Developing Bots for Slack - ConvergeSE 2017

Slack has become incredibly popular, and it provides a new way for developers to build applications, and services. There is a lot of interest in creating for this platform, but there's more to it than just code. The whole process from research, to publishing and distribution will be covered in this session.

Transcript

1. Developing Bots for Slack Nic Rosental • @nicdev ConvergeSE 2017
2. During this presentation • What’s a bot? • How does it integrate with Slack? • Technical details • Publishing 2
3. What is a bot? An application integrated in Slack that responds to certain events, and facilitates a particular function. 3
4. Slack loves developers • Several integration options • Very friendly support, and review process • Continuously improving their offering, and adding new features 4
5. Integration options • Apps vs internal integrations • Incoming webhooks • Slash commands • Bot users • Web API • RTM API • Events API Must read: https://api.slack.com/internal-integrations 5
6. Apps vs Internal Integrations • A internal integration is intended for you and/or your team only. • An app is intended for distribution. 6
7. Incoming webhooks • Simplest integration • Mostly used for notifications • HTTP request with a JSON payload 7
8. Incoming webhooks 8
9. Slash commands • On-demand actions • Submits an HTTP request to your endpoint • Three flavors: built-in, custom integrations, app commands 9
10. Built-in commands 10
11. App commands • POST requests • They can only send requests to SSL endpoints with valid certificates (no self-signed) • Not all users may be allowed to install apps 11
12. App Commands 12
13. App Commands 13 array ( 'token' => 'p4kmwaIEH2fhvWcxK2lpRhhA', 'team_id' => 'T024P6FT6', 'team_domain' => 'epiclabs', 'channel_id' => 'C024P6FTC', 'channel_name' => 'general', 'user_id' => 'U024P6FT8', 'user_name' => 'nic', 'command' => ‘/convergese', 'text' => 'hi everyone', 'response_url' => 'https://hooks.slack.com/ commands/T024P6FT6/93631069287/ vyMFuDw5sv4JA7rF8dUXx9jg', )
14. App Commands 14 public function handle($request, Closure $next) { if($request->input('token') === env('SLACK_COMMAND_TOKEN')) { return $next($request); } abort(403, 'You don\'t look like a Slack instance'); }
15. Bot users • Bots are (mostly) like other users • They can be standalone or part of an application • They have a name and icon 15
16. Web API • HTTP-RPC style • https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage • Uses bearer token obtained via OAuth • During development you can use a test token provided by Slack 16
17. Web API • Outstanding documentation • API tester available 17
18. Web API 18
19. Real Time Messaging API • Based on web sockets • Listen to everything, react to what you want 19
20. Events API • Much less resource intensive than RTM API • Subscribe to only the events you are interested in 20
21. Events API 21
22. SCIM API • Latest of the bunch • Only available to teams in the Plus Plan 22
23. Tools • Botkit • https://howdy.ai/botkit/ • Tons of other clients and libraries • https://api.slack.com/community 23
24. /Lunchbox • A bot that helps you schedule lunch outings. • Originally built in NodeJS, then re- written in PHP/Laravel • Installed by over 1,300 Slack teams 24
25. How it works • A user issues a slash command with one or more lunch spots, and optionally a time • The app parses the command • The app posts a message back as the Lunchbox bot, giving options to the users to pick one of more of the spots • Users interact with the message by clicking on the buttons • The app updates the message to show who’s going 25
27. Nuts & bolts 27 <a href="https://slack.com/oauth/authorize? scope=commands,bot&client_id={{env('SLACK_CLIENT_ID')}}"><img alt="Add to Slack" height="40" width="139" src="https:// platform.slack-edge.com/img/add_to_slack.png" srcset="https:// platform.slack-edge.com/img/add_to_slack.png 1x, https:// platform.slack-edge.com/img/add_to_slack@2x.png 2x" /></a>
