In this article, let me get you through the steps to integrate Hubot (a chatbot app) with slack . Have you thought of having a chatbot who can automate most of your office works? like Jarvis of Tony Stark (not exactly 😛 ). If yes, go ahead and read this article.
If you are not familiar with Hubot, visit official page here >>. You should already be familiar with Slack which is a popular office chat application. Let’s start integrating Hubot with Slack.
Step 1: Install NodeJS and NPM for Hubot.
This is the first step to integrate Hubot with Slack. Let’s bring up a Linux box and install NodeJS and NPM (NPM is a package manager of javascript modules) on it.
In Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get update curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo bash - #It downloads PPA for latest LTS version of nodejs sudo apt install nodejs
In CentOS/RedHat:
yum update sudo yum install epel-release sudo yum install nodejs sudo yum install npm
Once done, check version of NPM and NodeJS to verify it was properly installed.
node -v npm -v
Step 2: Install Hubot on the box.
Once you have installed NodeJS and NPM. You can proceed with installation of Hubot package. Let’s start by installing Yeoman which would be used to kickstart our Hubot chatbot.
sudo npm install -g yo generator-hubot
Output would look like this:
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~$ sudo npm install -g yo generator-hubot npm WARN deprecated CSSselect@0.4.1: the module is now available as 'css-select' npm WARN deprecated CSSwhat@0.4.7: the module is now available as 'css-what' npm WARN deprecated simple-bufferstream@0.0.4: no longer maintained npm WARN deprecated minimatch@2.0.10: Please update to minimatch 3.0.2 or higher to avoid a RegExp DoS issue npm WARN deprecated minimatch@0.3.0: Please update to minimatch 3.0.2 or higher to avoid a RegExp DoS issue npm WARN deprecated cross-spawn-async@2.2.5: cross-spawn no longer requires a build toolchain, use it instead /usr/bin/yo -> /usr/lib/node_modules/yo/lib/cli.js /usr/bin/yo-complete -> /usr/lib/node_modules/yo/lib/completion/index.js > spawn-sync@1.0.15 postinstall /usr/lib/node_modules/yo/node_modules/spawn-sync > node postinstall > yo@2.0.5 postinstall /usr/lib/node_modules/yo > yodoctor Yeoman Doctor Running sanity checks on your system ✔ Global configuration file is valid ✔ NODE_PATH matches the npm root ✔ Node.js version ✔ No .bowerrc file in home directory ✔ No .yo-rc.json file in home directory ✔ npm version ✔ yo version Everything looks all right! + yo@2.0.5 + generator-hubot@0.4.0 added 845 packages from 303 contributors in 15.834s
Now create a directory jarvis and switch to the directory. Note: This directory name would be your bot name.
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~$ mkdir jarvis vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~$ cd jarvis/
Now use Yeoman to kickstart your chatbot Jarvis , for that run below command.
yo hubot
Output would look like this:
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~/jarvis$ yo hubot
? ==========================================================================
We're constantly looking for ways to make yo better!
May we anonymously report usage statistics to improve the tool over time?
More info: https://github.com/yeoman/insight & http://yeoman.io
========================================================================== Yes
_____________________________
/ \
//\ | Extracting input for |
////\ _____ | self-replication process |
//////\ /_____\ \ /
======= |[^_/\_]| /----------------------------
| | _|___@@__|__
+===+/ /// \_\
| |_\ /// HUBOT/\\
|___/\// / \\
\ / +---+
\____/ | |
| //| +===+
\// |xx|
? Owner Nijil
? Bot name jarvis
? Description Slack Bot
? Bot adapter campfire
create bin/hubot
create bin/hubot.cmd
create Procfile
create README.md
create external-scripts.json
create hubot-scripts.json
create .gitignore
create package.json
create scripts/example.coffee
create .editorconfig
_____________________________
_____ / \
\ \ | Self-replication process |
| | _____ | complete... |
|__\\| /_____\ \ Good luck with that. /
|//+ |[^_/\_]| /----------------------------
| | _|___@@__|__
+===+/ /// \_\
| |_\ /// HUBOT/\\
|___/\// / \\
\ / +---+
\____/ | |
| //| +===+
\// |xx|
npm notice created a lockfile as package-lock.json. You should commit this file.
