App Agent & Assistant Template (Bolt for JavaScript)

This Bolt for JavaScript template demonstrates how to build Agents & Assistants in Slack.

Setup

Before getting started, make sure you have a development workspace where you have permissions to install apps. If you don’t have one setup, go ahead and create one.

Developer Program

Join the Slack Developer Program for exclusive access to sandbox environments for building and testing your apps, tooling, and resources created to help you build and grow.

Installation

Create a Slack App

1. Open https://api.slack.com/apps/new and choose "From an app manifest"
2. Choose the workspace you want to install the application to
3. Copy the contents of manifest.json into the text box that says *Paste your manifest code here* (within the JSON tab) and click Next
4. Review the configuration and click Create
5. You'll then be redirected to App Settings. Visit the Install App page and install your app.

Environment Variables

Before you can run the app, you'll need to store some environment variables.

1. Rename .env.sample to .env
2. Open your apps setting page from this list, click OAuth & Permissions in the left hand menu, then copy the Bot User OAuth Token into your .env file under SLACK_BOT_TOKEN
3. Click Basic Information from the left hand menu and follow the steps in the App-Level Tokens section to create an app-level token with the connections:write scope. Copy that token into your .env as SLACK_APP_TOKEN.

Local Project

# Clone this project onto your machine
git clone https://github.com/slack-samples/bolt-js-assistant-template.git

# Change into this project directory
cd bolt-js-assistant-template

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run Bolt server
npm start

Linting

# Run lint for code formatting and linting
npm run lint

Project Structure

manifest.json

manifest.json is a configuration for Slack apps. With a manifest, you can create an app with a pre-defined configuration, or adjust the configuration of an existing app.

app.js

app.js is the entry point for the application and is the file you'll run to start the server. This project aims to keep this file as thin as possible, primarily using it as a way to route inbound requests.

App Distribution / OAuth

Only implement OAuth if you plan to distribute your application across multiple workspaces. A separate app-oauth.js file can be found with relevant OAuth settings.

When using OAuth, Slack requires a public URL where it can send requests. In this template app, we've used ngrok. Checkout this guide for setting it up.

Start ngrok to access the app on an external network and create a redirect URL for OAuth.

ngrok http 3000

This output should include a forwarding address for http and https (we'll use https). It should look something like the following:

Forwarding   https://3cb89939.ngrok.io -> http://localhost:3000

Navigate to OAuth & Permissions in your app configuration and click Add a Redirect URL. The redirect URL should be set to your ngrok forwarding address with the slack/oauth_redirect path appended. For example:

https://3cb89939.ngrok.io/slack/oauth_redirect