Slack PTO tracker for requests, approvals, and who's out

Start with the commands below, then connect your workspace in a few minutes. Admins manage policies and reports in Cabana's web app; the everyday request and approval workflow stays in Slack.

How time off works in Slack¶

Keep requests, decisions, and team visibility in one workflow. Employees submit a form, the assigned approver gets the details, and approved time off becomes visible on the team calendar. Channel announcements then tell colleagues who's away on the relevant dates.

1. Request. Type /pto request, or open Cabana under Apps and choose Request time off on the Home tab. The Request PTO form asks for Leave type, Start date, End date, and Note. Leave the end date blank for a single day, then select Submit.
2. Approve. The manager receives New PTO request from [employee name] in a DM, with the employee, leave type, dates, day count, and any note. Choose Approve or Deny there. Open in Cabana opens the request in the web app.
3. Announce. After final approval, the employee receives a decision message and appears on the team calendar. With channel announcements enabled, their name appears in the relevant daily post or Monday digest. Those posts follow a schedule; approving a request doesn't immediately publish it to the channel.

Use the Note field for useful context such as a handoff, rather than making the manager search through an earlier conversation.

Slack PTO bot commands and actions¶

Give your team this reference on day one. /pto and /cabana accept the same arguments, so either command works throughout. Command replies are visible only to the employee who runs them, even when the command starts in a busy channel.

An unrecognized command returns help. If someone types the wrong argument, they get the supported options instead of a dead end.

Approve PTO from Slack without losing the handoff¶

Make the decision from the request DM while the details are in front of you. The message includes the day count and dates; once you act, its decision buttons are replaced by an approval or denial record naming the person who decided. The employee receives their outcome separately.

Deny records the reason “Denied from Slack.” To give an employee a specific explanation, open the request in Cabana and deny it there with your reason.

For approvals that need another step, your click completes your step and Cabana routes the next one. Time off reaches the team calendar after final approval, so a first manager's decision doesn't prematurely mark someone away.

Keep reporting lines current on Team. When the normal approver is on approved full-day leave, Cabana uses their chosen approval delegate or follows the management chain, then looks for an available admin. It checks already-pending requests every hour too. Half-day and hourly absences don't trigger away routing; if nobody is available, the request stays with the usual approver.

See how approver-away routing works for the coverage settings. Managers can also use one-click email approvals without signing in.

Use announcements for availability, DMs for decisions¶

Put announcements in the public channel your team already reads each morning. Turn on Out today for the daily names-only list, Monday digest for the working week's absences, or both. These updates help an office manager plan coverage without asking everyone to repeat their approved dates.

Choose the channel in Settings → Integrations, then select Save. You can filter announcements by department when you want one team's absences rather than the whole organization. Scheduled posts run in the morning using your organization's time zone and skip empty lists.

For an immediate check, use /pto whosout. For future planning, open Calendar in Cabana and filter approved leave by department or location. Pending requests can appear in your personal Upcoming time off section without appearing on the shared calendar.

Set up your Slack vacation tracker in five steps¶

Start with a Cabana admin and someone allowed to install Slack apps. The connection takes a few minutes once that access is ready. Follow this sequence so employee accounts are linked and the announcement channel is available before the first request arrives.

1. Connect the workspace. In Cabana, open Settings → Integrations and select Connect for Slack.
2. Authorize Cabana. Complete Slack's authorization screen using an account allowed to install apps in the workspace.
3. Sync your people. Return to integrations and select Sync Now. Email matching links existing employee records to their Slack accounts.
4. Invite the bot. Run /invite @Cabana in the public channel that should receive availability updates.
5. Choose announcements. Select that channel, enable Monday digest, Out today, or both, and select Save. Test /pto balance and /pto request with a linked employee.

The permissions support commands, message delivery, member and email matching, and channel selection. The full walkthrough is How to connect Cabana to Slack.

Choose native actions when evaluating Slack leave management¶

Evaluate a time off Slack app by asking someone to submit and decide a real request. A notification is useful, but the next click determines whether the workflow stays in Slack. Use this table for a notification-only integration; interactive HR-suite integrations vary and deserve the same test.

Compare the full workflow in How to track vacation time in Slack, Cabana vs. Vacation Tracker vs. Flamingo, and Best PTO trackers for small teams.

Put your PTO process in Cabana¶

Choose Cabana when your small team wants requests and decisions where conversations already happen. Its PTO tracking software for small teams connects that daily workflow to accruals, carryover, leave types, and reporting.

Cabana costs $4 per user per month, with a $20/month minimum. One plan includes a 30-day free trial with no credit card. A 20-person team pays $80/month. Microsoft 365 teams can choose the complete PTO tracking in Microsoft Teams workflow.

Start your 30-day free trial.