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Round robin router (Slack Automation)

A Slack Automation (Deno) app that stores rotation groups in datastores and assigns the next member in round-robin order. Built with the Slack CLI.

Guide Outline:

Setup

Before getting started, first make sure you have a development workspace where you have permission to install apps. Please note that the features in this project require that the workspace be part of a Slack paid plan.

Install the Slack CLI

To use this template, you need to install and configure the Slack CLI. Step-by-step instructions can be found in our Quickstart Guide.

Clone this repository

Canonical copy (Apollo org):

git clone https://github.com/apolloio/round-robin-router.git
cd round-robin-router

A maintainer fork also exists if you need it.

Running Your Project Locally

While building your app, you can see your changes appear in your workspace in real-time with slack run. You'll know an app is the development version if the name has the string (local) appended.

# Run app locally
$ slack run

Connected, awaiting events

To stop running locally, press <CTRL> + C to end the process.

Creating Triggers

Triggers are what cause workflows to run. These triggers can be invoked by a user, or automatically as a response to an event within Slack.

End users do not use the Slack CLI. Someone with access to the app project (usually once per workspace and per local vs deployed app) runs slack trigger create so shortcuts exist. After that, everyone runs workflows from ⚡ Shortcuts, a bookmark, or the shortcut URL pasted in a channel—all inside Slack. The app’s About / listing text includes longDescription from manifest.ts with the same idea.

When you run or deploy your project for the first time, the CLI will prompt you to create a trigger if one is found in the triggers/ directory. For any subsequent triggers added to the application, each must be manually added using the trigger create command.

When creating triggers, you must select the workspace and environment that you'd like to create the trigger in. Each workspace can have a local development version (denoted by (local)), as well as a deployed version. Triggers created in a local environment will only be available to use when running the application locally.

Link Triggers

A link trigger is a type of trigger that generates a Shortcut URL which, when posted in a channel or added as a bookmark, becomes a link. When clicked, the link trigger will run the associated workflow.

Link triggers are unique to each installed version of your app. This means that Shortcut URLs will be different across each workspace, as well as between locally run and deployed apps.

With link triggers, after selecting a workspace and environment, the output provided will include a Shortcut URL. Copy and paste this URL into a channel as a message, or add it as a bookmark in a channel of the workspace you selected. Interacting with this link will run the associated workflow.

Note: triggers won't run the workflow unless the app is either running locally or deployed!

Manual Trigger Creation

To manually create a trigger, use slack-cli trigger create (or slack trigger create if that is your CLI binary) from the project root.

CLI quick reference (slack-cli)

These examples use the slack-cli prefix. If your install exposes the Automation CLI as slack instead, substitute that name.

Run from the repository root (round-robin-router). When prompted, choose the correct app (local dev vs deployed) and workspace.

Run the app locally

slack-cli run

Create all workflow shortcuts (once per app / environment)

slack-cli trigger create --trigger-def triggers/configure_group_trigger.ts
slack-cli trigger create --trigger-def triggers/delete_group_trigger.ts
slack-cli trigger create --trigger-def triggers/round_robin_assign_trigger.ts

List triggers (optional)

slack-cli trigger list

Inspect datastore rows (see Reading datastores)

Seed or update a group via CLI (optional)

Replace the U… user IDs with real member IDs from your workspace.

slack-cli datastore put --datastore group_members '{
  "item": {
    "group_key": "my-group",
    "group_name": "My group",
    "member_ids": ["U01234567", "U07654321"]
  }
}'

Watch runtime logs while testing in Slack

In a second terminal (while slack-cli run is active):

slack-cli activity --tail

Reading datastores (copy-paste)

Both datastores use group_key as the primary key. Run these from the project root after you have linked the app (slack run or slack deploy at least once). When the CLI asks, pick the same workspace and app (local (local) vs deployed) whose data you want to read.

If your binary is slack instead of slack-cli, use that name everywhere below.

