A bot is a nifty way to run code and automate tasks. In Slack, a bot is controlled programmatically via a bot user token that can access one or more of Slack’s APIs. Read on to learn more about creating a bot for your workspace. 🤖
What can bots do?
Monitor and help process channel activity
Post messages in channels and react to members’ activity
Make channel messages interactive with buttons
Get to know bots
Bots can do a lot of the same things in Slack that regular members can:
They have names, profiles, profile photos and exist in the directory.
They can be invited or removed from both public and private channels.
Bots can only do what you program them to do in a specific channel, so someone can’t sign in as the bot and do things that other members of your workspace can do in Slack. Bots can’t be set as workspace owners or admins either.
Create a bot
Create a Slack app (if you haven’t already got one).
Add a bot user and configure your bot user with some basic info (display name, default username and its online presence).
Once you’ve completed these fields, click Add bot user.
Let’s take a closer look at the ways that bots can impact your workspace and help things run more efficiently.
👀 Monitor and process channel activity A bot can help monitor and process activity in the public and private channels it’s been invited to, as well as messages sent to it via direct message.
📝 Post messages and react to members In addition to receiving messages, a bot can also post messages in channels it’s a member of.
🎯 Make messages interactive with buttons When attached to a Slack app, bots can add interactive components (such as buttons) to messages that members can interact with. These interactive components trigger specific actions on your servers, so that you can perform certain tasks. Take a look at our blog to learn more.
Tip: You can rename bot users if you like. To do so, head over to the app’s page in the App Directory. Find the bot’s name, then click the pencil icon to enter a different one.
Additional bot resources
To learn more about building bots, take a look at our Slack API documentation. We also have a number of other handy resources to help you along the way:
