@slack/client

Node Slack SDK

Visit the full documentation for all the lovely details.

So you want to build a Slack app with Node.js? We've got you covered. This package is aimed at making building Slack apps ridiculously easy. It helps you build on all aspects of the Slack platform, from dropping notifications in channels to fully interactive bots.

Upgrading from version 3? The migration guide has all the information you need to bring your app up to speed.

Requirements

This package supports Node v6 and higher. It's highly recommended to use the latest LTS version of node, and the documentation is written using syntax and features from that version.

Installation

Use npm to install the package and save it to your package.json:

$ npm install @slack/client

Features

The Slack platform offers several APIs to build apps. Each API delivers part of the capabilities from the platform, with a range of complexity and functionality, so that you can pick the one that fits for your app.

Slack API	Outgoing	Incoming	NPM Package	Documentation
Web API	⬆️	⬜️	@slack/client	Guide
RTM API	⬆️	⬇️	@slack/client	Guide
Incoming Webhooks	⬆️	⬜️	@slack/client	Guide
Events API	⬜️	⬇️	@slack/events-api	README
Interactive Messages	⬜️	⬇️	@slack/interactive-messages	README

Just starting out? We suggest starting at the Getting Started guide which will walk you through building your first Slack app using Node.js.

Not sure about which APIs are right for your app? Read our helpful blog post that explains and compares the options. If you're still not sure, reach out for help and our community can guide you.

Building a workspace app? The WebClient can automatically handle token rotation for your app. Learn more about why you should enable token expiration (hint: its required for App Directory distribution).

Examples

Posting a message with Web API

Your app will interact with the Web API through the WebClient object, which a top level export from this package. At a minimum, you need to instantiate it with a token. The example below shows how to post a message into a channel, DM, MPDM, or group. This will require either the chat:user:write or chat:bot:write scopes.

const { WebClient } = require('@slack/client');

// An access token (from your Slack app or custom integration - xoxa, xoxp, or xoxb)
const token = process.env.SLACK_TOKEN;

const web = new WebClient(token);

// This argument can be a channel ID, a DM ID, a MPDM ID, or a group ID
const conversationId = 'C1232456';

// See: https://api.slack.com/methods/chat.postMessage
web.chat.postMessage({ channel: conversationId, text: 'Hello there' })
  .then((res) => {
    // `res` contains information about the posted message
    console.log('Message sent: ', res.ts);
  })
  .catch(console.error);

The WebClient object makes it simple to call any of the over 130 Web API methods. See the guide for details.

Posting a message with the Real-Time Messaging API

Your app will interact with the RTM API through the RTMClient object, which is a top level export from this package. At a minimum, you need to instantiate it with a token, usually a bot token.

const { RTMClient } = require('@slack/client');

// An access token (from your Slack app or custom integration - usually xoxb)
const token = process.env.SLACK_TOKEN;

// The client is initialized and then started to get an active connection to the platform
const rtm = new RTMClient(token);
rtm.start();

// This argument can be a channel ID, a DM ID, a MPDM ID, or a group ID
const conversationId = 'C1232456';

// The RTM client can send simple string messages
rtm.sendMessage('Hello there', conversationId)
  .then((res) => {
    // `res` contains information about the posted message
    console.log('Message sent: ', res.ts);
  })
  .catch(console.error);

The RTMClient object makes it simple to listen for events from a workspace and send simple messages to a workspace. See the guide for details.

Posting a message with Incoming Webhooks

Incoming webhooks are an easy way to send notifications to a Slack channel with a minimum of setup. You'll need a webhook URL from a Slack app or a custom integration to use the IncomingWebhook class.

const { IncomingWebhook } = require('@slack/client');
const url = process.env.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL;
const webhook = new IncomingWebhook(url);

// Send simple text to the webhook channel
webhook.send('Hello there', function(err, res) {
    if (err) {
        console.log('Error:', err);
    } else {
        console.log('Message sent: ', res);
    }
});

Getting Help

If you get stuck, we're here to help. The following are the best ways to get assistance working through your issue:

• Issue Tracker for questions, feature requests, bug reports and general discussion related to this package.
• Email us in Slack developer support: [e-mail]
• Bot Developers Hangout: a Slack community for developers building all types of bots. You can find the maintainers and users of this package in #sdk-node-slack-sdk.