Bolt for Python Demo App (November 2020)

This is a basic example app showing off just some of the functionality available in Bolt for Python.

Local development requires a public URL where Slack can send requests. In this guide, we'll be using ngrok. Checkout this guide for setting it up.

Before we get started, make sure you have a development workspace where you have permissions to install apps. If you don’t have one setup, go ahead and create one. You also need to create a new app if you haven’t already.

Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Add Scopes & Install App to Workspace

In your App Config, after selecting your app, navigate to OAuth & Permissions. Add the channels:read, app_mentions:read, commands and chat:write permissions.

Click Install App to install the app to your workspace and generate a bot token. This bot token will be used in your app as the SLACK_BOT_TOKEN environment variable.

Setup Environment Variables

This app requires that you setup environment variables.

You can get these values by navigating to your App Config and visiting the Basic Information and OAuth & Permissions pages.

export SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=YOUR_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN
export SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=YOUR_SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET

If using OAuth, you'll use the following:

export SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=YOUR_SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET
export SLACK_CLIENT_ID=YOUR_SLACK_CLIENT_ID
export SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET=YOUR_SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET
export SLACK_SCOPES=YOUR_SLACK_SCOPES

Run the App

Start the app with the following command:

python app.py

This will start the app on port 3000.

Create Public URL with ngrok

Using ngrok, we can access the app on an external network and create a Redirect URL for OAuth and Request URL for Event Subscriptions and Interactivity:

ngrok http 3000

The above should output a forwarding address for http and https. The https address should look something like the following:

Forwarding   https://3cb89939.ngrok.io -> http://localhost:3000

Subscribe to Events

On the Events Subscriptions page, after opting in, the Request URL should be set to your ngrok forwarding address with the slack/events path appended.

The Request URL should look something like this:

https://3cb89939.ngrok.io/slack/events

Click Subscribe to bot events and add app_home_opened, app_mentioned, and message.channels to the events your app is subscribed to.

Subscribe to Interactivity

On the Interactivity & Shortcuts page, after opting in, the Request URL should be set to the same ngrok forwarding address that you used in the Event Subscriptions page above.

Enable Home Tab

In the App Home page, navigate to the Show Tabs section and enable the Home Tab.

Define Redirect URL for OAuth (optional)

On the OAuth & Permissions page, add a Redirect URL. This Redirect URL should be set to your ngrok forwarding address with the slack/oauth_redirect path appended.

The Redirect URL should look something like this:

https://3cb89939.ngrok.io/slack/oauth_redirect