List every row (good default)

slack-cli datastore query --datastore group_members '{"limit": 100}' --output json
slack-cli datastore query --datastore rotation_state '{"limit": 100}' --output json

Increase limit if you have more than 100 groups (Slack caps apply per request).

Fetch one group by id

Replace my-group with a real group_key.

slack-cli datastore get --datastore group_members '{"group_key": "my-group"}' --output json
slack-cli datastore get --datastore rotation_state '{"group_key": "my-group"}' --output json

If a row does not exist, the command reports that the item was not found.

What each datastore holds

Datastore Primary key Contents
group_members group_key group_name, member_ids (Slack user IDs)
rotation_state group_key last_index (position used for the last assignment)

See also Datastores for how the app writes these from Slack.

Datastores

For storing data related to your app, datastores offer secure storage on Slack infrastructure. This app defines group_members (who belongs to each group) and rotation_state (last assigned index per group). The use of a datastore requires the datastore:write/datastore:read scopes to be present in your manifest.

Round robin: groups and usage

  1. Deploy or run the app (slack deploy or slack run from this directory) using the Slack CLI for Automations (not the legacy Ruby slack gem).

  2. Create or edit groups (pick one):

    • From Slack: create a trigger for triggers/configure_group_trigger.ts and run Configure rotation group. Saving with an existing Group id replaces name and members (same as edit). It does not assign anyone.

      slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/configure_group_trigger.ts

    • Delete a group: create a trigger for triggers/delete_group_trigger.ts and run Delete rotation group (removes group_members and rotation_state for that id).

      slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/delete_group_trigger.ts

    • From the CLI: write rows to group_members. Example:

      slack datastore put --datastore group_members '{
  "item": {
    "group_key": "sales-escalation",
    "group_name": "Sales escalation",
    "member_ids": ["U01234567", "U07654321"]
  }
}'

    rotation_state is updated only when someone runs Round robin assign; you do not seed it manually.

  3. Test assignment: create a trigger for triggers/round_robin_assign_trigger.ts, run Round robin assign, choose a Group from the dropdown (saved groups), pick a channel, and submit.

    slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/round_robin_assign_trigger.ts

  4. Use your own workflow: add a step that references AssignRoundRobinFunction from functions/assign_round_robin.ts, passing group_key (string) and requester (user id, usually the workflow input user who started the run).

Testing

For an example of how to test a function, see functions/*_test.ts. Test filenames should be suffixed with _test.

Run all tests with deno test:

$ deno test

Deploying Your App

Once development is complete, deploy the app to Slack infrastructure using slack deploy:

$ slack deploy

When deploying for the first time, you'll be prompted to create a new link trigger for the deployed version of your app. When that trigger is invoked, the workflow should run just as it did when developing locally (but without requiring your server to be running).

Viewing Activity Logs

Activity logs of your application can be viewed live and as they occur with the following command:

slack-cli activity --tail

See also CLI quick reference (slack-cli).

Project Structure

.slack/

Contains apps.dev.json and apps.json, which include installation details for development and deployed apps.

Contains hooks.json used by the CLI to interact with the project's SDK dependencies. It contains script hooks that are executed by the CLI and implemented by the SDK.

datastores/

Datastores securely store data for your application on Slack infrastructure. Required scopes to use datastores include datastore:write and datastore:read.

functions/

Functions are reusable building blocks of automation that accept inputs, perform calculations, and provide outputs. Functions can be used independently or as steps in workflows.

triggers/

Triggers determine when workflows are run. A trigger file describes the scenario in which a workflow should be run, such as a user pressing a button or when a specific event occurs.

workflows/

A workflow is a set of steps (functions) that are executed in order.

Workflows can be configured to run without user input or they can collect input by beginning with a form before continuing to the next step.

manifest.ts

The app manifest contains the app's configuration. This file defines attributes like app name and description.

Resources

To learn more about developing automations on Slack, visit the following:

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Slack Automation app for round-robin group assignment with datastores

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