In this tutorial, you'll see how you can use Socket Mode to receive events anytime your app is mentioned. We'll show you how apps can respond to these events with a helpful message.
Quickly create an app with the correct configuration of scopes and features for this tutorial by clicking below.
Bolt is the swiftest way to start building on the Slack Platform. Before you proceed with this tutorial, follow our Getting Started with Bolt for JavaScript, Python, and Java guides to get setup and ready to build.
Socket Mode allows your app to use the Events API and interactive components of the platform—without exposing a public HTTP Request URL.
Instead of sending payloads to a public endpoint, Slack will use a WebSocket URL to communicate with your app.
Socket Mode helps developers working behind a corporate firewall, or who have other security concerns that don't allow exposing a static HTTP endpoint.
Even if you're just getting started and building something for your team, using Socket Mode with our Bolt frameworks for Javascript, Python, or Java is the quickest way to access the full set of Slack platform features.
Using Socket Mode when you're using the Bolt framework is extremely simple.
First, grab your app-level token from the Basic Information section of your app's config and set it as an environmental variable:
export SLACK_APP_TOKEN='xapp-***'
Next make a simple change to your basic Bolt initialisation code:
package hello;
import com.slack.api.bolt.App;
import com.slack.api.bolt.AppConfig;
import com.slack.api.bolt.socket_mode.SocketModeApp;
import com.slack.api.model.event.AppMentionEvent;
// Required dependencies:
// implementation("com.slack.api:bolt-socket-mode:(latest version)")
// implementation("org.glassfish.tyrus.bundles:tyrus-standalone-client:1.17")
public class MyApp {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
String botToken = System.getenv("SLACK_BOT_TOKEN");
App app = new App(AppConfig.builder().singleTeamBotToken(botToken).build());
String appToken = System.getenv("SLACK_APP_TOKEN");
SocketModeApp socketModeApp = new SocketModeApp(appToken, app);
socketModeApp.start();
}
}Code to initialize Bolt app// Require the Node Slack SDK package (github.com/slackapi/node-slack-sdk) const { WebClient, LogLevel } = require("@slack/web-api"); // WebClient instantiates a client that can call API methods // When using Bolt, you can use either `app.client` or the `client` passed to listeners. const client = new WebClient("xoxb-your-token", { // LogLevel can be imported and used to make debugging simpler logLevel: LogLevel.DEBUG });const { App } = require('@slack/bolt'); const app = new App({ token: process.env.BOT_TOKEN, appToken: process.env.SLACK_APP_TOKEN, socketMode: true, }); (async () => { await app.start(); console.log('⚡️ Bolt app started'); })();
import os
from slack_bolt import App
from slack_bolt.adapter.socket_mode import SocketModeHandler
# Install the Slack app and get xoxb- token in advance
app = App(token=os.environ["SLACK_BOT_TOKEN"])
if __name__ == "__main__":
SocketModeHandler(app, os.environ["SLACK_APP_TOKEN"]).start()Using Bolt, you can quickly build an event listener for the Events API.
Here we'll listen for the app_mention event type, which is sent whenever your app is @mentioned in a Slack channel. After we receive it, we'll send a brief message in response, to the same channel the mention was posted in:
package hello;
import com.slack.api.bolt.App;
import com.slack.api.bolt.AppConfig;
import com.slack.api.bolt.socket_mode.SocketModeApp;
import com.slack.api.model.event.AppMentionEvent;
// Required dependencies:
// implementation("com.slack.api:bolt-socket-mode:(latest version)")
// implementation("org.glassfish.tyrus.bundles:tyrus-standalone-client:1.17")
public class MyApp {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
String botToken = System.getenv("SLACK_BOT_TOKEN");
App app = new App(AppConfig.builder().singleTeamBotToken(botToken).build());
app.event(AppMentionEvent.class, (req, ctx) -> {
ctx.say("Hi there!");
return ctx.ack();
});
String appToken = System.getenv("SLACK_APP_TOKEN");
SocketModeApp socketModeApp = new SocketModeApp(appToken, app);
socketModeApp.start();
}
}Code to initialize Bolt app// Require the Node Slack SDK package (github.com/slackapi/node-slack-sdk) const { WebClient, LogLevel } = require("@slack/web-api"); // WebClient instantiates a client that can call API methods // When using Bolt, you can use either `app.client` or the `client` passed to listeners. const client = new WebClient("xoxb-your-token", { // LogLevel can be imported and used to make debugging simpler logLevel: LogLevel.DEBUG });const { App } = require('@slack/bolt'); const app = new App({ token: process.env.BOT_TOKEN, appToken: process.env.SLACK_APP_TOKEN, socketMode: true, }); (async () => { await app.start(); console.log('⚡️ Bolt app started'); })(); // subscribe to 'app_mention' event in your App config // need app_mentions:read and chat:write scopes app.event('app_mention', async ({ event, context, client, say }) => { try { await say({"blocks": [ { "type": "section", "text": { "type": "mrkdwn", "text": `Thanks for the mention <@${event.user}>! Here's a button` }, "accessory": { "type": "button", "text": { "type": "plain_text", "text": "Button", "emoji": true }, "value": "click_me_123", "action_id": "first_button" } } ]}); } catch (error) { console.error(error); } });
import os
from slack_bolt import App
from slack_bolt.adapter.socket_mode import SocketModeHandler
# Install the Slack app and get xoxb- token in advance
app = App(token=os.environ["SLACK_BOT_TOKEN"])
@app.command("/hello-socket-mode")
def hello_command(ack, body):
user_id = body["user_id"]
ack(f"Hi, <@{user_id}>!")
@app.event("app_mention")
def event_test(say):
say("Hi there!")
if __name__ == "__main__":
SocketModeHandler(app, os.environ["SLACK_APP_TOKEN"]).start()Now that you've built a simple event handling app, you can take things a step further by adding other platform features. For example, your response message could be interactive, allowing the app_mention to trigger a longer-running work flow.
Check out our tutorial on Publishing Interactive Notifications to see how you could proceed.