Slab

What is Slab?

Slab is a knowledge management platform that helps teams organize and share information through beautiful, searchable documentation. Founded in 2016 by Jason Chen, former engineering lead at Dropbox, Slab was built to solve the problem of scattered company knowledge. The platform emphasizes powerful search, clean design, and integrations that bring knowledge from across your tool stack into one discoverable place.

What distinguishes Slab is its focus on unified search across all your tools. Beyond just searching Slab documents, the platform can search content in Google Drive, GitHub, Slack, and other connected services, providing a single search experience for all company knowledge. This approach acknowledges that information lives in many places and helps teams find answers regardless of where content resides.

Slab serves knowledge-intensive teams who value well-organized documentation and efficient information retrieval. From engineering teams with technical wikis to operations teams with process documentation, Slab provides structure and discoverability that helps organizations scale knowledge sharing. The platform fits naturally alongside existing tools rather than trying to replace them all.

Key Features

• Unified Search: Search across Slab and connected tools including Google Drive, GitHub, Slack, and more from one interface.
• Clean Editor: Beautiful writing experience with markdown support, real-time collaboration, and rich content embedding.
• Topics: Organize content into topic hierarchies with flexible structure that adapts to your team organization.
• Integrations: Deep connections with developer tools, productivity apps, and communication platforms.
• Templates: Create consistent documentation with reusable templates for common document types.
• Verification: Mark documents as verified with expiration dates to maintain documentation accuracy.
• Insights: Analytics showing document views, search queries, and content usage patterns.
• Slack Integration: Answer questions from Slack using Slab content and share docs without leaving chat.
• GitHub Sync: Sync markdown files between Slab and GitHub repositories for docs-as-code workflows.
• Access Controls: Granular permissions for topics and documents with SSO support for enterprise security.

Recent Updates and Improvements

Slab continues enhancing its platform with improved search, AI capabilities, and better integrations.

• AI-Powered Search: Enhanced search using AI to understand intent and surface relevant results more accurately.
• Slab Answer: AI feature that generates answers from documentation to respond to questions directly.
• New Integrations: Additional connections with popular development and productivity tools.
• Improved Editor: Enhanced editing experience with better formatting options and content blocks.
• Performance: Faster search and page loads with improved handling of large documentation sets.
• Analytics Expansion: More detailed insights into documentation usage and team engagement.
• Mobile Updates: Improved mobile web experience for accessing documentation on the go.
• GitHub Improvements: Better sync with GitHub including branch support and conflict resolution.

System Requirements

Web Application

• Modern browser: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
• Internet connection required
• No installation needed

Mobile Access

• Mobile-optimized web interface
• Works on iOS and Android browsers
• No native apps required

Integrations

• OAuth for most service connections
• Admin permissions for some integrations
• GitHub app for repository sync

How to Get Started with Slab

Account Setup

1. Sign up at slab.com
2. Create your team workspace
3. Connect integrations for unified search
4. Create topics for organization
5. Start writing documentation

# Slab uses web-based interface
# Access at your-team.slab.com

# Organization structure:
# Team > Topics > Posts

# Slash commands in editor:
/h1, /h2, /h3  - Headings
/bullet        - Bullet list
/number        - Numbered list
/code          - Code block
/table         - Insert table
/image         - Add image
/divider       - Horizontal line

Connecting Integrations

# Unified Search integrations:
# - Google Drive
# - GitHub
# - Slack
# - Notion
# - Confluence
# - Linear
# - And more...

