/template-message-linking

Sample Slack APP that uses the Events API to link to a conversation happening in one channel to another

Primary LanguageJavaScriptMIT LicenseMIT

Message Linking

This app bridges Slack threads talking about the same issue. It makes it easier to follow discussions that might span teams, departments, locations etc.

Workflow

  1. Invite the app to the channels where you'd like to use it.
  2. Share a message from one channel to another.
  3. Now, after there are at least 3 replies under the re-posted message, Message Linking will reply to the original with a link to the new discussion.

Message Linking GIF

What we're going to use

These are the basic components used in the Message Linking app:

• Bolt

• Events API to listen for relevant thread replies.

• A simple regex to detect when messages are shared.

Design assumptions

We made some UX assumptions in designing Message Linking but you can adjust them to suit your needs:

  • No private channels - by default, the app will not link to messages in private channels. It’s both a privacy precaution and a user experience one, since not everyone would be able to follow the link.
  • Three replies threshold - triggering the thread bridge after 3 replies is the sweet spot between making the app noisy and risking missing conversations.

Setup

  1. Create a Slack app at https://api.slack.com/apps
  2. At Bot Users, add a new bot user.
  3. Click on OAuth & Permissions and add the following scopes:
  • channels:history
  • bot
  1. Click 'Save Changes' and install the app to all channels (You should get an OAuth access token after the installation

Run locally or Remix on Glitch

  1. Get the code
  1. Set the following environment variables in .env (copy from .env.sample):
  • SLACK_BOT_TOKEN: Your app's xoxb- token (available on the Install App page)
  • SLACK_USER_TOKEN: Your app's xoxp- token (available on the Install App page)
  • SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET: Your app's Verification Token (available on the Basic Information page)
  1. If you're running the app locally:
  • Start the app (npm start)
  1. Enable the Events API

Enabling the Events API

  1. Click on Events Subscriptions and enable events.
  2. Set the Request URL to your server (e.g. https://yourname.ngrok.com) or Glitch URL + /events
  3. On the same page, scroll down to Subscribe to Bot Events and subscribe to the message.channels

In Slack

  1. Install the Message Linking App on your workspace.
  2. Invite the bot user with /invite @botname to every channel you'd like it to be able to connect threads with.

To test:

  1. Post a message in Channel A
  2. Copy a link to the message and post in Channel B
  3. Reply to the message in Channel B at least 3 times.
  4. Bot should notify back in the original message in Channel A of the activity!