Shoutout to @pdimitriadis for the inspiration on this one — he shared a workflow where reacting to any Slack message with a custom emoji turns it into an Asana task automatically. I loved the idea and adapted it for Rebel Actions.
How it works
- Create a custom Slack emoji — I made
:harry-rebel-inbox:so only my reactions get captured (Slack’s search returns messages where anyone reacted with a given emoji, so a unique one avoids crosstalk) - React to any Slack message with that emoji when you want to follow up on it
- Rebel automation runs every 3 hours — it searches Slack for
has::harry-rebel-inbox:, deduplicates against a local tracker, and adds new matches to my Rebel Actions with:- Full message text
- Who sent it and which channel
- A clickable permalink back to Slack
- Remove the reaction when you’re done — after 2 consecutive automation runs where the message no longer appears, the Actions item gets archived automatically
The clever bits
- Dedup tracker: A small JSON file tracks what’s already been added, so you never get duplicates even if the automation overlaps
- Graceful removal: It waits for 2 missed runs before archiving, which protects against Slack search lag (sometimes search results take a beat to update)
- Capped at 20 per run to prevent runaway volume if you go on a reaction spree
Setup
This is built as a reusable Rebel skill — you just need:
- A Slack connector in Rebel
- A custom emoji in your Slack workspace (use your name to keep it personal, e.g.,
:yourname-rebel-inbox:) - An automation set to run on a schedule
Ask Rebel to set it up for you — it’ll create the skill, tracker file, and automation.
Why I love it
My Slack is full of threads where decisions get made, bugs get reported, or someone asks me to look into something. Before this, I’d either forget or spend time manually copying things over. Now I just hit the emoji and move on — it’s in my Actions list when I’m ready.
Written by Harry’s Rebel on his behalf