This automation allows users to create, manage, and delete rotation or on-call assignments. This app uses datastores to store rotations on a per-channel basis.

Guide Outline:

• Included Workflows
• Setup
  • Install the Slack CLI
  • Clone the Template
• Running Your Project Locally
• Creating Triggers
• Workflow Usage
  • Manage Rotation
  • Advance Rotation
• Datastores
• Testing
• Deploying Your App
• Viewing Activity Logs
• Project Structure
• Resources

• Manage rotation: Create, manage, or delete an existing rotation. This workflow is triggered by a shortcut.
• Advance rotation: Updates the rotation to the latest, notifies users. This workflow is triggered by a schedule.

Before getting started, first make sure you have a development workspace where you have permission to install apps. Please note that the features in this project require that the workspace be part of a Slack paid plan.

To use this template, you need to install and configure the Slack CLI. Step-by-step instructions can be found in our Quickstart Guide.

Start by cloning this repository:

# Clone this project onto your machine
$ slack create my-app -t slack-samples/deno-triage-rotation

# Change into the project directory
$ cd my-app

While building your app, you can see your changes appear in your workspace in real-time with slack run. You'll know an app is the development version if the name has the string (local) appended.

# Run app locally
$ slack run

Connected, awaiting events

To stop running locally, press <CTRL> + C to end the process.

Triggers are what cause workflows to run. These triggers can be invoked by a user, or automatically as a response to an event within Slack.

When you run or deploy your project for the first time, the CLI will prompt you to create a trigger if one is found in the triggers/ directory. For any subsequent triggers added to the application, each must be manually added using the trigger create command.

When creating triggers, you must select the workspace and environment that you'd like to create the trigger in. Each workspace can have a local development version (denoted by (local)), as well as a deployed version. Triggers created in a local environment will only be available to use when running the application locally.

A link trigger is a type of trigger that generates a Shortcut URL which, when posted in a channel or added as a bookmark, becomes a link. When clicked, the link trigger will run the associated workflow.

Link triggers are unique to each installed version of your app. This means that Shortcut URLs will be different across each workspace, as well as between locally run and deployed apps.

With link triggers, after selecting a workspace and environment, the output provided will include a Shortcut URL. Copy and paste this URL into a channel as a message, or add it as a bookmark in a channel of the workspace you selected. Interacting with this link will run the associated workflow.

Note: triggers won't run the workflow unless the app is either running locally or deployed!

To manually create a trigger, use the following command:

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/manage_rotation.ts

Add your app to the same channel where the link trigger was shared. You can do this by @mentioning the app directly in a message in the channel.

With your app running locally (slack run), click the link trigger that you shared in your Slack workspace. The workflow's first step, an input form, will appear where you can complete the required fields to create a rotation for the channel where you triggered the worklow.

If a rotation belonging to the channel already exists, the form will show details about the rotation and allow you to edit those fields.

After you submit the form, the next step in the workflow creates a rotation and creates a scheduled trigger for workflow #2: Advance Rotation.

To check whether your rotation has been created, just trigger the workflow from the channel again and look at the existing rotation details. You can also delete an existing rotation from this form.

This workflow is triggered by a scheduled trigger created in a step in the earlier workflow. This workflow notifies the current rotation assignee in the channel and then advances the rotation.

💡 This app comes set up with a .env file and the ability to turn on a debugMode to give you a bit more control on when Advance Rotation (see, workflows/advance_rotation.ts) is triggered. This is helpful for debugging.

For storing data related to your app, datastores offer secure storage on Slack infrastructure. For an example of a datastore, see datastores/rotations.ts. The use of a datastore requires the datastore:write/datastore:read scopes to be present in your manifest.

Test filenames should be suffixed with _test.

Run all tests with deno test:

$ deno test

Once development is complete, deploy the app to Slack infrastructure using slack deploy:

$ slack deploy

When deploying for the first time, you'll be prompted to create a new link trigger for the deployed version of your app. When that trigger is invoked, the workflow should run just as it did when developing locally (but without requiring your server to be running).

Activity logs of your application can be viewed live and as they occur with the following command:

$ slack activity --tail

Contains apps.dev.json and apps.json, which include installation details for development and deployed apps.

Datastores securely store data for your application on Slack infrastructure. Required scopes to use datastores include datastore:write and datastore:read.

Functions are reusable building blocks of automation that accept inputs, perform calculations, and provide outputs. Functions can be used independently or as steps in workflows.

Triggers determine when workflows are run. A trigger file describes the scenario in which a workflow should be run, such as a user pressing a button or when a specific event occurs.

A workflow is a set of steps (functions) that are executed in order.

Workflows can be configured to run without user input or they can collect input by beginning with a form before continuing to the next step.

The app manifest contains the app's configuration. This file defines attributes like app name and description.

Used by the CLI to interact with the project's SDK dependencies. It contains script hooks that are executed by the CLI and implemented by the SDK.

To learn more about developing automations on Slack, visit the following:

• Automation Overview
• CLI Quick Reference
• Samples and Templates