Triage Bot

Triage Bot features workflows where users can generate reports for support requests in Slack public channels. In addition, users can configure channels to receive reports on a scheduled basis. A request is any message that begins with a ⚪, 🔵, or 🔴 emoji. A message with 👀 reaction is in progress. A message with ✅ reaction is done.

Guide Outline:

• Setup
  • Install the Slack CLI
  • Clone the Sample App
• Running Your Project Locally
• Included Workflows
• Creating Triggers
• Datastores
• Testing
• Deploying Your App
• Viewing Activity Logs
• Project Structure
• Resources

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Setup

Before getting started, first make sure you have a development workspace where you have permission to install apps. Please note that the features in this project require that the workspace be part of a Slack paid plan.

Install the Slack CLI

To use this sample, you need to install and configure the Slack CLI. Step-by-step instructions can be found in our Quickstart Guide.

Clone the Sample App

Start by cloning this repository:

# Clone this project onto your machine
$ slack create my-app -t slack-samples/deno-triage-bot

# Change into the project directory
$ cd my-app

Running Your Project Locally

While building your app, you can see your changes appear in your workspace in real-time with slack run. You'll know an app is the development version if the name has the string (local) appended.

# Run app locally
$ slack run

Connected, awaiting events

To stop running locally, press <CTRL> + C to end the process.

Included Workflows

Here is the list of workflows for Triage Bot and steps to create them:

• Triagebot Help: Post a private help message in the current channel.

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/help_shortcut_trigger.ts

• Triage: Post a private triage report for the current channel.

1. create the private_report_shortcut_trigger trigger

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/private_report_shortcut_trigger.ts

2. Save the shortcut URL with name private_shortcut in the url datastore

$ slack datastore put '{"datastore": "url", "app": "app_id", "item": {"name": "private_shortcut", "url": "shortcut url from step 1"}}'

• Triage Publish: Post a public triage report for the current channel.

1. create the public_report_shortcut_trigger trigger

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/public_report_shortcut_trigger.ts

2. Save the shortcut URL with name public_shortcut in the url datastore

$ slack datastore put '{"datastore": "url", "app": "app_id", "item": {"name": "public_shortcut", "url": "shortcut url from step 1"}}'

• Manage Triagebot Configuration: Manage channel configuration for scheduled posts and lookback days for triage requests. To get scheduled posts working, you need to first create private_report_webhook_trigger and add the webhook url to the url datastore.

1. create the private_report_webhook_trigger trigger

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/private_report_webhook_trigger.ts

2. Save the webhook URL with name private_webhook in the url datastore

$ slack datastore put '{"datastore": "url", "app": "app_id", "item": {"name": "private_webhook", "url": "webhook url from step 1"}}'

3. Run the following command to create the post scheduled messages workflow

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/post_messages_scheduled_trigger.ts

4. Run the following command to create the manage configuration workflow

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/manage_configuration_shortcut_trigger.ts

5. Save the shortcut URL with name manage_shortcut in the url datastore

$ slack datastore put '{"datastore": "url", "app": "app_id", "item": {"name": "manage_shortcut", "url": "shortcut url from step 3"}}'

• Triage by lookback days: Post a private triage report in the current channel with the specified lookback days for triage requests. To get this workflow to work, you need to create public_report_webhook_trigger and add the webhook url to the url datastore.

1. create the public_report_webhook_trigger trigger

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/public_report_webhook_trigger.ts

2. Save the webhook URL with name public_webhook in the url datastore

$ slack datastore put '{"datastore": "url", "app": "app_id", "item": {"name": "public_webhook", "url": "webhook url from step 1"}}'

3. Run the following command to enable the triage by days workflow

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/triage_by_days_shortcut_trigger.ts

4. Save the shortcut URL with name triage_shortcut in the url datastore

$ slack datastore put '{"datastore": "url", "app": "app_id", "item": {"name": "triage_shortcut", "url": "shortcut url from step 3"}}'

Creating Triggers

In the previous section we've created different triggers. Triggers are what cause workflows to run. These triggers can be invoked by a user, or automatically as a response to an event within Slack.

