What this workflow does
This workflow posts a Slack message each time a student comments on a lesson in Alva Courses. The message names the student, the lesson and the course, quotes the comment and links to the lesson, so whoever is on duty can open it and answer on the course page.
Only students start it. Your own comments and replies as the instructor never do; they fire a separate trigger, Course instructor reply posted. The fields each trigger sends are listed in Shopify Flow triggers and their fields.
Build the workflow
1. Add FlowBot to a Slack channel
In Slack, create a channel for course comments, such as #course-comments. Open the channel’s details, go to Integrations, choose Add an app and add FlowBot. Without it, Flow cannot post there.
2. Create a workflow with the Course lesson comment posted trigger
In the Shopify admin, open Apps, then Flow, and click Create workflow. Click Select a trigger, find Alva Courses and choose Course lesson comment posted.
3. Add Send Slack message
Add an action after the trigger and choose Send Slack message. If Flow asks you to install or connect Slack, follow its prompts and choose your workspace.
4. Choose the channel
In Channel or member id, enter #course-comments, the channel you added FlowBot to.
5. Write the message
In Message, use Add a variable to build a line such as: New comment on Lesson 3: Mixing greens (Watercolour 101) from Jane Doe, then the Comment text. Put the Lesson URL on its own line so your team can open the lesson in one click.
6. Name the workflow and turn it on
Name the workflow Post new lesson comments to Slack and click Turn on workflow. Alva Courses only sends Course lesson comment posted to Flow while a turned-on workflow uses it, so comments posted before this step are not sent.
Test the workflow
Sign in to your storefront as a test customer, open a lesson, post a comment, then reply to it. Two messages should arrive in #course-comments. If none do, check that FlowBot is in the channel and look at the workflow’s recent runs in Shopify Flow for a Slack error.
Alva Courses also shows what it sent. In Settings → Integrations → Shopify Flow, Course lesson comment posted should show In use, and each comment should appear under Flow activity → Triggers sent.
Close the loop with students
To let a student know when you answer them, see Email students when you reply to their comment, which uses the Course instructor reply posted trigger. For comment alerts by email rather than Slack, see Set up comment notifications.
Alva Courses’ own Flow actions, such as Resend course access email, can follow any trigger that carries a student; each is described in Shopify Flow actions.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-01
Which comments are posted
Every comment and every reply a student posts is sent, whether or not Alva Courses’ own comment notification emails are on; the two work independently. The Is reply field is true for replies, and a comment longer than 2,000 characters is cut to that length.
To post only new threads, add a condition before the action: Is reply is equal to false. To post one course’s comments, add Course ID is equal to its Flow ID, which Alva Courses lists under Settings → Integrations → Shopify Flow, in Course IDs for Flow.