SlackKit: Slack Apps in Swift

Description

SlackKit makes it easy to build Slack apps in Swift.

It's intended to expose all of the functionality of Slack's Real Time Messaging API as well as the web APIs that are accessible to bot users. SlackKit also supports Slack’s OAuth 2.0 flow including the Add to Slack and Sign in with Slack buttons, incoming webhooks, slash commands, and message buttons.

Installation

Swift Package Manager

Add SlackKit to your Package.swift

import PackageDescription
  
let package = Package(
	dependencies: [
		.package(url: "https://github.com/SlackKit/SlackKit.git", .upToNextMinor(from: "4.1.0"))
	]
)

Carthage

Add SlackKit to your Cartfile:

github "SlackKit/SlackKit"

CocoaPods

Add SlackKit to your Podfile:

pod 'SlackKit'

Usage

The Basics

Create a bot user with an API token:

import SlackKit

let bot = SlackKit()
bot.addRTMBotWithAPIToken("xoxb-SLACK-BOT-TOKEN")
// Register for event notifications
bot.notificationForEvent(.message) { (event, _) in
	// Your bot logic here
	print(event.message)
}

or create a ready-to-launch Slack app with your application’s Client ID and Client Secret:

import SlackKit

let bot = SlackKit()
let oauthConfig = OAuthConfig(clientID: "CLIENT_ID", clientSecret: "CLIENT_SECRET")
bot.addServer(oauth: oauthConfig)

or just make calls to the Slack Web API:

import SlackKit

let bot = SlackKit()
bot.addWebAPIAccessWithToken("xoxb-SLACK-BOT-TOKEN")
bot.webAPI?.authenticationTest(success: { (success) in
	print(success)
}, failure: nil)

Slash Commands

After configuring your slash command in Slack (you can also provide slash commands as part of a Slack App), create a route, response middleware for that route, and add it to a responder:

let slackkit = SlackKit()
let middleware = ResponseMiddleware(token: "SLASH_COMMAND_TOKEN", response: SKResponse(text: "👋"))
let route = RequestRoute(path: "/hello", middleware: middleware)
let responder = SlackKitResponder(routes: [route])
slackkit.addServer(responder: responder)

When a user enters that slash command, it will hit your configured route and return the response you specified.

Message Buttons

Add message buttons to your responses for additional interactivity.

To send messages with actions, add them to an attachment and send them using the Web API:

let helloAction = Action(name: "hello", text: "🌎")
let attachment = Attachment(fallback: "Hello World", title: "Welcome to SlackKit", callbackID: "hello_world", actions: [helloAction])
slackkit.webAPI?.sendMessage(channel: "CXXXXXX", text: "", attachments: [attachment], success: nil, failure: nil)

To respond to message actions, add a RequestRoute with MessageActionMiddleware using your app’s verification token to your SlackKitResponder:

let response = ResponseMiddleware(token: "SLACK_APP_VERIFICATION_TOKEN", response: SKResponse(text: "Hello, world!"))
let actionRoute = MessageActionRoute(action: helloAction, middleware: response)
let actionMiddleware = MessageActionMiddleware(token: "SLACK_APP_VERIFICATION_TOKEN", routes:[actionRoute])
let actions = RequestRoute(path: "/actions", middleware: actionMiddleware)
let responder = SlackKitResponder(routes: [actions])
slackkit.addServer(responder: responder)

OAuth

Slack has many different oauth scopes that can be combined in different ways. If your application does not request the proper OAuth scopes, your API calls will fail.

If you authenticate using OAuth and the Add to Slack or Sign in with Slack buttons this is handled for you.

For local development of things like OAuth, slash commands, and message buttons, you may want to use a tool like ngrok.

Web API Methods

SlackKit currently supports the a subset of the Slack Web APIs that are available to bot users:

Web APIs
api.test
api.revoke
auth.test
channels.history
channels.info
channels.list
channels.mark
channels.setPurpose
channels.setTopic
chat.delete
chat.meMessage
chat.postMessage
chat.update
emoji.list
files.comments.add
files.comments.edit
files.comments.delete
files.delete
files.info
files.upload
groups.close
groups.history
groups.info
groups.list
groups.mark
groups.open
groups.setPurpose
groups.setTopic
im.close
im.history
im.list
im.mark
im.open
mpim.close
mpim.history
mpim.list
mpim.mark
mpim.open
oauth.access
pins.add
pins.list
pins.remove
reactions.add
reactions.get
reactions.list
reactions.remove
rtm.start
stars.add
stars.remove
team.info
users.getPresence
users.info
users.list
users.setActive
users.setPresence

Don’t need the whole banana? Want more control over the low-level implementation details? Use the extensible modules SlackKit is built on:

Module	Slack Service
SKClient	Write your own client implementation
SKRTMAPI	Connect to the Slack RTM API
SKServer	Spin up a server
SKWebAPI	Access the Slack Web API

Examples

You can find the source code for several example applications here.

Tutorials

• Build a Slack Bot and Deploy to Heroku

Get In Touch

Twitter: @pvzig

Email: peter@launchsoft.co