Cloud
Messaging Channels
Slack

Slack

Messaging channels

Prerequisites

Create a Slack App

If you don't have a Slack app already, follow the steps below to create one:

  1. Go to this link (opens in a new tab).
  2. Select from scratch.
  3. Enter a name for your app.
  4. Select the workspace you want to connect your bot to.
  5. Click Create App.

Et voilà! You have created a Slack app.

Setting up the Slack integration in Botpress

  1. Go to the Integration Hub (opens in a new tab) in Botpress Cloud (if you don't have the integration installed yet).
  2. Find and open the Slack integration then click on the "Install to Bot" button, now go back to your bot.

The Slack integration has the following settings:

  • Enabled: Whether Botpress will communicate with Slack
  • Webhook URL: The URL for receiving data in Botpress
  • Bot Token: The token used to authenticate requests made to Slack
  • Signing Secret: The secret used to verify the requests
  • Bot Name: The name of the bot that will be displayed in Slack
  • Bot Avatar URL: The URL to the bot's avatar that will be displayed in Slack

Setting up Slack

Bot Token

  1. In the left sidebar, click on Features > OAuth & Permissions
  2. Scroll down to the Scope > Bot Token Scopes section, click Add an OAuth Scope. Select chat:write, chat:write.customize and users.profile:read options from the list.
  3. Scroll up and click the Install to Workspace button in the OAuth Tokens for Your Workspace section
  4. In the next screen, your app will request access to your Slack workspace. Click Allow.
  5. In the OAuth & Permissions > OAuth Tokens for Your Workspace section, copy the Bot User OAuth Token.
  6. Copy the token and paste it in the Bot Token input in Botpress.

Signing Secret

The signing secret is used to verify webhook requests

  1. In the left sidebar of the app details page, click on Settings > Basic Information
  2. Scroll down to App Credentials section. Next to Signing Secret, click Show to reveal the secret.
  3. Copy the secret to the Signing Secret input in Botpress.

Save Configuration

Channel configuration is complete, you can now click Save. It is important you save your configuration before configuring the webhooks, otherwise Slack will be unable to validate the webhook url

Webhook Configuration

Events Webhook

Slack sends regular events such as messages to the event webhook

  1. In the left sidebar, click on Features > Event Subscriptions
  2. Turn on events by click the On/Off button
  3. Copy paste the webhook url provided in the channel configuration UI to the Request URL field
  4. Under Subscribe to bot event, add message.im and message.channels
  5. Click the Save Changes button. Make sure your Slack channel configuration is saved before doing this step, otherwise webhook validation will fail
  6. A yellow banner will be displayed at the top of the screen. Click the reinstall your app link
  7. In the next screen, your app will request access to your Slack workspace. Click Allow.

Interactivity Webhook

Slack sends "interactive" events such as reactions to message to the interactivity webhook

  1. In the left sidebar, click on Features > Interactivity & Shortcuts
  2. Turn on interactivity by click the On/Off button
  3. Copy paste the webhook url provided in the channel configuration UI to the Request URL field
  4. Click the Save Changes button

Install App

Add App to Workspace

Your Slack app needs to be added to your workspace to allow Slack users to communicate with it:

  1. In the left sidebar, click on Features > App Home
  2. Scroll down and in the Show Tabs > Messages Tab section, tick Allow users to send Slash commands and messages from the messages tab
  3. In Slack, under the Apps section of the sidebar, click the + Add apps button. In the search bar, type the name of your Slack app. Click on your Slack app in the search results.

That's it, you may now start chatting with your bot on Slack!

Tips

  • To get the Slack conversation ID, you can read the following variable: {{ event.tags.conversation["slack:id"] }}.

  • To get the Slack conversation thread ID (if it is a thread), you can read the following variable: {{ event.tags.conversation["slack:thread"] }}.

  • To get the Slack user ID, you can read the following variable: {{ event.tags.user["slack:id"] }}.

  • To get the Slack message ID, you can read the following variable: {{ event.tags.message["slack:id"] }}.

Slack actions in Botpress Studio

Starting a Conversation Proactively

To start a conversation with a user proactively, you need to know the user's Slack ID.

  1. In Studio, add the Start DM Conversation card to your flow.
  2. Pass the user's Slack ID in the Slack User Id input.
  3. You can store the result of the action in a variable.

Retrieve a Message

To retrieve a message from Slack, you need to know the timestamp and the channel of the message.

  1. In Studio, add the Retrieve Message card to your flow.
  2. Pass the timestamp of the message in the Timestamp input.
  3. Pass the channel of the message in the Channel input.
  4. You can store the result of the action in a variable.

Add Reaction to message

To add a reaction on a Slack message, you need to know the message Id and the reaction name.

  1. In Studio, add the Add Reaction card to your flow.
  2. Pass the message Id in the Message Id input.
  3. Pass the reaction name in the Reaction Name input. (see Slack documentation (opens in a new tab) for more informations on emojis/reactions)

Synchronize Members

This action will synchronize the members of a Slack workspace with Botpress users.

In Studio, add the Sync Members card to your flow.

Reaction Added trigger

You can use the Reaction Added trigger to make actions when a reaction is added to a Slack message.

Get Slack Profile

You can add the below code in an Execute Code card to allow the bot to retrieve the sender's Display Name or E-mail. You can add other properties as per your needs, all you need is to pass your bot's token in the first line. This can add more personalization and customization to your bot.

const botToken = ''
 
const userInfoUrl = 'https://slack.com/api/users.profile.get?user=' + event.tags.user['slack:id']
// Query Slack API
await axios({ method: 'get', url: userInfoUrl, headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer ' + botToken } })
  .then((response) => {
    console.log(response.data)
    user.userFullName = response.data.profile.display_name
    user.email = response.data.profile.email
  })
  .catch(function (error) {
    if (error.response) {
      // The request was made and the server responded with a status code
      // that falls out of the range of 2xx
      console.log(error.response.data)
      console.log(error.response.status)
      console.log(error.response.headers)
    } else if (error.request) {
      // The request was made but no response was received
      // `error.request` is an instance of XMLHttpRequest in the browser and an instance of
      // http.ClientRequest in node.js
      console.log(error.request)
    } else {
      // Something happened in setting up the request that triggered an Error
      console.log('Error', error.message)
    }
    console.log(error.config)
  })
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