Allow hubot to receive "private messages" (slash commands?)

[slackapi]

Allow hubot to receive "private messages" (slash commands?)

[patcon]

Maybe outgoing webhooks?
https://myteam.slack.com/services/new/outgoing-webhook

[modius]

When I was using HipChat you could send private HUBOT commands to a personal room with you and the HUBOT; HUBOT has to have its own user account.

Feels like I should be able to have HUBOT requests picked up in the "slackbot" direct chat window.

However it's handled, we really need the option to talk to HUBOT privately rather than polluting a channel with stuff. For now, should i be setting up a private channel for just me to talk to HUBOT on my lonesome?

[patcon]

Yeah, ability to rename slackbot to whatever your bot is, and to message him directly, would largely solve the root problem in a really clear way for end-users.

We created a #hubot channel and use it to run loud commands, talk about hubot, and test out new scripts. (Having said that, I've probably overloaded that room with too many uses :)

[modius]

A good start would be a flag on hubot integration to allow listening to slackbot 'channel'. That way we can chat privately to the service and nothing tricky is involved.

I'm not in favour of renaming poor slackbot ;)

[orlando]

any updates on this, I really want this feature,

btw.. Happy new year!

[andyfowler]

Hate to comment with a simple +1, but this is a pretty important one to us.

Our support team interacts with our Hubot throughout the day, and it's nice to have a separate "channel" just for that interaction. Overloading slash-commands wouldn't be as ideal.

[grantmd]

This is definitely coming, and is more something that needs to be supported on the Slack side. We're working on it in a general fashion for all integrations.

[orlando]

👍 yeah I hate to bump the thread without any contribution, but we can't do much about it in the hubot-slack side.

@grantmd thanks for the hard work

[altryne]

👍

[cmalven]

👍

[patcon]

This can be done without Slack's help :) Just have the adapter expose an endpoint to receive the payload from a /hubot slash command:
https://myteam.slack.com/services/new/slash-commands

EDIT: Wait. Confused. Just saw @grantmd's comment above... Am I wrong on that?

EDIT2: Ah. Incoming webhooks don't work for private messages. That's the hold-out, I guess :)

[evansolomon]

Incoming webhooks don't work for private messages

Not that it's really being debated here, but just to clarify, I consider this a feature (not a bug).

[atmos]

We replaced addressing our bot with / for the past few years and it's really convenient. I hate typing hubot image me pugs and the fact that slackbot is this thing that I don't use.

I'd love to be able to:

• rename slackbot
• alias all commands like /image me pugs to hubot image me pugs like this.

[patcon]

@evansolomon 👍

[altryne]

We went another way,
We needed Hubot to be behind firewall.
So instead of using this adapter, we talked to the slack team, and they suggested creating a "user" for hubot, and using the hubot-irc adapter.
Private messages work there seeing as hubot is one of the guys basically

[mseeks]

@altryne Did you have any more information about how to use hubot-irc with slack? I currently need the private message feature so if this method still works it'd be a great patch until this adapter has an official way.

[mseeks]

@altryne It took me a little while to find the IRC info in the dashboard, but I did so nevermind. Thanks anyway. :P

[orlando]

@alirayl could you point out where's the information? thanks :)

[altryne]

@orlando it's at https://my.slack.com/account/gateways
If the gateway for irc isn't there, you need to enable it, in the link above the page

[alirayl]

@orlando There's some general IRC/XMPP documentation to get you started at https://slack.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201727913-Connecting-to-Slack-over-IRC-and-XMPP. Please let me know if it's lacking in any way and I'll improve it!

[orlando]

@alirayl @altryne thanks! 👍

[lusis]

As a side note, we did the same thing (irc adapter to slack). We lose a bit of the richness of integrations formatting but that could be solved with a modified irc adapter that did a webhook to slack. In essence the irc adapter would be for listens but the webhook would be sending.

[lusis]

Note that this was because we needed to protect our hubot behind a firewall as well.

[altryne]

@lusis we did the same thing, hubot listens on irc, and responds over api if it's in a room, or via irc when it's a private 1on1 message

[lusis]

@altryne well now I don't feel so silly thinking about shaving that yak 👍

[jeffbyrnes]

👍 to this as well (yes, I read all the comments, and realize it's mostly on Slack's side). Might go the IRC route for now.

@altryne any chance you could show how you tweaked your Hubot to listen on IRC & respond via API?

[altryne]

Sure think @jeffbyrnes
Created a Gist for this
https://gist.github.com/altryne/885ae98ea36dd7c897f7

[jeffbyrnes]

Awesome, thanks!

[jeffbyrnes]

Should be pointed out, @grantmd gave a great response to the larger issue here (Hubot as a user) over on #1. Looks like they're exploring how best to handle that in Slack itself, so hopefully, with a little patience, well be able to DM the boy & see it in user lists in channels.

[arikscore]

👍
All comments are pretty old, even the ones promising an improved integration in the other thread.
Is there anything new on the issue?

[grantmd]

Very sorry for the radio silence on this, as I didn't want to say anything until I was more sure.

We are "weeks" away from the release of a new adapter as well as a ton of backend work to allow more integrations to do the things that the new adapter will do (can join private rooms, can be DMd, can be invited/kicked from rooms, will show up in presence lists, will autocomplete the username, etc).

