Creating a Slack bot using Scribe's enterprise search API

This is a guide for setting up a very basic Slack app, implementing a bot which can be mentioned to perform keyword search using Scribe Search API. It does not contain instructions on publishing your Slack app and distributing it.

Nikola Milev
54 steps
5 minutes

Slack

This guide mostly follows official Slack documentation, which can be found [here](https://docs.slack.dev/tools/bolt-python/building-an-app/) and uses a code example from [here](https://github.com/slackapi/bolt-python/tree/main/examples/getting_started).

Setting up the Slack app and obtaining environment variables

Environment variables obtained in this section will be used later on to set up the Slack bot app, by adding them to the [[.env]] file.

First, navigate to [https://api.slack.com/apps/](https://api.slack.com/apps/A09AD6D901G/install-on-team?success=1)

Click **Create New App**

Click **From scratch**

Name your app and pick a workspace to develop your app in

Click **Create App**

Click **Show** to see your secret. This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=copied_value]]

Click **Oauth & Permissions**

Click **Add an Oauth Scope**

Select [[chat:write]] from the dropdown

Click **Install App**

Click **Install to *Your Workspace***

Click **Allow**

Installing the app may differ depending on whether you're logged in your Slack Workspace.

Once you authorize the installation, click **Oauth & Permissions** again.

Under **Bot User OAuth Token**, click **Copy.** This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SLACK_BOT_TOKEN]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=copied_value]]

Click **Basic Information** again.

Click **Generate Token and Scopes**

Name your token and click **Add Scope**

Select [[connections:write]] from the dropdown.

Click **Generate**

Click **Copy.** This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SLACK_APP_TOKEN]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SLACK_APP_TOKEN=copied_value]]

Click **Done**

Click **Socket Mode**

Click the toggle under **Enable Socket Mode**

Click **Event Subscriptions**

Click the toggle under **Enable Events**

Click **Subscribe to bot events**

Under **Subscribe to bot events**, click **Add Bot User Event**

Select **app_mention** from the dropdown

Make sure you've added any other events that you would like to listen for in your Slack app.

Click **Save Changes**

Click **Install App**

Click **Reinstall to *Your Workspace***

Click **Allow**

Obtain the API Token from Scribe

Click "Settings"

Click "Developer AccessNewManage API tokens and developer access"

Click "Generate Token"

Input name and select all teams or choose specific teams Click this button.

Click "Generate Token"

Click **Copy.** This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SCRIBE_API_KEY]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SCRIBE_API_KEY=copied_value]]

*Keep in mind that this popup is shown only once.*

Basic Code Setup

This section uses the starter app code from [here](https://github.com/slackapi/bolt-python/tree/main/examples/getting_started)

Open a terminal

Type \ [[git clone https://github.com/slackapi/bolt-python.git]]

Type [[cd bolt-python/examples/getting_started/]]

Open the directory in you preferred text editor

Create a new file and name it [[.env]]

You will need to populate 4 environment values in the newly created [[.env]] file for the app to work: [[SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET]] [[SLACK_BOT_TOKEN]] [[SLACK_APP_TOKEN]] [[SCRIBE_API_KEY]] This guid will help you obtain all of them.

Open the file named requirements.txt and add [[requests]] and [[dotenv]] as separate lines

Download the code from [this url](https://colony-labs-public.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/api-token-code-example/app.py) and paste it into your [[app.py]] file

In your terminal, type these three commands: [[python3 -m venv .venv]] [[source .venv/bin/activate]] [[pip install -r requirements.txt]]

Test the Slack bot

Afterwards, start your Slack app by typing [[python app.py]]

Navgate to your Slack Workspace

Navigate to a channel in your Slack workspace.

If the **Scribe Search API App bot** is not a member of the channel, add it.

Mention the **Scribe Search API App bot** and type keywords of what you want to search.

Click Open for any of the results and navigate to a Scribe!

Creating a Slack bot using Scribe's enterprise search API

Nikola Milev
54 steps
5 minutes

Slack

Setting up the Slack app and obtaining environment variables

Environment variables obtained in this section will be used later on to set up the Slack bot app, by adding them to the [[.env]] file.

First, navigate to [https://api.slack.com/apps/](https://api.slack.com/apps/A09AD6D901G/install-on-team?success=1)

Click **Create New App**

Click **From scratch**

Name your app and pick a workspace to develop your app in

Click **Create App**

Click **Show** to see your secret. This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=copied_value]]

Click **Oauth & Permissions**

Click **Add an Oauth Scope**

Select [[chat:write]] from the dropdown

Click **Install App**

Click **Install to *Your Workspace***

Click **Allow**

Installing the app may differ depending on whether you're logged in your Slack Workspace.

Once you authorize the installation, click **Oauth & Permissions** again.

Under **Bot User OAuth Token**, click **Copy.** This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SLACK_BOT_TOKEN]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=copied_value]]

Click **Basic Information** again.

Click **Generate Token and Scopes**

Name your token and click **Add Scope**

Select [[connections:write]] from the dropdown.

Click **Generate**

Click **Copy.** This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SLACK_APP_TOKEN]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SLACK_APP_TOKEN=copied_value]]

Click **Done**

Click **Socket Mode**

Click the toggle under **Enable Socket Mode**

Click **Event Subscriptions**

Click the toggle under **Enable Events**

Click **Subscribe to bot events**

Under **Subscribe to bot events**, click **Add Bot User Event**

Select **app_mention** from the dropdown

Make sure you've added any other events that you would like to listen for in your Slack app.

Click **Save Changes**

Click **Install App**

Click **Reinstall to *Your Workspace***

Click **Allow**

Obtain the API Token from Scribe

Click "Settings"

Click "Developer AccessNewManage API tokens and developer access"

Click "Generate Token"

Input name and select all teams or choose specific teams Click this button.

Click "Generate Token"

Click **Copy.** This is the value you should assign to a variable named [[SCRIBE_API_KEY]] in your [[.env]] file like so: [[SCRIBE_API_KEY=copied_value]]

*Keep in mind that this popup is shown only once.*

Basic Code Setup

This section uses the starter app code from [here](https://github.com/slackapi/bolt-python/tree/main/examples/getting_started)

Open a terminal

Type \ [[git clone https://github.com/slackapi/bolt-python.git]]

Type [[cd bolt-python/examples/getting_started/]]

Open the directory in you preferred text editor

Create a new file and name it [[.env]]

Open the file named requirements.txt and add [[requests]] and [[dotenv]] as separate lines

Download the code from [this url](https://colony-labs-public.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/api-token-code-example/app.py) and paste it into your [[app.py]] file

In your terminal, type these three commands: [[python3 -m venv .venv]] [[source .venv/bin/activate]] [[pip install -r requirements.txt]]

Test the Slack bot

Afterwards, start your Slack app by typing [[python app.py]]

Navgate to your Slack Workspace

Navigate to a channel in your Slack workspace.

If the **Scribe Search API App bot** is not a member of the channel, add it.

Mention the **Scribe Search API App bot** and type keywords of what you want to search.

Click Open for any of the results and navigate to a Scribe!