Lunchbot

Set your status at lunch on Slack and see who's away

About

Lunchbot give you a set of commands to manage your status on Slack, and see who's currently away from their desk.

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Commands

/lunch

Sets yourself at lunch.

Usage: /lunch [<length> {hours | minutes}]

Examples
/lunch - sets yourself at lunch indefinitely
/lunch 1 hour - you can also use hours, hrs, hr, or h
/lunch 30 minutes - you can also use minute, mins, min, or m

/brb

Sets yourself as away temporarily.

Usage: /lunch

/back OR /bk

Sets yourself as back, removes any status.

Usage: /back

/here

Shows who's currently set as on lunch or away.

Usage: /here

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Getting Started

Lunchbot first needs to be added to the workspace by the workspace admin, and then to any Slack channels you want to be able to use it in.

The app isn't yet available on the Slack App Directory - so you'll need to self-host in. Lunchbot is a Node.js app using the Bolt for JavaScript SDK, and relies on a MongoDB database for storing installation data.

Setup

1. Create a MongoDB database (you can create a free-tier database on Atlas)
2. Create a new Slack app here.
   1. Make sure to select 'From an app manifest' when creating the app
   2. Choose the workspace you'd like to install the app in
   3. Paste the contents of lunchbot-manifest.yml into the box when asked
   4. Under Basic Information, create a new App-Level Token, and make sure to give it the connections:write scope. Copy down the token.
   5. Under OAuth and Permissions, click Add New Redirect URL, and enter the URL of your app, followed by /slack/oauth_redirect, like so:

      https://lunchbot.example.com/slack/oauth_redirect
      

   6. (Optional) Under Basic Information, upload an app icon for Lunchbot (you can use lunchbot-icon.png if you like)
3. Either set these environment variables up in your hosting platform of choice, or fill in them in the .env file in the root of the project (don't commit it to public source control...).

   SLACK_APP_URL=<the HTTPS URL of the hosted app (don't include / at the end)>
   SLACK_APP_TOKEN=<the app-level token you copied down earlier>
   SLACK_CLIENT_ID=<find this under Basic Information > App Credentials>
   SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET=<find this under Basic Information > App Credentials>
   MONGO_CONN_STRING=<connection information for the MongoDB database, include username and password, see https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/connection-string/#std-label-connections-dns-seedlist>

4. With the app running, visit the install URL for the app, like so

   https://lunchbot.example.com/slack/install
   

   and follow the instructions to install the Slack app in the workspace.
5. Lunchbot is now available in your workspace. In channels that you want to use it in, send it an invite using /invite @Lunchbot.
6. Run some commands!

The first time a user executes a command, they'll be asked to authorise Lunchbot by going through the OAuth flow.

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Roadmap - updated 11/06/2022

• Better error handling
• Better logging setup
• Create app manifest for easier setup

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Contact

Ben Tomsett - @benjitomsett

GitHub: https://github.com/bentomsett/lunchbot

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