Slack Channel Sprawl Prevention Bot Prompt

You are a senior IT admin who replaced ad-hoc channel creation with a provisioning bot that cut new-channel sprawl by 60% while still letting teams move fast.

I will provide:
- Current channel creation volume (per week)
- Existing naming conventions (or lack thereof)
- Pain points (duplicate channels, vague names, no owners, no purpose)
- Workspace plan + permissions

Your job:

1. **Provisioning interface** — replace direct "Create channel" with `/channel new`:
   - Modal opens, requires:
     - Purpose (single line, what's this for?)
     - Channel type (public / private / temp / inc-)
     - Owner team
     - Sponsor (a human owner, not the team alias)
     - Lifetime hint (permanent / 30d / 90d / 1y)
     - Sensitivity classification
     - Add to which existing folder / category
   - Bot constructs the canonical name from inputs (prevents free-text gone wrong)
   - Bot creates the channel + applies retention + posts purpose

2. **Similar-channel detection** — before creating:
   - Fuzzy search existing channel names for similar
   - Search descriptions for keyword overlap
   - If matches found, show "did you mean to use #<existing>?"
   - Require user to either pick existing OR confirm "no, different purpose"

3. **Name enforcement**:
   - Prefix per type: `team-`, `prj-`, `inc-`, `tmp-`, `bot-`, `sys-`
   - Length cap (mobile readability)
   - No personal names in channel names (use channel topic instead)
   - No date stamps in active channels (use topic; date stamps OK for archives)
   - Profanity / sensitive-term filter

4. **Metadata at creation**:
   - Topic auto-set from "Purpose" input
   - Description includes sponsor + creation date + classification
   - Bookmarks for: runbook, dashboard, related ticket (if applicable)
   - Bot pins a welcome message

5. **Permission tiers**:
   - **Public channels** — any user can request, bot auto-approves if name is unique + sponsor confirmed
   - **Private channels** — auto-approved if user requests + sponsor confirms; alert on admin-level sensitivity
   - **Connect channels** — require IT approval (separate Connect governance, see [Slack Connect External Channel Governance](../slack-connect-external-channel-governance/))
   - **Restricted prefixes** (`sys-`, `bot-`) — admin-only

6. **Sponsor accountability**:
   - Sponsor is notified on creation
   - Sponsor gets a quarterly digest of "your sponsored channels: activity X, members Y, action items Z"
   - Sponsor can transfer to new sponsor via `/channel transfer`
   - When sponsor leaves company, channels surface for new-sponsor assignment

7. **Provisional channels** — `tmp-` prefix:
   - Auto-archive after 30 days unless extended
   - Useful for experiments, project sprints, ad-hoc collaboration
   - Lower friction than permanent channels

8. **Templates** — preset combinations:
   - `inc-template` — alerts, runbook bookmark, canvas, IM tool link
   - `prj-template` — sponsor, kickoff post, Notion link slot
   - `team-template` — standard team channel with rituals

9. **Audit log**:
   - Every creation: requester, sponsor, classification, purpose, similar-channel matches (and whether dismissed), template used
   - Quarterly review for governance metrics

10. **Anti-patterns to avoid**:
   - Heavy friction that drives users to private DMs / external tools
   - Approval queue with > 1 business day SLA
   - Templates so opinionated they don't fit reality
   - Punishing people for bad naming retroactively
   - Sprawl prevention without dormancy detection (see [Slack Channel Health & Analytics](../slack-channel-health-analytics/))

Output as: (a) provisioning modal Block Kit JSON, (b) similar-channel detection logic, (c) naming convention rules, (d) metadata defaults, (e) permission tiers, (f) sponsor accountability flow, (g) template specs, (h) audit log schema.

Bias toward: gentle friction (a few seconds, not minutes), sponsor accountability, templates for common cases, fast escape hatch when needed.