cmho/slack-app-template

slack-app-template

Hi there! This is the template app for the Donut code challenge. In addition to this repo, some other configuration has already happened.

You will have been invited to a Slack workspace. An app has been configured in that workspace, which you will be writing the backend for.

You will have received three values from Donut devs necessary to configure your app.

SLACK_BOT_TOKEN - This is the token that will authenticate the requests you make to the Slack API.

NGROK_AUTH - This is the token that will allow you to use an ngrok tunnel with a persistent url.

NGROK_SUBOMAIN - This is the subdomain for the aforementioend persisent url.

Running the App

Without docker

The application assumes Ruby version 2.7.3 & bundler version 2.1.4.

Install Bundler:

gem install bundler:2.1.4

Install all the required gems:

bundle install

Copy the .env.example file.

cp .env.example .env

Open the file in your editor and replace the placeholder Slack token with the one you've received from Donut.

Use the following command to run your app at http://localhost:4567/:

bundle exec rackup --host 0.0.0.0 -p 4567

Visit http://localhost:4567/ to check that it's working.

In order for Slack to send requests to your locally running application, you need ngrok to open a tunnel.

First, we need to authenticate.

ngrok authtoken <your_ngrok_token_here>

This will persist, so you don't need to run it every time you want to open the tunnel.

Next, we have to open the tunnel:

ngrok http -subdomain=<your_ngrok_subdomain_here> 4567

Now, when you visit https://<your_ngrok_subdomain_here>.ngrok.io, or when Slack sends requests to it, the traffic will be routed to your locally running instance of this application.

With Docker

We assume that you already have Docker installed are familiar with it if you are using it as part of this code challenge.

Copy the .env.docker.example file.

cp .env.docker.example .env.docker

Open the new file in your editor, and replace the placeholder values with the corresponding values provided by Donut. You should end up with three env vars defined, SLACK_BOT_TOKEN, NGROK_AUTH & NGROK_SUBDOMAIN.

docker compose build

Install the gems:

docker compose run --rm api bundle install

docker compose up

Now, when you visit https://<your_ngrok_subdomain_here>.ngrok.io, or when slack sends requests to it, the traffic will be routed to your locally running instance of this application.

Testing end to end

Ok! Let's test the Slack app. In Slack, go to the workspace you were invited to for this challenge.

The app is configured with a shortcut. Try typing /dough into the mesage field, or click on the lightning bolt icon to the left of the message field and find the "Dough" app in the menu that pops up. It should send you a message, which is the result of the boilerplate code already present in this repo, at the /interactions endpoint. You should also see log output of the json received from slack on your local machine.

You should be all set to start to work through the project brief! In slack, you have been added to a group DM with some devs who are around to help. Feel free to pop in and ask questions if you are having a hard time getting anything setup, or would like clarifications on the brief.