Create a Slack Bot That Privately Greets New Users in 5 Easy Steps
A simple step-by-step guide to creating a Slack Bot that sends new users a customizable private Slack welcome message. (easy setup for non-technical people)
Over the last few months, as side project I’ve been working on creating a community for new grad job seekers in Toronto. With my experience in using Slack as a communication platform, I got excited about adopting it for my new community.
Most of the people in my community had never heard of Slack before, so getting them to install and be active on a new platform was difficult.
A private greeting message when you join the group was exactly what the doctor ordered. A warm welcome explaining how to get started, outlining the community rules, and explaining your first steps in the community.
Finally I found a Github repo that looked exactly like what I needed. You can personally thank our friend Orliesaurus on Twitter for this.
How To Create Your Greeting Bot
1. Create a New Bot User in Slack
Sign in to your Slack team, follow the instructions to create a new Bot User, and name it whatever you like.
2. Copy Your API Token
After you click, “Add bot integration”, scroll down to “Integration Settings” and copy your API Token.
3. Create a Heroku Account
Your new greeting bot needs somewhere to live online. Create a free account on Heroku. Select Python as the primary development language (this doesn’t really matter, it’s just for their stats).
4. One-Click Deploy Your Bot to Heroku
Use this link to do a quick deploy of the greetingslack app to your Heroku account.
a) Name your app whatever you want.
b) Scroll down to Config Variables and paste in your Slack Token API (from STEP 2).
c) Type in a custom greeting message.
d) Click the Deploy For Free button.
5. Switch Your Bot Online
Click on “Personal Apps” button in the left panel.
Click on your new app.
Under “Free Dynos” click on the pencil icon on the right side to edit the app.
Switch the toggle button on so it looks blue, then press confirm.
Test Out Your New Bot!
Invite someone new to your Slack team and see your new Greeting Bot in action! (remember, that it’s not @slackbot, it’s whatever you named it).
Thanks for following along! I hope this guide was useful for you.
Happy Slacking!
Tell me what you think on Twitter @izzydoesizzy.
About Izzy
Iskender Piyale-Sheard (aka Izzy) is the Community Manager at Lighthouse Labs, a web/iOS bootcamp in Canada. In his spare time, he likes to write about career growth, teach himself to code and work on fun community projects.
Find him at: izzydoesizzy.com
