The Slack Harvest integration is Harvest's own Slack app. An Administrator adds it from Harvest's Slack page, and then your team can start and stop timers, log hours, check a teammate's timer and see a project's budget with the /harvest command. Harvest can also send timesheet reminders in Slack. Where it stops: it only does something when a person types a command, one Harvest account links to one Slack workspace, the budget check only works on projects with hourly budgets, and nothing posts to a channel on its own when time is missing or a budget runs low. AI agents do that work.
What a Slack Harvest integration has to do
Your team talks in Slack all day. Harvest holds the hours you bill. When the two are apart, people forget to start a timer after a quick call in Slack, the week's timesheets come in late, and the owner finds out a project went over budget when the invoice is already wrong.
So connected has to mean two things. Tracking time has to be one quick step from the conversation where the work happens. And the right person has to hear about missing time and budgets running low before billing day, not after. Harvest's Slack app does the first part well. The second part is mostly left to a person.
Three ways to connect Harvest and Slack
The first two are Harvest's own. The first one is the main connection.
Harvest for Slack
- How it works
- Harvest's own app in the Slack Marketplace. You click Add Harvest to Slack on Harvest's Slack page and allow access. Then anyone in the linked account can type /harvest start, /harvest stop, /harvest log, /harvest status or /harvest budget in any conversation.
- Good for
- Teams who live in Slack and want to start a timer or log an hour without opening Harvest.
- Where it breaks
- Harvest's guide says one Harvest account links to one Slack workspace, and the other way round. The budget command only works on projects with hourly budgets, and on most projects only Administrators and Managers can run it. Each action starts with a person typing a command, so time nobody remembered to track never shows up.
Harvest's Slack reminders
- How it works
- Once the app is on, people can turn on Message me on Slack under Notifications in My profile. An Administrator can also send the team's timesheet deadline reminders through Slack from Settings, then Preferences.
- Good for
- Owners who already chase timesheets every week and want the nudge in Slack instead of email.
- Where it breaks
- Harvest's reminders guide says you need a timesheet deadline set first, and submission reminders need a plan with timesheet approval. A reminder goes to the person, not the manager, so nobody sees in one place who is still missing time.
A Zapier zap
- How it works
- Zapier can start from Harvest events like New Time Entry, Timer Stopped, New Project or Invoice Paid and post a message to a Slack channel. It can also go the other way and start a Harvest timer.
- Good for
- A team that wants a channel post each time an invoice is paid or a new project starts.
- Where it breaks
- Zapier's page says it checks Harvest for new data every 15 minutes on the Free plan. It posts what happened, one event at a time. It can't tell you what didn't happen, like a person who logged no time today.
Arkeo agents
- How it works
- Agents read time entries, projects and budgets in Harvest every day, message each person in Slack who is short on hours, warn the project owner when a budget is close, and post a weekly hours summary to the team channel.
- Good for
- Service firms that bill by the hour, where a missing timesheet or an unnoticed budget overrun costs real money.
- Where it breaks
- Anything your rules keep for a person, like changing a client's budget or writing off hours, goes to the owner in one message.
How to set up the Harvest Slack app
These follow Harvest's own guide. Open it for the screens.
- 1Sign in to Harvest as an Administrator
Only an Administrator in Harvest can turn on the Slack integration. If you are not one, ask the person who is.
- 2Click Add Harvest to Slack
Go to Harvest's Slack page and click Add Harvest to Slack. Sign in to your Slack workspace if asked, then click Allow. Harvest confirms you are all set.
- 3Turn on Slack reminders
For the whole team, an Administrator sets a timesheet deadline in Settings, then Preferences, and ticks the box to send the reminders through Slack. Each person can also tick Message me on Slack in the Notifications tab of My profile.
- 4
Show the team the commandsType /harvest help in Slack to see all the commands. The ones people use most are /harvest start to start a timer, /harvest stop to stop it and /harvest log 1:30 to add time after the fact.
- 5Check a budget and share it
Run /harvest budget, then select a project. The report shows only to you until you click Share to Channel. Try it on a project with an hourly budget, since other budgets return nothing.
What still has to be done by hand
Harvest's Slack app makes tracking time faster for the person who remembers to do it. The work of finding who didn't, and what that does to the bill, stays with a manager.
It waits to be asked. Each part of the app starts with someone typing /harvest. Harvest's own blog says busy people forget their timesheets, and that when someone is late, you or their manager have to remind them after the fact, which can make for an awkward conversation. A Slack command doesn't change who does that chasing.
Reminders go to the person, not the boss. Harvest's reminders guide says team reminders need a timesheet deadline, and the reminder about submitting timesheets needs a plan with timesheet approval. The reminder lands in each person's Slack. Nobody gets one list of who is still short for the week.
Budgets only show when someone checks. The /harvest budget command works only on projects with hourly budgets, and only Administrators and Managers can run it, unless the project is set to show its report to everyone on it. A project with a money budget that is running over never comes up in Slack.
One account, one workspace. Harvest's guide says you can't link more than one Harvest account to a Slack workspace. A firm that shares Slack channels across two Harvest accounts can link only one of them.
Zaps see events, not gaps. Zapier checks Harvest every 15 minutes on its Free plan and can post each new time entry, but a day with no time entry sends nothing.
The agents that do it
Each agent does one job from start to finish, in your own Harvest and Slack. Your team talks to them in Slack.
Hours get logged while people still remember them.
- Finds missing or short timesheetsevery day
- Reminds the person in Slackby 4 pm
- Tells the team lead who's still missingFriday afternoon
Know a project is over budget before the invoice.
- Checks hours and money spent per projectevery day
- Compares it to the budgetper project
- Warns the project lead at 80 percentright away
No more lost hours at month end.
- Flags missing timeevery Friday
- Adds up billable hours per clientper billing period
- Builds the invoicesame day
Questions
Is my customers' information safe?
Yes. Agents work in your own Harvest and Slack and see only what their job needs. Client details never go into public AI. Agents connect to AI through business-grade connections audited under SOC 2.
Does Harvest integrate with Slack?
Yes. Harvest has its own Slack app. An Administrator adds it from Harvest's Slack page, and then your team can start and stop timers, log time, check a teammate's timer and see project budgets with the /harvest command.
How do I get Harvest timesheet reminders in Slack?
Turn on the Slack app first. Then each person can tick Message me on Slack in the Notifications tab of My profile, and an Administrator can send the team's timesheet deadline reminders through Slack from Settings, then Preferences.
Can I connect more than one Harvest account to one Slack workspace?
No. Harvest's guide says one Harvest account links to one Slack workspace, and one Slack workspace links to one Harvest account. To unlink, type /harvest disconnect in Slack.
What does it cost?
You get the price on the call, along with the hours it saves your team.