Slack API - queue for retrieving slash commands

1
votes

I am tasked with building a Slack slash command app in Python which will respond to incoming slash commands. However, for security reasons, I am not allowed to open the firewall for incoming webhooks from Slack. Is there instead a way to check a queue of sent slash commands?

For example, a user types "/myslashapp" in a specific channel. My app will need to do something like call an endpoint every 30 seconds and check if the "/myslashapp" command was sent. If it was, my app should trigger a Lambda function in AWS.

Based on reading the Slack API docs, I haven't found any way to do this other than perhaps the RTM API, though it seems like overkill and still requires an open socket.

1
pythonslackslack-api

1 Answers

2
votes

No. The Slack API has no build-in support that allows you to pull requests after-the-fact from a queue instead of receiving them from Slack when they happen.

The RTM API might work for you, because the connection to Slack is initiated from your side. So - provided you firewall allows it - would also work from within an intranet. However, you can not do slash commands with the RTM API or any of the other interesting interactive Slack features like buttons. Only simple messages and events.

You could implement your own bridging solution and pull from it. But I don't think that a pulling solution would work, because it creates a lot of latency for your app. Users expect an immediate response to their slash command, not a delay of 30 secs or more.

So in summary I think you only have two valid options:

  • Host your app internally and use a secure VPN like ngrok to expose a public URL to your app.

  • Run your app on the Internet and let it have a secure connection to your Intranet for accessing internal data. (similar to e.g. a shopping web site would work, that has a public app on the Internet, but also can transmit orders to the business applications on the companies Intranet.)