This repo contains everything you need to get started building a Slack bot with Botkit and Botkit Studio.
Botkit is designed to ease the process of designing and running useful, creative bots that live inside messaging platforms. Bots are applications that can send and receive messages, and in many cases, appear alongside their human counterparts as users.
Some bots talk like people, others silently work in the background, while others present interfaces much like modern mobile applications. Botkit gives developers the necessary tools for building bots of any kind! It provides an easy-to-understand interface for sending and receiving messages so that developers can focus on creating novel applications and experiences instead of dealing with API endpoints.
Our goal with Botkit is to make bot building easy, fun, and accessible to anyone with the desire to create a future filled with talking machines!
If you are looking to create a bot on other platforms using Glitch, check out the Botkit project page.
There are a myriad of methods you can use to set up an application on Slack, but we feel this is the most flexible path you can use to setup your bot on the Slack Events API.
Botkit Studio is a set of tools that adds capabilities to the open source Botkit library by offering hosted GUI interfaces for script management and action trigger definition.
While Botkit Studio is not required to build a bot using Botkit, we highly recommend it as your bot will be easier to manage, customize and extend.
Once you have remixed this project, the next thing you will want to do is set up a new Slack application via the Slack developer portal. This is a multi-step process, but only takes a few minutes.
- Read this step-by-step guide to make sure everything is set up.
- We also have this handy video walkthrough for setting up this project with Glitch.
Next, get a Botkit Studio token from your Botkit developer account if you have decided to use Studio.
Update the .env file in the Glitch project with your newly acquired tokens. If you have created this project from Studio, all your tokens have been entered in your .env already for you!
Once all your tokens have been entered, your Show Live button should become green. Click this button and you will see an option to add this bot to your team.
Once successfully logged in, your bot will connect to Slack AND Botkit Studio and leap into action!
Now comes the fun part of making your bot!
You can find full documentation for Botkit on our GitHub page. Botkit Studio users can access the Botkit Studio Knowledge Base for help in managing their account.
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Glitch allows users to ask the community for help directly from the editor! For more information on raising your hand, read this blog post.
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Join our thriving community of Botkit developers and bot enthusiasts at large. Over 4500 members strong, our open Slack group is the place for people interested in the art and science of making bots.
Come to ask questions, share your progress, and commune with your peers!
- We also host a regular meetup and annual conference called TALKABOT. Come meet and learn from other bot developers!
Full video of our 2016 event is available on Youtube.
Botkit is a product of Howdy and made in Austin, TX with the help of a worldwide community of botheads.