slack-autostatus

Automatically update Slack status emoji with your current Mac application/url

TLDR;

Launch a plist that checks the frontmost app/webpage every 15s, associates it with an emoji, and sends it off via Slack's status API... optionally also set Slack away/auto presence when locked

Installation (in three easy steps!)

Step 1: Configure Slack (API and Emoji):

• First things first: ensure your Slack team has the perfect emoji for apps/sites you care about. Slack has great instructions here
• Next, you're going to need a Slack user API token. Go here and request one from your slack administrators. Alas; much has changed in the Slack world, and they now want you to create a Slack app with a user scope. That's a bit beyond this humble readme, but suffice it to say that you can create an 'internal' Slack app with the following User Token Scope: users.profile:write. Once installed to your workspace, it will generate a 'User OAuth Token' (xoxp-...) to use.

ps. Keep this token secret - though the scope is limited to your account, it can post status updates as you!!

Step 2: Get the slack-autostatus script:

Whether you fork/clone, copy/paste, or hand-type, you'll want a copy of this script locally on your Mac.

You might:

curl -o /usr/local/bin/slack-autostatus https://raw.githubusercontent.com/benpbolton/slack-autostatus/master/slack-autostatus

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/slack-autostatus

... but regardless of your approach, you'll want the file to be executable

ps. Edit this file to add/remove applications/urls/emoji/etc

Step 3: Edit the launchd (plist) file:

Steady yourself: this is the final step

• curl down the sample plist file:

curl -o ~/Library/LaunchAgents/slack-autostatus.plist https://raw.githubusercontent.com/benpbolton/slack-autostatus/master/slack-autostatus.plist

• Make the following two (or three) edits to the file:

  • Change PUT_IT_HERE!!! to your Slack user token from above
  • (If needed) Change /usr/local/bin/slack-autostatus to the location you saved the slack-autostatus script
  • If you want the script to also update your slack presence (away/auto) based on whether your laptop is locked:
    • uncomment the SET_PRESENCE environmental variable
    • in a terminal, install the Quartz dependency with a pip install pyobjc-framework-Quartz (or pip3 if you're using Python 3)

• Load the plist up:

launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/slack-autostatus.plist

• 🎉