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Connecting an app links your account on an outside service, such as Gmail, Slack or Notion, to Alpha. You do it once, in Integrations, and the app’s functions become tools for the agent in every session you own, and for the apps and agents it builds. For a hosted server such as Linear or Stripe, see MCP servers. A service with no connector works as a plain key under Secrets.
Nothing is pasted into a message. You sign in or type a key in Alpha’s own forms, and the connection is kept by Alpha and its connector service, never on your session’s machine. If you don’t see an app in the list, it isn’t turned on for your Alpha. Ask your administrator.

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Sign in to an app

Most apps connect through the app’s own consent page, which Alpha opens in a small window.
1

Find the app

Click Integrations in the sidebar. The catalog opens as a dialog on the Connectors tab, where the Connectors sub-tab lists the apps. Type the app’s name in the search box. Inside a session, you can type /integrations gmail in the composer instead, which opens the catalog at that app.
2

Click Sign in

Click Sign in on the app’s card, or open the card and click Sign in in its panel. A window opens on the app’s consent page, for example Google’s.
3

Approve, and let the window close

Approve the access. The window’s last page reads “Connected” and “You can close this window and go back to your chat.”, and then closes itself. In Alpha, the app’s card now shows Active.
If a sign-in doesn’t go to plan:

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Connect with a key or extra fields

Some apps ask for a key, account credentials or a few details instead of a consent page. Open the app’s card to see which form it uses. A few apps need nothing at all: their panel reads “No credentials needed — connect it and its functions are available at once.”, and Connect links them straight away.
The panel shows Connect with an API key. Paste the key into API key, then click Connect. As the form says, the key is “Stored by the connector service, never in a session.”Other apps ask for their key as a labelled field instead. Those use the Extra fields form.
Alpha doesn’t try a key you type against the app when you connect, and Test connection checks only that your account is linked. A wrong key shows up the first time the agent calls one of the app’s tools. Ask the agent to make one small call, such as listing a few items, to check it early.

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Test, check or disconnect a connection

Once an app is connected, its card shows Active and its panel reads Connected. The panel says the app’s functions are now in the agent’s tool list and in every app the agent builds. It starts “Signed in with Alpha’s shared client” for an app you signed in to, and “Linked” for any other.

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When do changes reach my sessions?

A connection belongs to your account, so Alpha updates the agent’s tool list everywhere:

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When the agent asks you to connect

When the agent needs an app you haven’t connected, it posts a Connect card in the transcript with its reason. It doesn’t wait: it carries on with the parts that don’t depend on the app, such as logging emails instead of sending them, and finishes its turn.
  1. Click Connect Gmail. A small dialog opens for that app alone, with a Why the agent asked box above the usual sign-in or key form. Browse all integrations → opens the full catalog instead.
  2. Connect. The dialog closes, and the card changes to “Gmail is connected”.
  3. Click Tell the agent to continue. Alpha sends “I connected Gmail in Alpha — its tools are in your tool list now. Continue.” If the agent is still working, the message reads “from your next turn” instead of “now”, and steers the running turn.
Each open request also sits in a tray above the composer, so it stays in reach after the card scrolls away. A row reads “Connect Gmail · the agent asked for it” with a Connect button. Once the app is connected, the row reads “Gmail is connected · tell the agent to carry on” with Continue. If the tray was showing a request while you connected, Alpha presses Continue for you, once. The × on a row hides it in this browser. In one session, the agent can’t post a card for the same app twice within 2 minutes, and it never posts one for an app you’ve already connected. People viewing a shared session see the cards without buttons, and no tray.

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What if a connection doesn’t work?

For problems outside this page, see Troubleshooting and FAQ.

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Next steps

Use integrations in your app

The two variables your app and its agents use to call what you connected.

MCP servers

Hosted servers such as Linear and Stripe, or one that runs in every session.

Secrets

For a service with no connector: a key the agent reads from its environment.

Post a weekly summary to Slack

Connect Slack and use it from a routine every Monday.