Charlie - 18F's Plastic Pal That's Fun to Be With
A Slack app bot used within 18F for fun and work.
What all it can do
Interactive bots
Coffeemate
Schedule virtual coffees with random teammates! Not sure who you should talk to?
Charlie can help! Say coffee me to get put into the virual coffee queue. As
soon as someone else signs up, Charlie will connect you.
Dad jokes
Charlie can fetch a joke from
Fatherhood.gov to brighten up
your day. Just say @Charlie dad joke to increase your daily joy.
Employee resource group invite requests
To see a list of TTS employee resource and affinity groups that accept automated
invitation requests, just ask Charlie! Say @Charlie ergs and the bot will send
you a direct message listing the groups along with a button for each one.
Clicking the button will send a message to the group letting them know you'd
like an invitation!
Some employee resource and affinity groups are not available by automated
invitation request. To see the complete list of ERGs and contact information,
you can send yourself a direct message that just says ergs and Slackbot will
respond with that information!
Facts
Charlie knows so many facts. Dog facts, cat facts, giraffe facts, dolphin
facts. There are just so many facts. You can just say dog fact (or
giraffe fact, etc.)to get Charlie to share its knowledge with you.
| Key word | What it does |
|---|---|
alan fact |
Shares a fact about people named Alan |
alumni dog fact |
Shares a fact about a dog belonging to a TTS alum |
ask ally fact |
Shares a fact about accessible web development |
cat fact |
Shares a fact about a TTS person's cat |
dog fact |
Shares a fact about a TTS person's dog |
dolphin fact |
Shares a fact about dolphins |
ed simulator |
Shares a quote from 18F alumni Ed Mullen |
giraffe fact |
Shares a fact of dubious truth about giraffes |
minnesota facts |
Shares a fact about the state of Minnesota |
randy fact |
Shares a fact about 18F staff member Randy |
screambot |
Joyfully screams along with you |
wisconsin facts |
Shares a fact about the state of Wisconsin |
Fancy font
Feeling fancy, and want your message to reflect that? Charlie is here! Just say
fancy font <your message> and Charlie will respond with a very fancy version
of your message. So fancy!
Federal holidays
Itching for a day off and want to know when the next holiday is? Charlie knows
all the (standard, recurring) holidays! Just say
@charlie when is the next holiday and Charlie will let you know.
Three-paycheck months
Do you look forward to 3-paycheck months to treat yourself to something nice?
Maybe blue crabs? You deserve nice things, and Charlie can help! Just say
@charlie when's the next 3-paycheck month? (or something similar; Charlie is
not too picky) and it'll let you know the next one up!
Handbook search
Wondering if the TTS Handbook has useful
information for a particular topic but don't want to open your browser? Charlie
can help! Just say @handbook terms and Charlie will search the Handbook for
terms for you (replace terms with whatever you want). If it finds anything,
it'll post links in a threaded response to your request.
HugMe
Need to see a little hug in your life? Friends from TTS past have left us a gift
and Charlie will deliver it whenever you need. Just say @charlie hug me or
@charlie hug bomb <number> to get a little happiness dropped right on your
screen.
OPM's DC offices status
Working in DC and want to know if the office is closed due to snow or, perhaps,
raven attack? Charlie knows all! Say @charlie opm status and it will ask OPM
for the latest information and then pass that along to you. No more having to
open a web browser all by yourself!
Procurement glossary
Not sure what a procurement term means? Charlie might be able to help! Say
@charlie define <term> and it will attempt to look the term up in the
18F Procurement Glossary
and report what it finds.
Pug bot
Do you like pugs? Do you want pictures of pugs? Charlie can help! Just say
@Charlie pug me to get a picture of a cute pug, or @Charlie pug bomb [count]
to get get a bunch of pug pictures! (You can leave the count out; Charlie will
send 3 pictures if you don't ask for a specific number.)
Q-Expander bot
Ever wonder what the Q* initialisms are after everyone's names? Each letter describes where a person fits in the organization. Say qex [q-initialism] and get a detailed tree response back.
For example:
qex queaad
Response:
QUEAAD
|||||└──QUEAAD: Chumanjalaal Cohort
||||└──QUEAA: Engineering
|||└──QUEA: 18F Chapters
||└──QUE: 18F
|└──QU: Office of Clients & Markets
└──Q: FAS (TTS)
Tock line
What Tock line do I bill this project to? Ugh, who can remember? Charlie can!
In a channel, you can say @charlie set tock <number> and Charlie will remember
the Tock line for that room. In the future, if you need to know what to bill to,
say @charlie tock and it will let you know. Handy!
US Code Bot
The law sure is fun, and Charlie can help you look it up! If you drop a citation to the US Code, Charlie will attempt to look it up on the Cornell LII website and post the text in a thread. Handy for you legal eagles!
Zen bot
Say @charlie zen to get Charlie to fetch a product-, techy-, or code-focused
message of zen. Read it, and breathe.
Non-interactive bots
Helpful tau bot
If Charlie sees something it recognizes as a time posted into chat, it will send a message that only you can see, letting you know what that time is in your timezone. Charlie tries really hard.
Holiday reminders
On the business day before a federal holiday, Charlie will post a reminder in #general-talk. Take the day off, don't do work for the government, and observe it in the way that is most suitable for you!
Inclusion bot
Charlie passively listens for language with racist, ableist, sexist, or other exclusionary histories (content warning: the linked document includes words and phrases that the bot listens for, and these words and phrases may be offensive). When it hears such words or phrases, it quietly lets the speaker know and offers some suggestions. What a great bot, helping nudge us all to thoughtful, inclusive language! We also maintain a history of the evolution of Inclusion Bot.
Optimistic / Angry Tock
At the end of the work week, Charlie will send a private message to any Tockable people who haven't submitted their Tock yet to remind them to do it. At the start of the next work week, Charlie will send a message to people who still haven't submitted their Tock. Finally, at the end of the first day of the work week, Charlie will send a message to 18F supervisors letting them know about anyone whose Tock report is late.
Travel team
Did you know that the TTS Travel team takes weekends and holidays too? It's true, they do! And Charlie knows it too. If you drop a question or comment in the travel channel on a closed day, Charlie will remind you that the office is closed and offer some helpful tips to get you through. It will also let you know when the Travel team will be back in the office!
Development
See the wiki for developer documentation and our contributing docs for contribution guidelines
Public domain
This project is in the worldwide public domain. As stated in CONTRIBUTING:
This project is in the public domain within the United States, and copyright and related rights in the work worldwide are waived through the CC0 1.0 Universal public domain dedication.
All contributions to this project will be released under the CC0 dedication. By submitting a pull request, you are agreeing to comply with this waiver of copyright interest.