Slack

Learn to set up a Slack communication channel for your bot in NLX's Dialog Studio

Step 1: Create a Slack app

In order to get your bot up and running with Slack, you'll start by creating a Slack app:

  • Go to https://api.slack.com.

  • Under Customize your workspace, click the Create an app button

  • Select create From scratch

  • Enter a name under App Name

  • Select a workspace for developing your app

  • Click Create App

This brings up the Slack api page for Your Apps with your newly-created app selected in the dropdown of the upper left:

Slack api page for your apps

  • Next, define what your bot can access by Click OAuth & Permissions under the Features in the menu bar

  • Scroll to the Scopes section and under Bot Token Scopes > Click Add an OAuth Scope button

  • Select the Chat:write permissions scope

Step 2: Generate Bot user access token

  • Under Features in the Slack account menu, select OAuth & Permissions.

  • Under OAuth Tokens for Your Workspace, click the Install to Workspace button

  • Click Allow

An OAuth token is automatically generated for your workspace and the value now displays in the Bot User OAuth Token.

Step 3: Access Signing secret

  • Under Settings in the menu, select Basic Information and look under App Credentials

The Signing Secret value is hidden by default. Click Show to reveal the value.

Slack api page for your app

Step 4: Create Slack channel

Be sure to create a Slack app first before proceeding with setup in Dialog Studio.

In Dialog Studio, create a Slack channel for your bot under the bot's Channels tab:

  • Expand Slack option

  • Select + Create channel

  • Enter Bot user access token found under the OAuth & Permissions page of your Slack app

  • Enter Signing Secret found on the Basic Information page of your Slack app

  • Click Create channel

Step 5: Post deployment

Once you've set up the Slack channel and deployed your bot in Dialog Studio, you'll need to provide the bot's URL to your Slack api.

  • From the Deployments tab for your bot, click the Details link for the deployment:

Accessing the deployment Details for the Freshly Grocers bot

  • Under Setup instructions, expand the Slack channel > Click the copy icon to copy the Bot URL

  • Go to the Slack api page (if you have more than one app in Slack, make sure the correct app is selected in the dropdown on the upper-left of the page)

  • Under Features, select Interactivity & Shortcuts from the menu

  • Set the toggle to enable interactivity

  • Paste the Bot URL into the Request URL field

Providing the Bot URL in Slack

  • Under Features, click Event Subscriptions from the menu

  • Set the toggle to enable events

  • Paste the Bot URL into the Request URL field

Enable Events in Slack

  • Click the down caret to the right of the Subscribe to bot events section

Adding Bot User Events in Slack

  • Click the Add Bot User Event button, then select from the list to add the appropriate events

  • When finished, click Save Changes

Optional Slack fields

The following is optional to setting up your Slack channel:

  • Language: Allows you to select the language used for this channel

  • Token endpoint: For retrieving a Slack access token for a given Slack conversation

  • Token endpoint API key: The API key that protects the Token endpoint

Need context on the other fields? See Manage bot channels

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