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Slackbot Agent

Build intelligent Slack bots that can respond to messages, handle mentions, and execute tasks.

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Quick Start

import { Agent, createSlackBot } from 'praisonai-ts';

// Create an agent
const agent = new Agent({
  name: 'SlackAssistant',
  instructions: 'You are a helpful Slack assistant.',
});

// Create Slack bot
const bot = createSlackBot({
  botToken: process.env.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN!,
  signingSecret: process.env.SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET!,
});

// Handle messages
bot.onMessage(async (message) => {
  const response = await agent.chat(message.text);
  return { text: response, threadTs: message.ts };
});

// Start the bot
bot.listen(3000);

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Configuration

import { createSlackBot } from 'praisonai-ts';

const bot = createSlackBot({
  // Required
  botToken: process.env.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN!,
  
  // For webhook mode (recommended for production)
  signingSecret: process.env.SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET!,
  
  // For Socket Mode (development)
  appToken: process.env.SLACK_APP_TOKEN,
  socketMode: true,
});

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Event Handlers

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Message Handler

bot.onMessage(async (message) => {
  // message.channel - Channel ID
  // message.user - User ID
  // message.text - Message text
  // message.ts - Timestamp
  // message.threadTs - Thread timestamp (if in thread)
  
  const response = await agent.chat(message.text);
  
  return {
    text: response,
    threadTs: message.ts, // Reply in thread
  };
});

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App Mention Handler

bot.onAppMention(async (message) => {
  // Triggered when bot is @mentioned
  const response = await agent.chat(message.text);
  return { text: response };
});

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Reaction Handler

bot.onReactionAdded(async (event) => {
  if (event.reaction === 'eyes') {
    // Process message when 👀 reaction is added
    console.log('Processing message:', event.item.ts);
  }
});

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Rich Responses

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With Blocks

bot.onMessage(async (message) => {
  return {
    text: 'Here are the results:',
    blocks: [
      {
        type: 'section',
        text: {
          type: 'mrkdwn',
          text: '*Results*\n• Item 1\n• Item 2',
        },
      },
      {
        type: 'actions',
        elements: [
          {
            type: 'button',
            text: { type: 'plain_text', text: 'View More' },
            action_id: 'view_more',
          },
        ],
      },
    ],
  };
});

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Socket Mode (Development)

For local development without exposing a public URL: 
const bot = createSlackBot({
  botToken: process.env.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN!,
  appToken: process.env.SLACK_APP_TOKEN!,
  socketMode: true,
});

// No need to call listen() - socket mode connects automatically
await bot.start();

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Webhook Mode (Production)

For production deployments: 
const bot = createSlackBot({
  botToken: process.env.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN!,
  signingSecret: process.env.SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET!,
});

// Start HTTP server
bot.listen(3000);

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With Tools

const agent = new Agent({
  name: 'SlackAssistant',
  instructions: 'You help with tasks in Slack.',
  tools: [
    {
      name: 'search_docs',
      description: 'Search documentation',
      execute: async ({ query }) => {
        // Search implementation
        return { results: ['doc1', 'doc2'] };
      },
    },
  ],
});

bot.onMessage(async (message) => {
  const response = await agent.chat(message.text);
  return { text: response };
});

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Environment Variables

VariableRequiredDescription
SLACK_BOT_TOKENYesBot token (xoxb-…)
SLACK_SIGNING_SECRETWebhookSigning secret
SLACK_APP_TOKENSocketApp token (xapp-…)
OPENAI_API_KEYYesFor the agent

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Slack App Setup

  1. Create a Slack App at https://api.slack.com/apps
  2. Enable Socket Mode or configure Event Subscriptions
  3. Add bot scopes: chat:write, app_mentions:read, channels:history
  4. Install to workspace
  5. Copy tokens to environment variables

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Best Practices

  1. Use threads - Reply in threads to keep channels clean
  2. Handle errors gracefully - Return friendly error messages
  3. Rate limit - Respect Slack’s rate limits
  4. Log interactions - Track usage for debugging
  • Agent - Core agent documentation
  • Tools - Adding tools to agents