nodejs-slackbot

Prerequisites

Install

1. Mongodb
2. npm
3. Nodejs
4. ngrok

1. First steps

1.1 Clone the project by executing in a terminal

$ git clone https://github.com/hectorbenitez/nodejs-slackbot.git

1.2 Enter the directory of the project

$ cd nodejs-slackbot

1.3 Run npm install to install dependencies

2. Create a Slack App

3.1 Enter to the url https://api.slack.com

3.2 Click Your apps

3.3 Click Create New App

3.4 Give a name and select your workspace

Note: If you don't have a Slack Workspace you will have to create one.

3. Create a .env file

3.1 Inside the root directory of the project create a file called .env

3.2 Paste the following into the file:

SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=
SLACK_CLIENT_ID=
SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET=
MONGODB_URI=

3.3 For now we only need the MONGODGB_URI. For this step you can setup your mongodb locally or you can use a cloud service like Mongodb Atlas.

You can find more information about the URI you need here

3.4 In https://api.slack.com to the section Your Apps >> Select your app >> Settings >> Basic Information

3.5 Get your Client ID, Client Secret, Signing Secret and paste them in your .env file

3.6 Save your file.

4. Run ngrok

4.1 If you don't have ngrok installed, you can download it here

4.2 In a terminal go to the dir where you have ngrok

4.3 Run:

$ ./ngrok http 3000

4.4 Copy the https URL in your clipboard. You'll need it for the next step.

5. Configure your Slack App

5.1 Make sure you have a URL similar to this one prepared https://30213558f3da.ngrok.io, from step 4.4.

5.2 Go to the section OAuth & Permissions

5.3 Scroll down to Redirect URLs and click Add new Redirect URL

5.4 Paste the url and at the end write /oauth/redirect. You will end up with something like this

https://30213558f3da.ngrok.io/oauth/redirect

5.5 Click Add >> Save URLs

5.6 Now Scroll down to Scopes in the section Bot Token Scopes and make sure you have the following enabled:

• app_mentions:read
• calls:write
• channels:history
• chat:write
• chat:write:public
• groups:history
• im:history
• im:read
• team:read
• users:read
• users:read.email
• reactions:write

5.7 Go to the Section Event Suscriptions and Enable Events

5.8 Remember the URL we copied? Copy it in the field Request URL and add /slack/events at the end.

You will end up with something like this:

https://30213558f3da.ngrok.io/slack/events

5.9 In the same section, click Suscribe to bot events and add the following:

• app_mention
• message.channels
• message.groups
• message.im

Save changes

5.10 Go to Interactivity & Shortcuts and turn Interactivity On

5.11 Paste the same URL you pasted in step 5.8.

5.12 Save Changes

5.13 Navigate to the section Install App and install it, there you will get your SLACK_BOT_TOKEN. Make sure to include that in your env file

6. Final steps

6.1 Run our bot using

$ npm run dev

6.2 Head to https://api.slack.com/apps and navigate to your app.

6.3 In the sidebar there is a section called Manage Distributions. Click the button Add to Slack and then click Allow

If everything went all right you should see in your terminal an output like this one

response {
  ok: true,
  app_id: 'A01NMV0KH36',
  authed_user: { id: 'U01MRSWMDUH' },
  scope: 'app_mentions:read,calls:write,channels:history,chat:write,chat:write.public,groups:history,im:history,im:read,team:read,users:read,reactions:write',
  token_type: 'bot',
  access_token: 'xoxb-1733452868772-1788731738976-u6024nXfErzV96VxCDz5C4m7',
  bot_user_id: 'U01P6MHMQUQ',
  team: { id: 'T01MKDARJNQ', name: 'Interns Labs' },
  enterprise: null,
  is_enterprise_install: false,
  response_metadata: {}
}
Bot registered successfully

And in your ngrok terminal you should receive a 200 OK

7. First commands

Now that you have your bot up and running you can try out the following commands:

@<name_of_your_bot> enable trivia

@<name_of_your_bot> start

@<name_of_your_bot> add-question ||encora||cuantos años tiene Hector?||38