Prior to the full release, we will be doing a beta of this new adapter. When we're ready to do that, I'll be contacting everyone who has asked about it on here. Thanks for your patience!

[ESPNMichaelKidd]

@grantmd I'd also be interested in the beta adapter, as it's available. Thanks for the hard work.

[myusuf3]

ummm I would like this new adapter swag if possible too. thanks @grantmd

[bobrik]

@grantmd count me in

[speier]

@grantmd great news, i'm definitely interested in a beta adapter as well, keep up the good work.

[altryne]

@grantmd will the new adapter be able to sit behind a firewall?
The current set-up we have at @Fundbox is we're connecting our own hubot with irc-adapter to the irc gateway. This allows for all the things you've written, DMs, etc', and he can send messages via incoming webhook to slack as well.
But it would be nice to remove one member of the team for a more robust integration you @slack devs

[dinesh2609]

@grantmd great news, i'm interested in a beta adapter as well. Awesome work Guys!

[Taytay]

I was reading through this a few hours ago, and am relieved to see @grantmd 's message now! That's great news! 👍

[chriscohoat]

@grantmd count me in too! Appreciate all of the hard work.

[interskh]

👍 Thanks @grantmd for the hard work! Would love to test beta adaptor 😄

[johnallendyer]

That's awesome @grantmd. If you need more eyes on it, count me in for the beta.

[aendra-rininsland]

+1 for beta — sounds rad.

[aughban]

beta would be great.

[jeffbyrnes]

👍

[bfirsh]

👍 would also be interested!

[tshedor]

+1 really appreciate this adapter and the work being done. Please count me in for the beta

[pefernandez]

Yes! what I've been waiting for to take our Hubot to a new level.

[wagmiwiz]

Also interested in beta testing the new adapter, good stuff!

[MarkPfennig]

also interested!

[iamhabitat]

I'm interested in the beta as well. Nice job!

[patbos]

Also interested in beta!

[tanookiben]

+1 😍

[jreichenberg]

+1 for beta testing...

[despairblue]

@grantmd I'm also interested in beta testing.

[akira-hamada]

@grantmd sounds great!! can I try it when it is ready?

[rowleyaj]

@grantmd Another for the beta testing please

[igor47]

i would also be interested in the beta

[bdashrad]

@grantmd I'd also be interested in trying the beta when it's available.

[davidmatas]

👍 @grantmd me too

[webhat]

👍 for beta

[hexedpackets]

@grantmd I'd love to try out the beta as well!

[justjake]

@grantmd I'd like to be in the beta as well!

[conwayanderson]

My team would also like to be part of this beta. Thanks!

[jswanner]

My team would like to take part of this beta as well.

[bslobodin]

Beta access please, 🍬.

[d-shi]

This is exciting! I would like to be part of the beta as well.

[geobmx540]

would also love beta access

[enthouan]

Would love be a part of the beta access!

[piotrdubiel]

I would like to be part of beta, please.

[mikehc]

Same here, our chat it's used by more than 100 people.

[albus522]

@grantmd also interested

[phillipuniverse]

@grantmd count me in for the beta to try this out! We love using Hubot+Slack and this would definitely take it to the next level for us!

[kevincennis]

@grantmd also interested in the beta. Thanks!

[MarkPfennig]

Is this being worked on? any ETA?

[sbrisko]

@grantmd We would also be interested in the beta.

[grantmd]

It's pretty close. Not sure at this point if we'll do an official beta for hubot itself or just make it available to everyone.

[rufo]

If there is a beta, I'd love to have it. Or if it's released, I'd be happy to use it :)

[akira-hamada]

sounds good 👍

[kenhowardpdx]

👍 Looking forward to this.

[colmdoyle]

As with the others, I'm keen to trial this.

[philsnow]

Please beta-enable me as well.

[davidchase]

👍 beta please :)

[ylansegal]

Beta please, please :)

[philsnow]

(my specific case is that I want Hubot to be able to respond to e.g. a "hubot ping" from an external webhook integration; I'm not sure at all that this will work in the beta but I'd like to try it out)

[chibicode]

@grantmd i'd like to enroll in beta as well!

[jpklein]

@grantmd whether it's beta or public release, please count me in 👍

[beardpapa]

I volunteer as tribute

[alexdixon]

I like betas!

[dhoffmann]

I'd like to enroll if possible

[Davst]

Interested in beta, looks like it has great promise!

[dgrebb]

I'd love to get in on the beta as well! Cheers, @grantmd :)

[lukerollans]

+1 for beta access. Our team uses a highly customized Hubot for development automation and some of the features discussed here would help us make output and reporting a lot cleaner.

[danielsmink]

I'd love beta access as well once it's available.

[mcdan]

+1 for beta - would love to be able to use slack but having a bot behind the firewall is integral.

[colorstain]

+1 for beta access, thanks @grantmd

[domdoescode]

+1 for beta too please! Thanks for all the hard work =D

[carera]

+1 beta plx

[halkon]

+1 beta

[vinay-nadig-0042]

+1 for Beta access please!

[dferramosi]

@grantmd I'm sure you are overwhelmed with requests but i would love access to that beta as well.