# Connect business apps and automate work with SmallForce

Integrations let SmallForce employees work with external applications. A connection represents one authorized account. Events can notify an employee when something happens, while tools perform an explicit provider action.

## Three-step model

1. **Connections:** Authorize the exact external account the organization should use.
2. **Events:** Discover incoming events and configure which employee receives them, with instructions for handling the payload.
3. **Tools:** Search for an action by intent, inspect its input schema, and execute it against an explicit connection.

```bash
smallforce integrations connections connect gmail
smallforce integrations events list --connection <connectionId>
smallforce integrations tools search "send an email"
```

Always resolve connection IDs, event slugs, tool slugs, and input schemas from the current organization. Do not guess provider contracts. Keep event instructions focused on the decision or work the employee should perform.

Slack as an executable external integration is different from the [Slack employee channel](/docs/channels/slack), which is where a team chats with SmallForce inside Slack.