# Slack

[Slack](https://slack.com/intl/en-in/) is a popular business communication platform that lets you organize all your business-related chats by specific topics, groups, or direct messaging.

Find the open source transformer code for this destination in the [GitHub repository](https://github.com/rudderlabs/rudder-transformer/tree/main/src/v0/destinations/slack).

## Connection compatibility

{{< destination-config >}}

## Get started

Once you have confirmed that the source platform supports sending events to Slack, follow these steps:

1. From your [RudderStack dashboard](https://app.rudderstack.com/), add a source. Then, from the list of destinations, select **Slack**.
2. Assign a name to the destination and click **Continue**.

## Connection settings

To successfully configure Slack as a destination, you will need to configure the following settings:

### Event channel settings

Use the following settings to send an event to a particular Slack channel:

| Setting | Description | 
| :----| :----|
| Type of incoming webhooks | Select the API from the dropdown that RudderStack uses to send data to the particular Slack channel: <br /><br /> <table><tr><th>Setting</th><th>Description</th></tr><tr><td>**Legacy**</td><td>RudderStack maps the channel based on the **Event Channel Name** setting. This method may be deprecated soon.</td></tr><tr><td>**Modern (through app)**</td><td>RudderStack maps the channel based on the **Event Channel Webhook** setting.</td></tr></table> |
| Event Name | Enter the event name or regex to match the RudderStack event name. For example, the regex `^slack\.events\.[a-zA-Z_]+$` matches strings like: <br /><br /><ul><li>`slack.events.message`</li><li>`slack.events.reaction_added`</li><li>`slack.events.user_typing`</li></ul>{{< info >}}If an event matches a regex, then RudderStack uses the corresponding **Event Channel Webhook** and [**Event Template**](#event-template-settings) (if specified).{{< /info >}}  |
| Event Channel Webhook | Enter the webhook URL of the Slack channel where RudderStack sends the above event. This is a **required** field if you have set **Type of incoming webhooks** setting to **Modern**. <br /><br />**Note**: To get the URL for **Event Channel Webhook** setting, make sure to:<br /><br /><ol><li>Create a Slack app with the **Incoming Webhooks** feature.</li><li>Authorize the app to post to your specified Slack channel.</li></ol> See [Sending messages using Incoming Webhooks](https://api.slack.com/messaging/webhooks#getting_started) for more information. |
| Event Channel Name | Enter the Slack channel's name where RudderStack should send the above event using the [legacy method](https://api.slack.com/legacy/custom-integrations/messaging/webhooks). You can specify `#channel_name` or `@user_name`.  <br /><br />**Note**: If not specified, RudderStack sends the events to the Slack channel associated with the incoming webhook URL (see **Webhook URL** setting below). |
| Regex Matching  | Turn on this setting if you are specifying a regular expression in the **Event Name** setting.  <br /><br />{{< info >}}RudderStack adds the global `g` parameter implicitly. Hence, you need not add it with the regex.{{< /info >}} |

### Identify template settings

| Setting | Description | 
| :----| :----|
| Identify Template | Specify the template used to transform the `identify` event before sending it to Slack. RudderStack uses the following default template: <br /><br /><pre>Identified {{name}} <traits_key>:<traits_value> <traits_key2>:<traits_value2> ....</pre> <br /><br />**Note**: Here, the traits key and value are the key-value pairs in the `traits` object of the [`identify`]({{< ref "event-spec/standard-events/identify.md" >}}) event payload. |

RudderStack determines the `{{name}}` field in the above template from either of the following:

- `traits.name`
- `traits.firstName + traits.lastName`
- `traits.username`
- `properties.email`
- `traits.email`
- `userId`
- `anonymousId`

{{< info >}}
RudderStack considers only the traits listed in the **Allowlisted Traits** setting as a part of the identify template and ignores any other traits.
{{< /info >}}

### Event template settings

Use the following settings to transform an event before sending it to Slack:

| Setting | Description | 
| :----| :----|
| Event Name | Enter the event name or regex to match the RudderStack event name. For example, the regex `^slack\.events\.[a-zA-Z_]+$` matches strings like: <br /><br /><ul><li>`slack.events.message`</li><li>`slack.events.reaction_added`</li><li>`slack.events.user_typing`</li></ul> |
| Event Template | Specify the template used to transform the above event. <br /><br />**Note**: RudderStack uses the following template by default and determines `name` similar to the [**Identify Template**](#identify-template-settings) setting described above. <br /><br /><pre>{{name}} did {{event}}</pre> |
| Regex Matching | Turn on this setting if you are specifying a regular expression in the **Event Name** setting. |

{{< success >}}
RudderStack also provides a `{{newline}}` helper for your [Identify](#identify-template-settings) and [Event](#event-template-settings) templates to create multi-line Slack messages for better readability. 

