Requesting a bot integration with the Slack channel

Learn how to integrate an IBM RPA chatbot with Slack™ channel if you use the IBM RPA SaaS offering. This procedure includes a bot creation on Slack™, and the request of a chatbot instance.

Before you begin

This topic assumes that you have a chatbot script ready to deploy on the Slack™ channel. For more information on how to request a chatbot instance to integrate it with other communication channels, see Integrating the chatbot with channels in IBM RPA SaaS.

Requirements

Table 1. Licenses required to deploy a chatbot script.

License Minimum required
Bot Runtime 1¹

¹ You need at least one Bot Runtime license for each chatbot script. Go to the License page (https://localhost:8099/web/en-US/license) on the machine where IBM RPA was installed to view license data.

Important:Starting from version 23.0.3, the License page (https://localhost:8099/web/en-US/license) isn't available anymore because of the removal of License ID and License password and implementation of installation keys. For details on proxy, region, or status, go to the IBM RPA Client page (https://localhost:8099/web/en-US/ibmrpaclient) instead.

Procedure

Follow the steps to create a Slack bot and request a chatbot instance in IBM RPA:

  1. Create a bot in the Slack
  2. Open a case with the IBM support

Create a bot in the Slack

  1. Login or sign in to your Slack account 🡥.
  2. Create an Slack application 🡥.
    1. From the Create an app, click From scratch.
    2. Enter the Slack application name.
    3. Select the name of your development team.
  3. Add a redirect URL. See Add a new redirect URL 🡥 for instructions.
  4. From the Features menu, click App Home at the Slack™ API page.
    1. Click Edit to edit the app display name. Use the bot handle equal to the chosen to create the chatbot instance in the Default username field.
    2. Click the Save button.
    3. Select Always Show My Bot as Online to On.
  5. Add events subscriptions to the bot. See Subscribe to Bot Events 🡥 for instructions. Use the Bot handle you provided as the default username previously.
  6. Optional: Add Slack-specific functionalities to the bot. See Add and Configure Interactive Messages 🡥 for instructions.
  7. Get and save the Client ID, Client Secret, and Signing Secret data. See Gather credentials 🡥 for instructions.

Open a case with the IBM support

  1. Navigate to IBM Support 🡥.

  2. Open a case with support.

  3. Attach the following data on the case:

    • Chatbot name. Send the bot handle you provided as the default username to the Slack bot.
    • Communication channel name.
    • IBM RPA Control Center tenant name.
    • IBM RPA tenant's region, for example, AP1.

  4. Wait for support to contact you about scheduling a meeting.

The meeting schedule depends on the availability of the support, infrastructure, and you.

At the meeting, you must share the required data generated by Slack™ channel:

  1. Share the following data on the meeting:
    • Client ID
    • Client Secret
    • Signing Secret
  2. Wait until the configuration is complete.

What to do next

Follow the procedures to map the chatbot script and test it in the Slack™ channel:

  1. Create a chat mapping for your IBM RPA chatbot script.
  2. Test your Slack™ bot integration:
    1. Log in to the Slack workspace, for example, http://<YOUR_WORKSPACE>-group.slack.com/.
    2. See the bot listed under the Apps section.
    3. Write a message and send it to the bot.