+ hubot-maps@0.0.3
+ hubot-google-translate@0.2.1
+ hubot-pugme@0.1.1
+ hubot-scripts@2.17.2
+ hubot-google-images@0.2.7
+ hubot@3.2.0
+ hubot-help@1.0.1
+ hubot-diagnostics@1.0.0
+ hubot-redis-brain@1.0.0
+ hubot-heroku-keepalive@1.0.3
+ hubot-shipit@0.2.1
+ hubot-rules@1.0.0
added 91 packages from 53 contributors and audited 178 packages in 7.974s
found 0 vulnerabilities
Once done, start your Jarvis chatbot by running below command.
./bin/hubot
Output would look like this:
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~/jarvis$ ./bin/hubot audited 178 packages in 1.714s found 0 vulnerabilities body-parser deprecated undefined extended: provide extended option node_modules/hubot/src/robot.js:446:21 jarvis> [Mon Feb 11 2019 15:49:04 GMT+0000 (UTC)] WARNING Loading scripts from hubot-scripts.json is deprecated and will be removed in 3.0 (https://github.com/github/hubot-scripts/issues/1113) in favor of packages for each script. Your hubot-scripts.json is empty, so you just need to remove it. [Mon Feb 11 2019 15:49:04 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO hubot-redis-brain: Using default redis on localhost:6379 [Mon Feb 11 2019 15:49:04 GMT+0000 (UTC)] ERROR hubot-heroku-keepalive included, but missing HUBOT_HEROKU_KEEPALIVE_URL. `heroku config:set HUBOT_HEROKU_KEEPALIVE_URL=$(heroku apps:info -s | grep web.url | cut -d= -f2)` jarvis>
At this point, you will see a prompt where you can interact with your chatbot. Let’s talk to our chatbot for the first time. For example,
jarvis> @jarvis ping jarvis> PONG
Step 3: Integrate Hubot with Slack.
Let’s integrate Hubot with Slack. To do this, you need to install hubot-slack on the box. Let’s do it.
cd jarvis/ npm install hubot-slack --save
Open Slack account in the browsers https://your_workspace_name.slack.com . And then expand your Workspace settings by clicking Workspace name on the top-left side of your page. Here my Workspace name is easyaslinux .
Then Click on Customize Slack .
Then Click Configure apps .
You will see a new tab opened on your browser. Search our Hubot application and Click on it.
Next, Click Add Configuration .
Next, give a name for your chatbot. I gave Jarvis – the one and only. Then Click Add Hubot Integration .
Make note of API token shown on the next page and Click Save Integration .
Now go to the box where Hubot is installed, and run below command.
HUBOT_SLACK_TOKEN=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ./bin/hubot --adapter slack
Output would look like this.
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~/jarvis$ HUBOT_SLACK_TOKEN=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ./bin/hubot --adapter slack audited 269 packages in 1.818s found 0 vulnerabilities body-parser deprecated undefined extended: provide extended option node_modules/hubot/src/robot.js:446:21 [Sat Feb 16 2019 07:50:34 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO hubot-slack adapter v4.6.0 warn: SlackDataStore is deprecated and will be removed in the next major version. See project documentation for a migration guide. warn: SlackDataStore is deprecated and will be removed in the next major version. See project documentation for a migration guide. [Sat Feb 16 2019 07:50:34 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Logged in as @jarvis in workspace easyaslinux [Sat Feb 16 2019 07:50:35 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Connected to Slack RTM [Sat Feb 16 2019 07:50:35 GMT+0000 (UTC)] WARNING Loading scripts from hubot-scripts.json is deprecated and will be removed in 3.0 (https://github.com/github/hubot-scripts/issues/1113) in favor of packages for each script. Your hubot-scripts.json is empty, so you just need to remove it. [Sat Feb 16 2019 07:50:35 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO hubot-redis-brain: Using default redis on localhost:6379 [Sat Feb 16 2019 07:50:35 GMT+0000 (UTC)] ERROR hubot-heroku-keepalive included, but missing HUBOT_HEROKU_KEEPALIVE_URL. `heroku config:set HUBOT_HEROKU_KEEPALIVE_URL=$(heroku apps:info -s | grep web.url | cut -d= -f2)`
This command should be running for the chatbot to be online. You should see Jarvis online now under Apps section.
