R2-D2 or Skynet?

Combining Slack Bots with the Twilio API

Twilio SIGNAL | May 2016

Don Goodman-Wilson | @degoodmanwilson | Slack

Matthew Makai | @mattmakai | Twilio

Launch: Phone Calls in Slack

  • Open source bot code
  • Twilio /blog post
  • @twilio tweet

Draw the Owl Bot

Slack Web API

  • RPC-style API
  • Not REST
  • Calls not idempotent or stateless
  • Requires auth token
  • Returns JSON

Slack Web API

chat.postMessage

rtm.start

Real Time API

  • WebSockets
  • Event stream
  • Firehose 🚒
  • Can post simple messages

Let's launch!

Build a Great Bot

  • Automates tedious tasks
  • Gets out of the way
  • Assists when thing fail

For every interaction you design, ask yourself:

Is this making your customers' working lives

simpler

more pleasant,

and more productive?

Thanks for launching!

Don Goodman-Wilson

Matt Makai