When you run or deploy your project for the first time, the CLI will prompt you to create a trigger if one is found in the triggers/ directory. For any subsequent triggers added to the application, each must be manually added using the trigger create command. We were creating triggers manually in the Included Workflows section.

When creating triggers, you must select the workspace and environment that you'd like to create the trigger in. Each workspace can have a local development version (denoted by (local)), as well as a deployed version. Triggers created in a local environment will only be available to use when running the application locally.

Link Triggers

A link trigger is a type of trigger that generates a Shortcut URL which, when posted in a channel or added as a bookmark, becomes a link. When clicked, the link trigger will run the associated workflow.

Link triggers are unique to each installed version of your app. This means that Shortcut URLs will be different across each workspace, as well as between locally run and deployed apps.

With link triggers, after selecting a workspace and environment, the output provided will include a Shortcut URL. Copy and paste this URL into a channel as a message, or add it as a bookmark in a channel of the workspace you selected. Interacting with this link will run the associated workflow.

Note: triggers won't run the workflow unless the app is either running locally or deployed!

Manual Trigger Creation

To manually create a trigger, use the following command:

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/trigger.ts

Datastores

All datastores can be found in the /datastores directory

• conf - datastores for channel configurations.

{
  "channel_id": "C0A1B2C3D",
  "lookback_days": "7",
  "schedule": "0 9-17 * * *"
}

• url - datastores for various workflow and webhook URLs.

{
  "name": "triage_shortcut",
  "url": "https://slack.com/shortcuts/unique_identifier"
}

• done_emojis - ddatastores for emojis that indicate a request is done, in addition to the default list of emojis.

{
  "name": "red-x"
}

• in_progress_emojis - datastores for emojis that indicate a request is currently being looked at in addition to the default list of emojis.

{
  "name": "eyes_right"
}

• urgency_emojis - datastores for emojis that indicate which messages is a request, with their associated urgency levels. in addition to the default list of emojis. Note that emojis are added in the format of :emoji: instead of emoji.

{
  "name": ":white-c:",
  "urgency": 2
}

For storing data related to your app, datastores offer secure storage on Slack infrastructure. The use of a datastore requires the datastore:write/datastore:read scopes to be present in your manifest.

You may also intereact with datastores using the Slack command line interface. Interacting datastores using the slack cli is examplified in workflow creations in the Included Workflows section.

Testing

For an example of how to test a function, see functions/triage_test.ts. Test filenames should be suffixed with _test.

Run all tests with deno test:

$ deno test

Deploying Your App

Once development is complete, deploy the app to Slack infrastructure using slack deploy:

$ slack deploy

When deploying for the first time, you'll be prompted to create a new link trigger for the deployed version of your app. When that trigger is invoked, the workflow should run just as it did when developing locally (but without requiring your server to be running).

Viewing Activity Logs

Activity logs of your application can be viewed live and as they occur with the following command:

$ slack activity --tail

Project Structure

.slack/

Contains apps.dev.json and apps.json, which include installation details for development and deployed apps.

datastores/

Datastores securely store data for your application on Slack infrastructure. Required scopes to use datastores include datastore:write and datastore:read.

functions/

Functions are reusable building blocks of automation that accept inputs, perform calculations, and provide outputs. Functions can be used independently or as steps in workflows.

triggers/

Triggers determine when workflows are run. A trigger file describes the scenario in which a workflow should be run, such as a user pressing a button or when a specific event occurs.

workflows/

A workflow is a set of steps (functions) that are executed in order.

Workflows can be configured to run without user input or they can collect input by beginning with a form before continuing to the next step.

manifest.ts

The app manifest contains the app's configuration. This file defines attributes like app name and description.

slack.json

Used by the CLI to interact with the project's SDK dependencies. It contains script hooks that are executed by the CLI and implemented by the SDK.

Resources

To learn more about developing automations on Slack, visit the following:

• Automation Overview
• CLI Quick Reference
• Samples and Templates