29. 29 Route::get('/oauth', ['uses' => 'Auth\OAuthController@oauth']); public function oauth(Request $request) { $queryString = [ 'client_id' => env('SLACK_CLIENT_ID'), 'client_secret' => env('SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET'), 'code' => $request->input('code'), 'redirect_uri' => env('SLACK_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URI') ]; $httpClient = new Client(['base_uri' => env('SLACK_AUTH_URL')]); $response = $httpClient->request('GET', env('SLACK_AUTH_URL'), ['query' => $queryString])->getBody(true)->getContents(); // Get team data from exchaging OAuth code for permanent token $teamData = json_decode($response, true); $team = Team::firstOrCreate([ 'access_token' => $teamData['access_token'], 'user_id' => $teamData['user_id'], 'team_name' => $teamData['team_name'], 'team_id' => $teamData['team_id'], 'bot_user_id' => $teamData['bot']['bot_user_id'], 'bot_access_token' => $teamData['bot']['bot_access_token'] ]);
30. Nuts & bolts 30 Route::post('lunch', ['middleware' => 'slackCommandToken', 'uses' => ‘LunchRequestController@store']); Route::post('button', ['middleware' => 'slackButtonToken', 'uses' => 'RsvpController@store']); /lunch /button
31. Nuts & bolts 31 [ 'token' => 'TvtGRbZxWF5x8yQj8LaGuaxS', 'team_id' => 'T024P6FT6', 'team_domain' => 'epiclabs', 'channel_id' => 'C2S8W8NDS', 'channel_name' => 'connect16', 'user_id' => 'U024P6FT8', 'user_name' => 'nic', 'command' => '/lunchdev', 'text' => 'at burger place, taco place, or the venue at noon', 'response_url' => 'https://hooks.slack.com/commands/ T024P6FT6/94331958849/yFWwkUFOGThrUfSW5as2YQ99'] /lunchdev at burger place, taco place, or the venue at noon
32. Nuts & bolts 32 public function handle($request, Closure $next) { if($request->input('token') === env('SLACK_COMMAND_TOKEN')) { return $next($request); } abort(403, 'You don\'t look like a Slack instance'); } // $request->input('token') is the same as $_POST['token']
33. Nuts & bolts 33 $lunchParams = $request->all(); … $messageParser = new MessageParser($lunchParams); … $messageComposer = new MessageComposer( $messageParser->restaurants, $messageParser->timeSegment, $messageParser->channel, $lunchParams['user_name'], $lunchParams[‘callbackId’]); … $this->slack->webApi('chat.postMessage', $messageComposer- >getMessage());
34. Nuts & bolts 34 [ 'channel' => 'C2S8W8NDS', 'username' => 'LunchboxDev', 'text' => '<!here|here> Friends don’t let friends eat lunch alone. *Organized by*: @nic *When*: noon', 'attachments' => '[{"text":"Pick one or more spots","callback_id":"e5da1240-9736-11e6- be02-7831c1c6b872","color":"#3AA3E3","attachment_type":"default","actions": [{"name":"burger place","text":"burger place","type":"button","value":"burger place"},{"name":"taco place","text":"taco place","type":"button","value":"taco place"},{"name":"the venue","text":"the venue","type":"button","value":"the venue”}]}]' ]
36. [ 'actions' => [ 0 => [ 'name' => 'the venue', 'value' => 'the venue', ], ], ] … 'original_message' => [ 'text' => '<!here|here> Friends don’t let friends eat lunch 'type' => 'message', 'subtype' => 'bot_message', 'ts' => '1477018069.000016', ], Nuts & bolts 36
38. 38 Are you still with me?
39. Tools and Development • Slack instance • Tunnel 39
40. Ngrok 40 $ ngrok http 8000
42. Share the love • Follow the checklist https://api.slack.com/docs/slack- apps-checklist • Make a landing page • Provide documentation (dog food it) • Provide a clear support contact • Use the Slack button • Don’t spam or abuse your users or the platform 42
44. What should I build? https://trello.com/b/HPpcIqd8/slack-app-ideaboard 44
45. Thank you 45 nic@epiclabs.com @nicdev (Twitter and Github) https://speakerdeck.com/nicdev/developing-bots-for-slack