See the [Built-in helpers](#built-in-helpers) section for more information on using this helper.
{{< /success >}}

### Incoming webhook URL settings

{{< info >}}
RudderStack sends all the events to the channel associated with the incoming webhook URL by default.
{{< /info >}}

| Setting | Description | 
| :----| :----|
| Webhook URL | Enter your Slack's [incoming webhook URL](https://my.slack.com/services/new/incoming-webhook/). <br /><br />See the [FAQ](#faq) section for more information on obtaining this URL. |

### Other settings

| Setting | Description | 
| :----| :----|
| Allowlisted Traits | Specify the user traits you want to allowlist.<br /><br />**Note**: If not specified, RudderStack sends **all** the user traits to Slack. |
| Denylisted Events | Enter the events to add to your denylist, causing RudderStack to drop these events. |
| Consent management settings | Configure the consent management settings for the specified source by choosing the **Consent management provider** from the dropdown and entering the relevant consent category IDs. <br /><br />See [Consent Management in RudderStack]({{< ref "data-governance/consent-management/overview.md" >}}) for more information on this feature. |

## Handlebar expressions

RudderStack supports [Handlebar expressions](https://handlebarsjs.com/guide/expressions.html) by leveraging the `handlebars.js` library for including the variables into your dynamic Slack messages.

### Accessible Variables

The following table lists the variables you can select in your template messages:

| Handlebar expression | Output |
| :----------------- | :----------- |
| `{{name}}` | Identity name of the user in the priority order listed above. |
| `{{event}}` | Event name, for example, `Product Viewed` or `user login`.                    |
| `{{key_1}}` <br /> `{{properties.key_1}}` | The property values from the event's properties object. |
| `{{propertiesList}}` | JSON stringified version of your `properties` object. |
| `{{traits}}` | JSON stringified version of your traits object.     |
| `{{traitsList.key_1}}` | The trait values from the event's `traits` object. |

### Built-in helpers

RudderStack also provides built-in Handlebars helpers to enhance your message formatting:

| Helper | Description | 
| :---| :---|
| `{{newline}}` | Inserts a line break in your Slack message. |

Some examples of using the Handlebars expressions with the `{{newline}}` helper **after** configuring the relevant dashboard settings are shown below:

{{< tabs tabTotal="3" >}}
{{% tab tabName="Multi-line Identify template" %}}

- **Handlebars expression**

```text
Identified {{name}}{{newline}}Email: {{traits.email}}{{newline}}Country: {{traits.country}}
```

- **CorrespondingSlack message**

```text
Identified Alex Keener
Email: alex@example.com
Country: USA
```
{{% /tab %}}
{{% tab tabName="Multi-line Event template" %}}

- **Handlebars expression**

```text
{{name}} completed purchase{{newline}}Order ID: {{properties.orderId}}
```

- **Corresponding Slack message**

```text
Alex Keener completed purchase
Order ID: 12345
```
{{% /tab %}}
{{% tab tabName="Order summary template" %}}

- **Handlebars expression**

```text
New Order Alert!{{newline}}{{newline}}Customer: {{name}}{{newline}}Event: {{event}}{{newline}}Amount: ${{properties.revenue}}{{newline}}Items: {{properties.item_count}}
```

- **Corresponding Slack message**

```text
New Order Alert!

Customer: Alex Keener
Event: Order Completed
Amount: $100
Items: 2
```
{{% /tab %}}
{{< /tabs >}}

### Escaped content

The values returned by `{{variable}}` are [HTML-escaped](https://handlebarsjs.com/guide/expressions.html#html-escaping). 

