---
title: "Answer your team's questions with an internal helpdesk bot"
description: "Set up a bot that answers staff questions about IT, HR, policies and processes from your internal docs, in Slack, Discord or a private web page."
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/use-cases/internal-helpdesk"
last_updated: "2026-09-25"
---

# Answer your team's questions with an internal helpdesk bot

**Available on:** Standard, Pro, Enterprise plans.

An internal helpdesk bot is for teams whose IT, HR or operations people answer the same questions over and over: how do I book leave, what's the expenses limit, how do I set up the VPN, who approves a new laptop. The bot answers from your handbook, policies and how-to docs, right where people already work, and points them to the right person when something needs a human.

It also helps new starters find their feet without interrupting a colleague for every question, and makes knowledge that lives in a few people's heads available to everyone, once it's written down.

> **Plans**
>
> The Slack and Discord channels and automatic syncing need Standard or above. A password-protected web page works on every plan, and the handoff power-up on Basic and above. Free and Basic include one data source per bot, Standard 3 and Pro 10. See [Compare plans](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/plans).
>
> **Who can do this:** [team owners and admins](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/teams#what-each-role-can-do) set this up.

## What you'll set up

1. **Knowledge sources.** Connect where your internal docs live:
   - A [Notion data source](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/notion) for your wiki or handbook.
   - [Uploaded files](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/files): policy PDFs, Word documents, Markdown.
   - [Manual content](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/manual) for short answers that aren't written down anywhere, such as the IT support hours.
   Turn on [automatic syncing](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/keep-it-up-to-date) so a policy change reaches the bot without anyone remembering to update it.
2. **Instructions.** Write the **Prompt** using the example below. See [Write your bot's instructions](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/instructions).
3. **Channel.** Put the bot where your team asks questions:
   - **Slack:** @mention it in a channel, message it directly, or open it from Slack's assistant sidebar. See [Add your bot to Slack](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/slack).
   - **Discord:** slash commands, @mentions and direct messages. See [Add your bot to a Discord server](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/discord).
   - **A private web page:** share the bot's own page and turn on **Require a password** under **Access control**. See [Control who can use your web chat](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/access-and-security).
4. **Power-ups.** Add [Talk to a human](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/talk-to-a-human) with the IT or HR inbox as the **Notification Email**. To log requests in a tracker, add [Notion](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/notion) or [Call your API](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/call-your-api).
5. **Handoff.** Tell the bot in the Prompt which questions always go to a person, such as anything about pay, a grievance or a security incident.
6. **Analytics.** Read [Conversations](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/conversations) for questions the bot couldn't answer: each one is a gap in your docs. On Pro and Enterprise, [Analytics](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/analytics) shows the most common topics.

## Example instructions

```text
You are the internal helpdesk for Acme staff. You answer questions about IT, HR policies, expenses, office facilities and how we work.

Rules:
- Only answer from the company documentation provided. Link to the source doc when you can.
- If something isn't documented, say "I couldn't find that in our docs" and suggest who to ask: IT questions to the #it-help channel, HR questions to hr@example.com, anything else to your manager.
- Be concise. Staff want the answer, not a summary of the policy.
- For anything about someone's pay, health, a complaint about a colleague, or a suspected security incident, don't try to answer. Offer to pass it to the right team.
- Never ask for or repeat passwords, bank details or other personal data.
```

More starting points: [internal helpdesk prompts](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/prompt-library#internal-helpdesk) in the prompt library.

## Example conversations

In Slack:

> **Staff member:** @Helpdesk how many days can I carry over into next year?
>
> **Helpdesk:** You can carry over up to 5 days of unused holiday, and they must be used by 31 March. Anything above 5 days needs your manager's approval before 1 December. Source: [Holiday policy](https://example.com/handbook/holiday)

> **Staff member:** I think I clicked a dodgy link in an email and entered my password.
>
> **Helpdesk:** Thanks for flagging it quickly. Please change your password now and report it to the IT team, who need to check your account. I can send them this conversation straight away if you give me your work email.

## Pitfalls

- **Sensitive documents in shared knowledge.** Anyone who can chat to the bot can get answers from everything it knows. Keep salary bands, disciplinary records and personal data out. For content only some people should see, use a separate bot with its own access.
- **Treating a password as per-person access.** **Require a password** is one shared password for the whole bot. It keeps the public out, not colleagues who have the password.
- **Out-of-date policies.** Old versions of a policy left in the knowledge lead to confident wrong answers. Delete superseded docs, and nominate someone to own the source docs.
- **Expecting it to follow Slack threads it isn't in.** In a channel the bot only replies to messages that mention it, and it must be invited to the channel first.
- **Low adoption.** Announce the bot in the channels where people ask questions, and share wins when it saves someone time.

## Related

- [Connect Notion](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/notion): Connect your Notion workspace and add pages or databases so your bot can answer from your wiki, handbook or knowledge base.
- [Add your bot to Slack](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/slack): Create a Slack app for your bot so your team can ask it questions with @mentions, direct messages or the Slack assistant sidebar.
- [Control who can use your web chat](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/access-and-security): Password-protect your bot, turn on spam protection, understand where the widget can be embedded and when to allow advanced SDK features.