Now invite Jarvis to a channel like you invite a person.
/invite @jarvis
And say first Hello.
Congratulation! You have intergrated Hubot with slack. Now make your chatbot to do anything you want. You can add more intelligence to the chatbot by writing JavaScript or CoffeeScript and put it in directory scripts which located in the main bot directory . More info here >>
Step4: Daemonize Hubot service for production(Optional):
Now the Hubot service is a foreground process. Whenever you exit terminal, the process also exits. It cannot be like this if you are planning to setup the chatbot for production. Let’s daemonize it.
As all Linux distributions are adopting Systemd as initsystem, I will explain how you can daemonize Hubot service with Systemd.
Let’s create a run file for the Hubot service. Create file /root/hubot_run.sh and add content given below.
#!/bin/bash cd chatbot_directory && HUBOT_SLACK_TOKEN=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ./bin/hubot --adapter slack
Make it executable.
sudo chmod 755 /root/hubot_run.sh
Now create a Systemd unit file for the Hubot service.
sudo touch /etc/systemd/system/hubot.service
And add following content.
[Unit] Description=Hubot service After=network.target StartLimitIntervalSec=0 [Service] Type=simple Restart=always RestartSec=1 User=root ExecStart=/bin/bash /root/hubot_run.sh [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Now Reload Systemd units and start the Hubot service.
sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl start hubot
Let’s check status of the Hubot service.
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~/jarvis/scripts$ sudo systemctl status hubot
● hubot.service - Jarvis bot service
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/hubot.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2019-02-16 09:33:43 UTC; 2min 59s ago
Main PID: 7274 (bash)
Tasks: 11 (limit: 1152)
CGroup: /system.slice/hubot.service
├─7274 /bin/bash /root/hubot_run.sh
└─7281 node node_modules/.bin/coffee node_modules/.bin/hubot --name jarvis --adapter slack
Feb 16 09:33:46 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: Sat, 16 Feb 2019 09:33:46 GMT body-parser deprecated undefined extended: provide extended option at node_modules/hubot/src/ro
Feb 16 09:33:46 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: [Sat Feb 16 2019 09:33:46 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO hubot-slack adapter v4.6.0
Feb 16 09:33:46 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: warn: SlackDataStore is deprecated and will be removed in the next major version. See project documentation for a migration g
Feb 16 09:33:46 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: warn: SlackDataStore is deprecated and will be removed in the next major version. See project documentation for a migration g
Feb 16 09:33:47 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: [Sat Feb 16 2019 09:33:47 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Logged in as @jarvis in workspace easyaslinux
Feb 16 09:33:47 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: [Sat Feb 16 2019 09:33:47 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO Connected to Slack RTM
Feb 16 09:33:47 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: [Sat Feb 16 2019 09:33:47 GMT+0000 (UTC)] WARNING Loading scripts from hubot-scripts.json is deprecated and will be removed i
Feb 16 09:33:47 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: Your hubot-scripts.json is empty, so you just need to remove it.
Feb 16 09:33:47 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: [Sat Feb 16 2019 09:33:47 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO hubot-redis-brain: Using default redis on localhost:6379
Feb 16 09:33:47 ubuntu-bionic bash[7274]: [Sat Feb 16 2019 09:33:47 GMT+0000 (UTC)] ERROR hubot-heroku-keepalive included, but missing HUBOT_HEROKU_KEEPALIVE_URL. `her
Use the enable command to ensure that the Hubot service starts whenever the system boots.
sudo systemctl enable hubot
Hurray 🙂 You have completed the course for integrating Hubot with Slack.
As I mentioned above, you can add more intelligence to the chatbot by writing JavaScript or CoffeeScript and put it in directory scripts which located in the main bot directory . More info here >>
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