Deal Exemption Bot

An AI-powered Slack bot that streamlines the deal exemption request process for sales teams. Built with n8n, Claude AI, HubSpot CRM, and the Slack API.

Sales reps use a Slack slash command to submit deal exemption requests. The bot:

1. Corrects typos in company names using Claude AI (e.g., /deal-ex wlls fargo → suggests "Wells Fargo")
2. Pulls live deal data from HubSpot CRM to populate a modal form
3. Routes requests to the appropriate approver via a structured Slack card
4. Handles approvals/denials and notifies the original submitter in-thread

No more copying deal IDs from HubSpot or hunting down approvers manually — the whole flow is async and lives inside Slack.

Slack Slash Command
      │
      ▼
 [Router Workflow]
  ├── Is it a slash command?  ──► [Intake Handler Workflow]
  └── Is it a button click?   ──►   ├── Show loading modal
                                    ├── Query HubSpot for deals
                                    ├── Claude corrects typo (if needed)
                                    ├── Build & open deal form modal
                                    └── On submit → [Card Builder AI]
                                                        │
                                                        ▼
                                               [Approver Card posted]
                                                        │
                                          ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
                                          ▼                           ▼
                               [Deal Exemption Handler]    [Deal Exemption Handler]
                                    (Approved)                  (Denied)
                                          │                           │
                                          ▼                           ▼
                               Notify submitter                Notify submitter
                               + update HubSpot               + close thread

The bot is split into 6 interconnected n8n workflows:

Entry point for all Slack events. Handles both slash commands and Block Kit button interactions. Routes to the correct downstream workflow based on payload.type.

Key logic:

// Handles both slash commands and block_actions (button clicks)
if (body.payload) {
  const decoded = decodeURIComponent(body.payload);
  payload = JSON.parse(decoded);
} else if (body.command) {
  payload = { type: 'slash_command', ... };
}

// True if a "did you mean?" suggestion button was clicked
const isAccountSelected =
  payload.type === 'block_actions' &&
  payload.actions?.[0]?.action_id === 'deal_exemption_typo_select';

Note on Slack webhook routing: Slack has two separate URL settings — one for slash commands (under "Slash Commands") and one for all interactive components like button clicks (under "Interactivity & Shortcuts"). Both must point to the same n8n webhook URL.

Core orchestration workflow. Called by the Router; runs the full intake flow.

Steps:

1. ACK Slack's webhook immediately (Slack requires a response within 3 seconds)
2. Open a loading modal via views.open
3. Search HubSpot for deals matching the submitted company name
4. If no exact match → call Claude to suggest corrections → show "Did you mean?" modal
5. If match found → fetch all open deals for that company → build the exemption form modal
6. Replace loading modal with the form via views.update

Typo correction prompt (sent to Claude):

You are a company name corrector. The user typed: "{{searchTerm}}"
Here are real company names from our CRM: {{companiesList}}

Return JSON: { "bestMatch": "CompanyName", "confidence": 0.0-1.0, "suggestions": ["Name1", "Name2"] }
Only suggest names with confidence > 0.7. If nothing fits, return bestMatch: null.

ACK pattern (critical for Slack's 3-second limit):

// Workflow 1: ACK immediately, return 200
$respondToWebhook({ body: '' });

// Workflow 2: Spin up async sub-workflow (waitForSubWorkflow: false)
// This is the key — the main workflow exits; sub-workflow runs independently

Called after the user submits the exemption form. Uses Claude to generate a structured approval card.

Claude receives the form data and outputs structured JSON:

{
  verifiedAccountName: "Wells Fargo",
  dealName: "Wells Fargo - Enterprise 2026",
  requestedDiscount: "15%",
  justification: "Competitive pressure from Salesforce",
  riskAssessment: "Low — existing 3-year relationship",
  recommendation: "Approve"
}

The card is then posted to the deal desk Slack channel using Block Kit with Approve/Deny buttons.

Handles approver button clicks on the card. Validates that only authorized approvers can act, then:

• Posts a threaded reply notifying the submitter
• (On approval) Updates the relevant HubSpot deal property
• Closes the approval card by updating the message blocks

Approver guard:

const allowedApprovers = [process.env.APPROVER_SLACK_ID];
if (!allowedApprovers.includes(actionUserId)) {
  // Post ephemeral error — only the clicker sees it
  return;
}

Separate utility workflow that cross-references a renewal tracking spreadsheet against HubSpot deals. Flags deals where the contract renewal date is approaching but no renewal deal exists in the CRM.

Keeps Google Drive organized by syncing deal folder names with HubSpot deal names. Runs on a schedule and renames folders when deal names change in HubSpot.

views.open  (loading modal)
    │
    ├── HubSpot + Claude run async
    │
views.update (replace with real form OR "did you mean?" suggestions)
    │
    └── User submits → views_submission event → Card Builder AI

When adding new HTTP Request nodes in n8n that call the Slack API, credentials must be manually assigned in the node UI — they are not automatically inherited from similar nodes in the same workflow. Best practice: reuse existing nodes with working credentials rather than adding new ones.

The HubSpot Associations API returns all associated deals, including closed-won and closed-lost. The form dropdown filters these out to show only open/active deals. Keep this filter consistent across any node that counts or displays deals to avoid mismatches.

• n8n cloud account (or self-hosted instance)
• Slack app with the following permissions:
  • commands (slash command)
  • chat:write
  • views:open, views:update
  • users:read
• HubSpot private app with CRM read access
• Anthropic API key

See .env.example for all required configuration.

1. Create a Slack app at api.slack.com/apps
2. Add a slash command pointing to your n8n webhook URL
3. Important: Also set the Interactivity & Shortcuts Request URL to the same webhook. This is a separate setting and is required for button clicks to work.
4. Install the app to your workspace

.
├── README.md
├── .env.example
├── workflows/
│   ├── router.js              # Payload parsing + routing logic
│   ├── intake-handler.js      # Core intake flow (modal + HubSpot + Claude)
│   ├── card-builder-ai.js     # AI card generation
│   └── exemption-handler.js   # Approval/denial handling
├── docs/
│   ├── architecture.md        # Detailed system design
│   ├── slack-setup.md         # Step-by-step Slack app config
│   └── hubspot-api-notes.md   # HubSpot API quirks and workarounds
└── examples/
    ├── modal-blocks.json       # Example Block Kit modal payload
    └── card-blocks.json        # Example approval card payload

• Slack's 3-second ACK window requires a specific async dispatch pattern in n8n — the router must respond immediately while a sub-workflow handles the heavy lifting independently.
• Block Kit modal state machine — views.open → views.update → views_submission is a strict three-phase lifecycle; any deviation (wrong trigger_id, expired token) silently fails.
• Two separate Slack webhook URLs — slash commands and interactive components (buttons, modals) each have their own URL field in Slack app settings. This is not obvious from the docs.
• Claude for fuzzy matching — using Claude as a fuzzy company-name corrector is far more robust than Levenshtein distance for real sales data with abbreviations, punctuation differences, and legal entity variations.
• n8n sub-workflow async — waitForSubWorkflow: false is essential when you need to respond to Slack within 3s but the actual work takes 5-10s.

Ricardo Guardado — linkedin.com/in/ricardoguardado · github.com/RicardoG2005

Built during an internship at Lovable on the Revenue Operations team.