What is ChatOps?
ChatOps is a collaboration model that integrates chat platforms (like Slack or Microsoft Teams) with automation tools, enabling security and IT teams to execute tasks, share updates, and respond to incidents—directly within their team conversations. It brings together real-time communication and system-level operations in a single interface, streamlining collaboration and improving operational efficiency.
With ChatOps, security and IT professionals can integrate the conversations they’re already having with the tools they use to do their work. This enables teams to automate tasks, deploy updates, and gain a shared view of activity—all without leaving the chat window.
The combination of chat-based collaboration and chatbot-powered automation allows teams to:
- Engage in group discussions
- Orchestrate IT and security workflows
- Monitor and act on incidents in real time
This helps teams move faster and with greater transparency, whether they’re deploying patches or coordinating a security response.
The term ChatOps was originally coined at GitHub and is sometimes referred to as conversation-driven collaboration or conversation-driven DevOps. By facilitating timely communication and coordinated response, ChatOps enables organizations to accelerate and improve their security incident handling processes.
How ChatOps works
At its core, ChatOps connects a team’s communication platform with automation tools and security systems. Team members enter commands into a shared chat interface, and a chatbot executes those commands—integrating directly with tools in the tech stack to perform real-time operations.
While gathered in a chat room, team members can type commands that a chatbot carries out using plugins or custom scripts. For example, a security analyst might instruct the chatbot to retrieve vulnerability information or trigger a patch workflow.
The chatbot hands the task off to the appropriate system or team—such as IT for patch deployment—and returns a log of the result directly into the chat window. This enables full visibility into the action taken and allows for immediate coordination of next steps.
ChatOps is especially powerful for incident response orchestration. It can integrate with detection tools and automatically notify the team in a shared chat channel when an anomaly occurs. For example:
An intrusion detection system triggers an alert about a suspicious code deployment at 2 a.m., posting a notification in Slack. A developer replies to confirm it was them, working late from Europe. No escalation is needed. If no one can verify the cause of the alert, the team can investigate and respond from within the chat—without needing to schedule a meeting or switch tools.
By embedding operational commands and alert responses into daily conversations, ChatOps empowers teams to make faster, more informed decisions in real time.
Benefits of a ChatOps solution
As software development teams know, building and deploying an application can be a complex process. With the transparency that ChatOps provides, no one has to wonder who issued a command if a glitch arises, since a complete record of what has transpired is available for all to see in the chat window.
Faster troubleshooting and collaboration
Developers can collectively diagnose and resolve issues as they crop up. Security teams can even designate Slack channel(s) to orchestrate routine tasks, such as routine investigatory follow-ups, alert enrichment, or malware containment, so they can more easily focus on more strategic priorities such as threat hunting and response.
Reduce human error and simplified workflows
Automation enabled within ChatOps can reduce the chance of human error, allowing developers to execute pre-vetted commands with confidence. Team members can quickly issue and fulfill requests without relying on a cumbersome ticketing system.
Cross-team accessibility
Even non-technical staff can use ChatOps to check the incident status without interrupting developers or security personnel—enabling everyone to stay focused on their work.
Real-time documentation and compliance support
ChatOps offers real-time documentation of actions taken, which can help with both workflow optimization and regulatory compliance. Every step is visible and traceable, simplifying audits and reviews.
Support for remote teams and onboarding
ChatOps also streamlines remote team collaboration across remote teams and eases new hire onboarding. With shared channels, new team members can observe workflows, learn tools, and contribute more quickly—regardless of their location.
Culture and efficiency gains
ChatOps strengthens team camaraderie and brings some levity to security and DevOps processes. Plus, with mobile-friendly access, team members can respond to time-sensitive issues from virtually anywhere—whether they’re at a coffee shop or in line for a movie.
Ultimately, ChatOps helps teams accelerate time to market while reducing the time required to investigate and resolve security incidents.
ChatOps best practices for security teams
Looking to bring ChatOps into your security workflows? These best practices can help your team adopt it successfully, avoid common pitfalls, and unlock its full potential.
1. Pick the right tools
Choose ChatOps tools that align with your team’s collaboration, development, and security needs. Not all tools integrate equally—some offer one-way notifications, while others enable full interaction between chat and orchestration platforms.
Ensure your chosen solution integrates with key systems like your security orchestration and automation (SOAR) platform, ticketing system, and monitoring tools so your team can take action directly from the chat interface.
2. Start small
Adopting automation—especially in security—can meet resistance. Start with simple use cases, such as automated lookups or alert notifications, before expanding into critical workflows like automated patch deployment or remediation.
By proving early wins and demonstrating value over time, you’ll build user trust and gain wider buy-in across teams.
3. Use natural language
Design your chatbot to respond to conversational language your team already uses. For example, if someone types “What’s the status of this server?” the bot should interpret the intent and return relevant information.
Natural-language commands lower the barrier for adoption and help your team stay focused on problem-solving—not syntax memorization.
4. Help your chatbot help you
Your chatbot should be intuitive, especially for new team members. Configure it to provide helpful responses when people ask for guidance on available commands or features. Include documentation or links where relevant—and if it fits your culture, a little personality doesn’t hurt either.
The more useful and approachable the bot is, the more likely your team is to rely on it consistently.