4 Really Cool Things You Can Do With The Slack API

We know that “work is no longer a place you go” and that Slack is positioning itself as the place to work. But we also see genuine evidence that Slack is enabling genuine productivity through its automations, integrations, and open API.

Integration and workflow automation has been at the heart of Slack’s vision from the outset. Access to the Slack API takes these both to the next level by allowing developers and IT administrators to build custom bots and workflows.

In this post, we’ll dig into how to access the Slack API and look at some pre-built functions already being used in the real world.

What is a Slack API?

API stands for application programming interface. This means a set of definitions and protocols integrating into software. Slack’s API gives access for developers to create custom apps, workflows, and share data two-way.

Slack says its APIs are available for querying information from and enacting change in a Slack workspace.

Slack has several APIs to interact with:

• Slack Connect API
• Calls API
• Bookmarks API
• Events API
• Web API
• Conversations API
• Real-Time Messaging API

Depending on what you need to do with Slack, make sure you choose the right APIs to integrate with.

There is technical Slack API documentation available on the Slack API website to help choose which is most appropriate.

Is the Slack API free?

Yes. There are no charges to build apps that use the Slack API, and there are no Slack charges to install apps that use the Slack API.

For example, you can use a free workspace to build apps and install up to 10 apps.

Note: this limit of 10 includes both custom-built and third-party apps.

There are also pre-built Slack workflow automations you can choose from. In some cases, other people may have already created what you are looking for.

How do I connect to the Slack API?

Go to https://api.slack.com/ and sign into the workspace you wish to connect to the Slack API.

Once signed in, you can use Bolt, Workflow Builder, or Block Kit to start creating apps and workflows.

You can create a new Slack app from scratch or by using existing templates created by other developers.

You May Also Like: Slack Webhooks: A Deep Dive

4 Things you can do with the Slack API

There are tons of Slack integrations out there you can download from the app directory. If these don’t do the job for you, check out some of the cool things people are using the Slack API for.

1 – Get notified of critical information quickly

Adam Nathan, Director of Solutions Engineering at CoEnterprise, a premier partner of Tableau/Salesforce says the acquisition of Slack by Salesforce has enabled some exciting new possibilities, and they’re using the Slack API to help.

“We’re specifically interested in the ability to send dashboard visualizations into Slack, help analysts and managers get critical information directly in their workflow, link back to a detailed dashboard, and then take immediate action.”

“You need to build something out of the Slack API to take those actions, responding to the information passed in from Tableau.

An example:

• A database user on a manager’s team has just been granted a high level of permissions in Snowflake.
• Tableau picks this up and fires information to the user’s manager.
• The manager can see this and then immediately shut the user’s access down in Snowflake at the click of a button.

All these actions take place within Slack. We call this solution “SnowTrail.”

Slack’s API makes this possible as we can pick up critical information in the message and then interact with other APIs to take action.

The Slack user investigates and then acts. The beauty is that it takes place within the manager’s workstream and is easy to pick up the event. There’s no going and checking a dashboard at odd intervals.”

2 – Enable cross-platform messages to Google Chat

With the growth of Google Chat spiking over the last few years, it’s natural some Slack users have come across a similar chat functionality in Google Chat.

Google Chat supports many of the messaging features we associate with Slack – only it sits within the Google Chat interface. This means some remote workers who have got used to using Google Chat will also find it easier to stay in Google Chat and only switch to Slack occasionally.

While this is great for users of Google-Chat-only, it creates a disconnect between Slack users and Google Chat users.

When left to fester, this situation creates workplace silos and a major loss of productivity.

But the good news is you will soon be able to connect Slack and Google Chat for cross-platform chat.

Once you sync users, you can send a Slack message as you would to any Slack users – and it gets delivered to your colleague on Google Chat.

Using the Events API, Mio listens in Slack channels for messages and relays these to connected channels on Google Chat.

As well as sending and receiving messages, all the modern features of “a message” get translated cross-platform too:

• Basic messages
• Threaded messages
• File uploads
• Editing messages
• Deleting messages
• Emojis
• GIFs

Learn more about Slack interop with Google Chat here

3 – Trigger alerts based on pop-up responses

Ryan Nieman, CEO of Solitaire, connects to the Web API and Events API to build an alert system in Slack that notifies him every time a user submits a response to a particular section of an A/B testing pop-up.

“Whenever a consumer responds to our challenge section of the A/B testing, we get an alert on Slack. Based on these alerts, our UI/UX designers have built a more customized website for a specific audience. This tool has helped the marketing team to assess customer conversion and engagement.”

4 – Automate routine processes

Nine Publishing is the publishing arm of Nine Entertainment. It uses custom tools and apps to simplify newsroom processes and monitor performance analytics.

It has created custom apps and slash commands to speed up processes that once relied on humans to create and maintain

• @incident-monster: Reports new incidents and helps the team manage them
• /transcribe: Allows journalists to request transcriptions for audio files right from Slack
• /dashboards: Brings up a library of available dashboards so employees can access data and insights on content performance
• /roster: Provides a list of the engineers and technical team members on call for any given service

The headline benefit is they reduced day-long processes to 30 minutes

If that isn’t a reason to start using the Slack API then I don’t know what is.