For example, if a `variable` has a `&` in its value, then it will be returned as `&amp;`. To avoid this behavior, you can use the **triple curly braces** instead of double braces, like `{{{variable}}}` instead of `{{variable}}`—this will stop the handlebars from escaping a value if there is one. See the following example:

| Expression       | Variable         | Result               |
| :--------------- | :--------------- | :------------------- |
| `{{variable}}`   | `"Marcia & Jan"` | `"Marcia &amp; Jan"` |
| `{{{variable}}}` | `"Marcia & Jan"` | `"Marcia & Jan"`     |

## Identify

The [`identify`]({{< ref "event-spec/standard-events/identify.md" >}}) call lets you identify a visiting user and associate them to their actions. It also lets you record the traits about them like their name, email address, etc.

#### End-to-end example

The following is an end-to-end example of how a `identify` call translates to a Slack message depending on your dashboard settings:

If you set the [Identify template](#identify-template-settings) as follows:

- [Allowlisted traits](#other-settings): `email`, `city`, `country`
- Identify template:

```text
Welcome {{name}}!{{newline}}Email: {{traits.email}}{{newline}}Plan: {{traits.plan}}{{newline}}Location: {{traits.city}}, {{traits.country}}
```

Then, for the following `identify` call:

```javascript
rudderanalytics.identify("1hKOmRA4GRlm", {
  name: "Alex Keener",
  email: "alex@example.com",
  plan: "Premium",  // This won't appear since it's not allowlisted
  city: "San Francisco",
  country: "USA",
  phone: "+1234567890"  // This won't appear since it's not allowlisted
});
```

You will see the following message in your configured Slack channel:

```text
Welcome Alex Keener!
Email: alex@example.com
Location: San Francisco, USA
```

## Track

The [`track`]({{< ref "event-spec/standard-events/track.md" >}}) call lets you record the user events, that is, the actions your users perform, along with any properties associated with these actions.

#### End-to-end example

The following is an end-to-end example of how a `track` call translates to a Slack message depending on your dashboard settings:

Suppose you configure the [Event template settings](#event-template-settings) as follows:

- Event name: `Product Purchased`
- Event template:

```text
{{name}} just bought something!{{newline}}Product: {{properties.product_name}}{{newline}}Price: ${{properties.price}}{{newline}}Order ID: {{properties.order_id}}{{newline}}Quantity: {{properties.quantity}}
```

- [Allowlisted traits](#other-settings): `name`, `email`, `city`, `country` (affects the `{{name}}` resolution and available traits)

Then, if you [identify](#identify) the user as follows:

```javascript
rudderanalytics.identify("1hKOmRA4GRlm", {
  name: "Alex Keener",
  email: "alex@example.com",
  plan: "Premium",  // This won't appear since it's not allowlisted
  city: "San Francisco",
  country: "USA",
  phone: "+1234567890"  // This won't appear since it's not allowlisted
});
```

And then, you send a `track` call as follows:

```javascript
rudderanalytics.track("Product Purchased", {
  product_name: "Wireless Headphones",
  price: 149.99,
  order_id: "ORD-2025-619",
  quantity: 1,
  category: "Electronics"  // This will be available as {{properties.category}}
});
```

You will see the following message in your configured Slack channel:

```text
Alex Keener just bought something!
Product: Wireless Headphones
Price: $149.99
Order ID: ORD-2025-619
Quantity: 1
Category: Electronics
```

## FAQ

#### How do I obtain the incoming webhook URL?

To obtain the webhook URL, follow the below steps:

1. Click your Slack workspace name, then go to **Administration** > **Manage Apps**.
2. Search for **Incoming webhooks** in the Slack app directory and add it to Slack by clicking on **Add to Slack**.
3. Select a channel where you want to post the messages forwarded by the webhook and click **Add Incoming webhooks integration**.

{{< image src="images/event-stream-destinations/choose-channel-slack.webp" alt="Slack connection settings" >}}

4. Finally, copy the webhook URL and enter it in the RudderStack dashboard.

{{< image src="images/event-stream-destinations/webhook-url-slack.webp" alt="Slack connection settings" >}}

#### Why am I getting Slack messages for all the incoming events in one channel?

By default, RudderStack sends all the events to the Slack channel associated with the incoming webhook URL (**Webhook URL** setting in the RudderStack dashboard).

To get specific events in a particular channel, make sure you specify the mappings using the **Event Name** and **Event Channel** settings.

<br />