Slack Workflow Builder: Send Messages in 2 Simple Steps
Goal
This guide will cover:
- how to create a new workflow in Slack using a webhook trigger
- how to trigger that workflow from Appsmith and send a message to a channel
Prerequisites
An Appsmith account
A Slack account, and a workspace you own or have permission to install workflows on
Overview
Slack has been rolling out some new updates recently, and the UI changes have many users upset and looking for ways to re-enable the old UI.
But last week, after the whiplash from the UI changes wore off, I noticed this new Automation tool. It's a workflow builder that allows you to chain together different actions and automate tasks in Slack and other connected platforms, like a basic version of Zapier or n8n.
Slack already had support for sending a message to a channel using a webhook, but now you can send webhooks to a workflow. This means you can trigger a series of actions, including channel messages, adding a row to Google Sheets, creating a Notion doc, and all kinds of other actions.
Create a New Workflow in Slack
First, create a new workflow in Slack, and set it up to send a message to a specific channel.
Create the Webhook API in Appsmith
Next, create a new POST API in Appsmith, and sent a test message.
That's it!
Just 2 simple steps to create the workflow and trigger it from Appsmith.
Conclusion
Slack workflows also have integrations with SalesForce, Notion, Google Sheets, and a bunch of other services. With the workflow published and a POST API set up, you can now integrate Slack with Appsmith, and automate your team's business tasks more seamlessly. We'd love to hear how you're using Slack and Appsmith at work! Or if you have ideas for a tutorial, feel free to post below and request.
I thought the webhooks were easy to set up for the most part. The UI was a little clunky when it came to saving the keys in the webhook body, though. Hoping they add support for adding a row to Airtable or Notion. What's everyone else's experience been so far?
This could be a great way to send an update or message as part of a workflow in a tool. For example, when someone changes the status of a ticket/order, or submits a form, or assigns a task. The app can easily send a message to a channel or person!
In reply to This could be a great way to… by ron
> This could be a great way to send an update or message as part of a workflow
Already thinking of tons of use cases. You could send data from a row in a database or API to a certain channel and tag a specific user, then prompt them to fill out a form. Then send an email, or update that row with the response.
Thanks, nice automation!
From the engineering perspective all these workflows constantly being added into various products can become a kind of nightmare when used simultaneously without any control. If this is a personal automation, then fine.
But for a company-wide or team-wide automations I'd suggest using as small number of platforms as possible and make a catalogue for automations. So, this catalogue works as a documentation for all the new custom workflows.
In reply to Thanks, nice automation!… by ed
Funny you mention that, because just last week I was digging through Zapier, n8n, and every platform's integration section, trying to figure out which one had the automation I needed to update. It can be hard to keep track of when you have multiple platforms triggering different automations in the same ecosystem of tools. Definitely agree on trying to centralize as much as possible. But I can't resist trying out new automation tools, and this one looks promising!
In reply to Thanks, nice automation!… by ed
Do you know of an existing process or tool that is widely used for this? It is absolutely becoming a critical issue. Perhaps an Appsmith app could help?
In reply to Do you know of an existing… by ron
Oh-oh, thanks for suggestion!
Last few weeks I was thinking about great concepts of DocsAsCode and DocOps. This is a kind of hot topic for technical writers for the last years.
I have an idea of making a catalogue of workflow via Appsmith and use n8n as an example. I first need to make a prototype and submit this to Hacktoberfest before going deep into details :D
In reply to Do you know of an existing… by ron
Awesome!
Great tutorial Joseph!