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slack-bot

This is a simple Slack bot that allows for any number of plugins ("handlers") to be added to it dynamically, allowing it to do any number of totally custom actions by simply adding a bit of code that conforms to a handler interface.

A handler can also be sourced from an external package for extra fun!

Writing a new handler

New handlers can be added to the pkg/handlers module, they simply need to conform to the SlackSlashCommandHandler interface defined in the pkg/slack/bot.go file.

A description of each function of the interface is provided below.

Handle(arguments []string, request SlackSlashCommandBody) (*SlackResponse, error)

This is the primary meat of the interface, and is what the internal Slack bot logic will call when a slash command is received from Slack. A slash command looks a bit like this: /bot-name [command] [args...]

The Slack bot code will call Handle(...) with the [args...] provided in the arguments parameter. The request parameter contains the raw request as sent by Slack in case any of that data is necessary for handling. The SlackSlashCommandBody struct is also defined in the pkg/slack/bot.go file.

Once the requested action has been handled, this function must return either an error or a pointer to a SlackResponse struct, also defined in pkg/slack/bot.go.

The SlackResponse type is simply the object expected by the Slack API as a response to an interaction with the bot. It contains a ResponseType field which should be set to either ephemeral if the response should only be seen by the requester, or in_channel if it should be seen by everyone in the channel. The Text field should be the contents of that response.

Currently, this interface and workflow is simple and optimized for receiving commands and providing a reponse in the channel. In the future, it may be modified to support more complex workflows involving modals or other more advanced Slack features.

CommandName() string

This should return a single word which is the expected command that a user will pass in the Slack slash command to invoke this handler. As an example, for the EchoHandler defined in pkg/handlers/echo.go, the CommandName() function returns echo, which means it will be called when a user types in /bot-name echo ....

CommandArguments() string

This should return the list of arguments this command expects to receive. It is used exclusively for when the bot generates the help text available at /bot-name help.

CommandDescription() string

This should return a short text description of this handler, what it does, and how to use it. It is used exclusively for when the bot generates the help text available at /bot-name help.

Adding a new handler to the bot

Once you've written a new handler, it needs to be added to the initialization of the Slack bot. This is very simple, just go to cmd/slack-bot/main.go and find the CreateHandlers() function. You can call the constructors of your various handlers and add them to the array returned here.

Help text and other conveniences

Once the handler is written and added to CreateHandlers(), no further action is required. Simply build and push your bot, the internal bot logic will automatically handle the new command word and will add a help text for your command to the /bot-name help command.

Creating a Slack bot and connecting it to this code

  1. Create a new Slack bot by logging in to your workpace on the Slack website and then going to the New App page or clicking here.

  2. Go to the OAuth & Permissions section and assign the commands OAuth scope to your app.

  3. Go to the Slash Commands section and create a new command using whatever you want as the command text (typically the app name is a good idea), so that the general flow is /bot-name [handler name] [args...]. Set the URL to the URL that you've set up this Slack bot to listen under.

  4. Wherever this Slack bot runs, it needs its secret Slack signing key in order to properly verify HTTP requests coming from Slack. Fetch this signing key by going to the Basic Information section and copying the Signing Secret to put it inside the slack.signingkey value in the bot's config.

  5. Install the app to your workspace by going to Basic Information > Install your app. The slash command should now be available across all channels in your workspace.