignored. After waiting a minute, I checked the issue — it's still just

enhancement

and has not been marked

ready-for-dev

.