Create the Slack app
Ten minutes, and the only part that touches Slack's settings. The manifest does most of it; the rest is three values and an invite.
1. Create the app from the manifest
Go to api.slack.com/apps, choose Create New App, then From an app manifest, pick your workspace, and paste the contents of slack-manifest.yaml from the repository.
The manifest sets the scopes, the slash commands, the event subscriptions and the App Home tab in one go, which is why it is worth using rather than clicking through the settings.
2. Add your redirect URL
Under OAuth & Permissions, add:
https://your-domain/oauth/callbackThis has to match the APP_URL you configured, including https.
3. Copy three values
From Basic Information, copy the client id, client secret and signing secret into your environment or Helm values. The signing secret is what lets the app verify a request genuinely came from Slack; without it every event is rejected.
4. What it asks for, and why
Scopes are the part people read carefully, so here is each group and what it is for.
channels:read,groups:read: to see who is in the channel a standup or a coffee chat draws from.chat:write: to post the summary and the introductions.im:write,im:history: to ask each person their questions in a DM and read their answers to it.users:read,users:read.email: names and email, for the dashboard and the digest.users.profile:read: timezones, so nobody is asked at midnight.mpim:write,mpim:history: the group DM a coffee chat introduction happens in. Only needed if you turn coffee chats on.emoji:read: so kudos can use a custom token from your workspace.reactions:write: the 🎉 under each celebration post. A workspace that has not granted it still gets the posts, without the reaction.commands: the slash commands.
There is no scope for reading channel history, because the app never does.
If you installed before coffee chats existed, your workspace will not have granted the three mpim scopes. Coffee chats stay dark until you reinstall, rather than failing at runtime, and the dashboard tells you which scopes are missing.
5. Install and invite
Open your app URL, authorise, and you are the first admin. Then invite the bot to the channel the summary posts in, and to any channel you want coffee chats to pair from. The bot has to be in the channel before a standup can post there:
/invite @MorgenrufSlash commands you get
/standup: start your standup now/skip: skip today/kudos @teammate a reason: give recognition/help: what the bot can do/morgenruf profile: your member profile, the birthday and start date celebrations read
About the Slack app
Why does it ask for so many scopes?
It does not ask for all of them at once. Standups need the basics: reading channel membership, writing messages, and opening DMs. Coffee chats add three more, because a group introduction is a multi-person DM. Kudos needs emoji read access to use your own token. A workspace that never turns on coffee chats never grants those scopes.
What are the three extra coffee chat scopes?
mpim:write and mpim:history, to open and follow the group DM an introduction lives in, and users.profile:read, to know each person's timezone so a suggested hour is not the middle of their night.
Can I restrict it to one channel?
Yes. The bot only acts in channels it has been invited to, and each standup names its own channel. Nothing happens anywhere it has not been asked.
Does it read our messages?
No. It reads replies to its own DMs and the membership of channels you point it at. It has no scope to read channel history.
Who becomes the admin?
Whoever installs the app. That person can promote others, hand out per-feature grants, and always counts as an admin even if their member row is removed, so a workspace cannot lock itself out.