Requesting access to a tool

For: any employee. Takes about 4 minutes.

What this is

Some tools at your company have an access workflow. That's a set of steps your admins put together, like "finish security training, get approval, then the account is created for you." When a tool has one, you can ask for access right from Slack or the tool registry. Stacktic then walks your request through those steps for you. You'll hear back in Slack.

If a tool doesn't have an access workflow, nothing changes from before. You'll see who owns it and who to ask. But there's no Request access button.

Before you start

• Your Slack account needs to be linked to your Stacktic employee record. It usually is already. If it isn't, Stacktic tells you so and asks you to check with your admin.
• Updates come by Slack direct message. Make sure you can get DMs from Stacktic.

Asking in Slack

1. @mention Stacktic in a channel, or send it a DM. Ask the way you normally would: "can I get access to Figma?", "I need a Linear account", or "how do I get access to Notion?"
2. Stacktic replies with a card headed Access to the tool's name. It says what happens next. For example: "Complete Security Training → approval from #it-help → IT sets you up."
3. Click Request access. The card updates to say Request started.

A few things worth knowing:

• Some tools have more than one account, for example one for Marketing and one for Engineering. The card then has a section and a button for each account. Pick the one you need.
• The button only works for you. If someone else clicks it, Stacktic tells them to ask for themselves.
• The button expires after 7 days. If you come back to an old card, just ask again.
• If the tool has no access workflow turned on, Stacktic replies with the regular tool card instead. It shows the owner, admins, and a login link.

Asking from the tool registry

1. Open the tool registry and find the tool.
2. If its card has a Request access button, click it.
3. A dialog explains What happens next: in one line. Then it says "We'll keep you posted in Slack." Click Request access to send it.
4. You'll see Request sent. Click Done.

While your request is open, the card shows Access request in progress instead of the button.

What happens at each step

Your admins pick the steps, so not every tool has all of these. Here's what each one means for you:

There's no "we got your request" DM. The confirmation is the card or dialog you clicked. After that, each update arrives as a new Slack DM.

When the request ends, you get one final message. Your admins can change the wording of most of these. By default it says:

• Complete: "Your request for access to tool is complete."
• Declined: "Your request for access to tool was declined."
• Didn't go through: "Your request for access to tool didn't go through."
• Something went wrong: "Something went wrong with your request for access to tool. An admin can retry it from Stacktic."
• Cancelled: "Your request for access to tool was cancelled."

Sometimes there's a reason. It might come from the person who declined it, a failed check, or an admin who cancelled it. When there is one, it's added underneath as Reason:.

What a failed check means

Training is the only check that can stop your request on its own. The training step looks you up. If it finds no completion that counts, the request ends with "didn't go through." The reason says what to do:

• "Complete Security Training in BambooHR first, then request again." means there's no completion on record.
• "Your Security Training in BambooHR was last completed on 2025-09-01 and has expired. Complete it again, then request again." means you finished it once, but too long ago for this tool.

Either way, finish the training and ask again. Nothing needs to be reset.

The other endings:

• Declined means an approver said no, or the person doing setup declined it. Their reason comes with the message.
• Something went wrong means Stacktic hit a problem it couldn't sort out by itself. One example is not being able to match you in the HR system. Another is the tool refusing to create the account. You don't need to do anything. An admin sees the details and can retry the step.

If your request isn't started

Sometimes Stacktic can't start a request. You'll see one of these instead:

Checking on a request

There isn't a page listing your requests. To see where one stands:

• Ask Stacktic in Slack again. The card shows "You've already asked. Your request is waiting on … " with the step name and "step 2 of 3." That way you know who it's sitting with.
• Look at the registry card. It shows Access request in progress until the request ends.

Frequently asked questions

Can I cancel my request? There's no way to cancel it yourself yet. Ask one of your Stacktic admins. They can cancel it for you.

Can someone request access for me? Yes. An admin can start a request on your behalf. It runs through the same steps, and you get the same Slack messages.

The tool doesn't have a Request access button. How do I get access? That tool doesn't have an access workflow turned on. Contact the admin listed on its registry card, the same way you always have.

How long does it take? It depends on the steps. Training checks and automatic account creation take seconds. Approvals and manual setup wait on a person. Nothing times out. A request stays open until someone acts on it.

See also

• Browsing the tool registry
• Asking Stacktic about your tools in Slack
• Requesting a new tool