# Setup process:
# 1. Go to Settings > Integrations
# 2. Click Connect for desired service
# 3. Authenticate with OAuth
# 4. Configure sync settings
# 5. Content appears in unified search

GitHub Sync

1. Install Slab GitHub app
2. Select repositories to sync
3. Configure folder mapping
4. Choose sync direction
5. Markdown files sync automatically

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Unified Search: Search across multiple tools from one interface is genuinely useful for finding information.
• Developer-Friendly: Strong GitHub integration and docs-as-code support appeals to technical teams.
• Clean Design: Beautiful, focused interface makes documentation pleasant to write and read.
• Verification: Document freshness tracking helps keep documentation accurate and current.
• Integration Depth: Connections with many tools beyond simple embedding provide real utility.
• Search Quality: Excellent search results with good ranking and filtering capabilities.
• Simple Adoption: Low learning curve enables quick team onboarding.

Cons

• No Mobile Apps: Relies on mobile web rather than native applications.
• Limited Structure: Simpler than alternatives for complex hierarchical documentation needs.
• Pricing: Per-seat pricing can add up for larger teams.
• Public Docs: Not designed for public-facing documentation publishing.
• Customization: Limited options for branding and visual customization.

Slab vs Alternatives

Who Should Use Slab?

Slab is ideal for:

• Engineering Teams: Technical teams who appreciate GitHub integration and developer-friendly features.
• Tool-Heavy Organizations: Companies using many tools who benefit from unified search across services.
• Documentation Focus: Teams prioritizing clean, searchable documentation without complex features.
• Remote Teams: Distributed organizations needing centralized knowledge with good discoverability.
• Startups: Growing companies wanting simple documentation that scales with the team.
• Knowledge Workers: Teams where finding information quickly directly impacts productivity.

Slab may not be ideal for:

• Non-Technical Teams: Organizations without technical tools may not benefit from integrations focus.
• Complex Structures: Teams needing sophisticated hierarchies or database capabilities.
• Mobile-Heavy: Users requiring native mobile apps for documentation access.
• Public Documentation: Organizations needing polished external-facing documentation sites.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Slab free?

Slab offers a free tier for small teams with limited features including basic documentation and search. The free plan has user limits and restricted integrations. Paid plans starting at $8/user/month add unlimited integrations, advanced permissions, analytics, SSO, and priority support. Most teams find paid plans necessary for full unified search and integration benefits.

How does unified search work?

When you connect services like Google Drive, GitHub, or Slack to Slab, their content becomes searchable from Slab search bar. When you search, Slab queries both internal documents and connected services, presenting unified results. You can filter by source or content type. This means one search can surface a Slab doc, a Google Doc, and a GitHub README simultaneously.

Can Slab sync with GitHub?

Yes, Slab offers bidirectional GitHub sync for markdown files. You can sync documentation between Slab and a GitHub repository, enabling docs-as-code workflows. Changes in either location sync to the other. This is particularly valuable for teams maintaining documentation alongside code or wanting version control for docs.

How does Slab compare to Confluence?

Slab is simpler and more focused on search and clean documentation. Confluence offers more enterprise features, permissions complexity, and Atlassian ecosystem integration. Slab has better unified search across external tools; Confluence has more customization and mature enterprise features. Choose Slab for simplicity and developer focus; choose Confluence for enterprise requirements.

Does Slab have an API?

Yes, Slab provides an API for programmatic access to posts, topics, and users. The API enables automation like syncing content from external systems, creating documentation programmatically, or building custom integrations. API access is available on paid plans with rate limits based on plan tier.

Final Verdict

Slab excels at its core mission: making company knowledge findable and accessible. The unified search across multiple tools addresses a real problem teams face—information scattered across services with no single place to look. For teams using many tools and struggling to find information, Slab provides genuine value that alternatives do not match.

The platform particularly shines for technical teams who appreciate GitHub integration and developer-friendly workflows. The clean interface makes documentation pleasant to write without overwhelming options. Verification features help keep content current, addressing the common problem of outdated wikis.

While Slab may lack the flexibility of Notion or the enterprise features of Confluence, its focused approach serves knowledge-heavy teams well. Organizations where finding information quickly matters will find Slab worth considering. The combination of unified search, clean design, and developer integrations creates a compelling package for the right teams.