Connectors overview
What each connector reads, how you approve access, how connectors stay in sync, and what happens when you pause, remove or disconnect one.
A connector is an app you link to GuruSup Brain so it can learn from what your team already writes and does there. Once linked, the app feeds one or more sources. A source is anything that feeds Brain. For the bigger picture, see How Brain works and Sources and citations.
Only admins can connect apps and manage sources. Members are sent back to the home page if they open Sources.
Before you start
- You need to be an admin.
- Sources is available once an admin has built the memory. Until then the page says "Available once your memory is built." Build it first from Quickstart.
- You need an account in the app with permission to approve access. For Slack that is someone who can add apps to the Slack workspace. For Notion and HubSpot it is someone who can approve an app in that account.
- Everything a connector brings in uses your usage, the same as an upload. When usage runs out, a banner at the top of the app says so, new items show Paused on Follow ingestion, and they resume by themselves when usage renews or increases. See Usage and limits.
What you can connect
| Connector | What Brain reads | What Brain does not read | Stays up to date? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slack | Messages and file details (name, type, size, link) in the channels and group messages the app has joined, from the moment it posts its notice. Threads, edits, deletions and messages from other apps. | Anything posted before the notice, channels the app has not joined, direct messages, the contents of files, system messages such as joins and topic changes, and the app's own messages. | Yes, as messages arrive |
| Notion | The pages you share, including their properties. Creates, edits, moves, deletes and restores. | Pages you did not share. Attachments are kept as references, not read. | Yes, as pages change |
| HubSpot | Deals, with their linked contacts and companies and the emails, notes, calls, meetings and tasks linked to them (up to 20 of each type). | Contacts and companies that are not linked to a deal. Brain never writes to HubSpot. | Yes, when a deal changes |
| Webhook | Whatever JSON object your own tool sends to the URL, and files you add by hand. | Nothing else. | Whenever your tool sends data |
| Upload files | The files you drop in. | Nothing else. | No. Brain reads them once. |
Slack, Notion and HubSpot ask you to approve access in the app. A webhook needs no approval: Brain gives you a URL and your tool sends data to it.
Who can read what a connector brings in follows categories, like everything else in Brain. A member only gets answers from the categories an admin has granted them. See Members and roles.
How approval works
Slack, Notion and HubSpot connect through the app's own approval screen.
Start from Connect a source
In the sidebar, open Sources and click Connect source. On Connect a source, find the app (use Search integrations if you need to) and click View integration. Click Connect.
Approve in the app
Brain says "Opening authorization for" the app and sends you to it. You leave Brain here. Approve the access the app asks for.
Come back to Brain
The app sends you back to the page you started from, and a message says the app is connected. If the connection failed, a red message tells you why. Nothing is connected in that case.
The approval link expires after 15 minutes. If you come back later than that, Brain says "OAuth state expired. Start the connection again." Start again from Connect a source. The same happens if you use the same link twice: "This connection request was not found or was already used. Start the connection again."
Other messages you can get at this point, such as an account that is already connected to another organization, are listed in Connector troubleshooting.
One external account belongs to one organization. A Slack workspace, a Notion workspace or a HubSpot account that is connected to another Brain organization cannot be connected to yours until it is disconnected there.
How connectors keep Brain in sync
Connecting an app is not a one-time copy. After you connect, Brain picks up new and changed content on its own. You do not reconnect or reshare.
- Brain starts from now. Slack only brings in messages posted after the app posts its notice in a channel. Notion and HubSpot bring in what changes after you connect.
- Existing content comes in during setup, or you choose it. In setup, Notion and HubSpot import everything Brain can reach when you approve access (for HubSpot, the deals that are not archived). Outside setup, an admin opens the connection and, under Choose content, ticks the pages or deals and clicks Import selected. For Notion you can also upload an export of your pages. Slack has no way to bring in earlier history, so it never comes in.
Everything a connector reads then goes through the same steps as any other source. Follow it on Follow ingestion and check each source on Check source status.
More than one account
You can connect more than one account of the same app, for example two HubSpot accounts. Open the app from Connect a source, click View integration and click Add account. Each account gets its own source. When an app has more than one account, the drawer for it lists them under Connections, each with its own status, Choose content and Disconnect button.
Where to manage connectors
Open Sources in the sidebar. The page shows a card for each source, with a status and how much it has given Brain. Three buttons sit at the top:
- Upload files
- Add webhook source
- Connect source
Click Manage on a card to open its drawer. From there you can reconnect, choose content to import from Notion or HubSpot, add data to a webhook, regenerate its token, remove the source or disconnect the app. What the drawer shows depends on the connector. The Sources page is explained in Check source status.
Slack makes one source per channel, so the Slack connection itself does not always have a card. To manage a Slack connection with no channel source yet, go to Connect source, find Slack and click View integration. The same works for any connection.
Remove, disconnect and what stays
| Action | What it does | What it keeps |
|---|---|---|
| Remove source | Takes one source out of Sources and stops Brain collecting from it. For Slack that is one channel. | What Brain already learned from it. |
| Disconnect | Removes the whole connected account, all its sources included. Brain also revokes its access with the app. | What Brain already learned. |
Both ask you to confirm: click once, then click Confirm when the button turns red. The details for each connector are on its page. For what the knowledge looks like afterwards, see Check source status.
When ingestion is paused or Demo Mode is on
A banner on Sources says "External ingestion is paused." or "Demo Mode is active." It adds that existing sources remain available but new external data cannot be added. This affects more than two buttons:
- Upload files and Add webhook source are off.
- In Connect a source, the Connect buttons on the Custom webhook and Upload files cards are off, and so is the Connect or Add account button inside each app's drawer. View integration still opens the drawer.
- In every Manage drawer, the action buttons are off: Connect or Add account, Reconnect, Add data, Regenerate token, Remove source, Disconnect and the Notion export buttons. Choose content and Import selected are off too. Refresh status still works.
- Brain ignores data that arrives while this is on: Slack messages, Notion and HubSpot changes and webhook requests. A webhook request gets a 202 answer with "status": "ignored" and nothing is stored.
Nothing on the page turns this off. Contact support from the banner at the top of the app and ask about your organization.
If a member asks how to connect something
Members cannot connect apps. If a member reaches a connectors page, each app shows Ask your admin where the Connect button would be.
Next steps
Connect Slack
Choose the channels Brain learns from.
Connect Notion
Share pages and bring in what already exists.
Connect HubSpot
Bring in your deals.
Send data with a webhook
Feed Brain from your own tools.
Follow ingestion
See what has arrived and what is waiting.
Connector troubleshooting
Fix reconnect prompts, failed approvals and empty sources.