How to switch from Slack to Waffle

The short answer

Creating a Waffle team takes about two minutes. You invite your teammates, recreate the few channels that carry your daily work, and Waffle AI is ready immediately. Waffle does not import Slack history today, so most teams start fresh and keep Slack read-only during a short overlap while conversations move over, then cut over.

You do not have to recreate everything at once, and you do not have to move the whole company on day one. Start with the channels your team actually lives in, bring people in, and let the rest follow.

Before you switch

A little prep makes the move painless. Before you create anything, take stock of what your team really uses.

• List your active channels. Most teams find a handful carry the real work and the rest are quiet.
• Decide who the admins are. Admins create the team, invite people, and turn Waffle AI on or off per channel.
• Pick the channels that matter. You do not have to recreate everything on day one. Start with the few your team lives in.
• Note any integrations you rely on, like GitHub or Linear, so you can reconnect them early.

A simple switch plan

Six steps, in order. Most teams get through the first four in an afternoon and spend the rest of the plan on the overlap.

• Create your Waffle team. It takes about two minutes and needs no credit card.
• Seed your key channels. Recreate the handful that carry your daily work.
• Invite your people. Send invites and let everyone claim their account.
• Connect GitHub and MCP tools like Linear or Jira, scoped per channel by an admin.
• Run a short overlap. Keep Slack read-only for a week or two while conversations move over.
• Cut over. Once the team is chatting in Waffle, set Slack to read-only or archive it.

What you gain

Waffle keeps the team chat you already know, channels, direct messages, threads, search, and voice, and adds a built in AI member that does real work. Instead of a chat app plus a separate AI subscription, you get both in one tool at one predictable per seat price.

• An AI teammate in the room. Mention Waffle AI like any coworker and it reads your files, writes real PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and CSV documents, reads your GitHub code, and runs connected tools. Its reply lands once, finished, with any files attached.
• One bill instead of chat plus separate AI subscriptions. Waffle AI is included from the free plan, so you are not paying for a chat app and an AI add on on top of it.
• One click voice with screen share. Start an audio channel and share your screen without scheduling anything.

The AI is the reason most teams look past a familiar tool. In Microsoft and LinkedIn's 2024 Work Trend Index, a survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries, 75 percent of knowledge workers already used generative AI at work, and 78 percent were bringing their own AI because their employer had not provided one (Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index). Waffle puts a real AI teammate in the room, included from the free plan, so your team does not have to bring its own.

About Slack data export

To be clear about what does and does not move: Slack admins can export their own workspace data from Slack directly, subject to your Slack plan and admin settings. Waffle does not import that export yet, so you start clean in Waffle rather than migrating a history.

In practice this is less disruptive than it sounds. Keeping Slack read-only during the overlap means your old conversations stay searchable in Slack for reference, while new work happens in Waffle from day one. It is also a reason not to rush: move the channels that matter, let the quiet ones retire in Slack, and cut over when the team is ready. Toggling between more and more tools is its own tax. A Harvard Business Review study found workers switch between apps around 1,200 times a day, costing close to four hours a week (Harvard Business Review, 2022), which is part of why folding chat and AI into one tool is worth the short setup.

Frequently asked questions

Can I import my Slack messages into Waffle?

Not today. Waffle does not import Slack history yet, so most teams start fresh. The upside is a clean slate: creating a team takes about two minutes, you recreate the channels that matter, and Waffle AI is ready immediately. Many teams keep Slack read-only during a short overlap so nothing is lost while conversations move over.

How long does it take to switch?

The setup itself is fast. Creating a Waffle team takes about two minutes, and Waffle AI is available the moment you do. The real timeline is people, not software: give your team a short overlap, usually a week or two, to move conversations over while Slack stays read-only, then cut over once everyone is chatting in Waffle.

Can I try Waffle before switching?

Yes. The Free plan includes team chat and Waffle AI with no credit card, so you can create a team, invite a few people, and try it alongside Slack before committing. Paid plans add a 14 day free trial. Nothing about trying Waffle touches or changes your existing Slack workspace.

Do I have to move everyone at once?

No. A common pattern is to move one team or one project first, keep Slack read-only during the overlap, and expand once it feels right. Because Waffle AI is included from the free plan, even a small pilot channel gets the full assistant, so you can judge the difference before rolling out more widely.

What happens to my Slack data?

It stays in Slack. Slack admins can export their own workspace data from Slack directly, subject to Slack plan and admin settings. Waffle does not import that export yet, so you start clean in Waffle. Keeping Slack read-only during the overlap means your old history remains available for reference in Slack.

Sources

Statistics on this page are drawn from these sources:

• McKinsey Global Institute, The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and Productivity Through Social Technologies (2012)
• Harvard Business Review, How Much Time and Energy Do We Waste Toggling Between Applications? (2022)
• Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report (2024)