Rails Integration

Integrate ChatSDK with Rails using initializers, routes, credentials, and background jobs.

ChatSDK integrates cleanly with Rails. This guide covers the recommended setup.

Initializer

Create an initializer that configures your bot as a singleton:

# config/initializers/chat_bot.rb
require "chat_sdk"
require "chat_sdk/slack"

module ChatBot
  def self.instance
    @instance ||= build
  end

  private_class_method def self.build
    slack = ChatSDK::Slack::Adapter.new(
      bot_token: Rails.application.credentials.dig(:slack, :bot_token),
      signing_secret: Rails.application.credentials.dig(:slack, :signing_secret)
    )

    state = if Rails.env.production?
      require "chat_sdk-state-redis"
      ChatSDK::State::Redis.new(url: ENV["REDIS_URL"])
    else
      ChatSDK::State::Memory.new
    end

    bot = ChatSDK::Chat.new(
      user_name: "my-bot",
      adapters: { slack: slack },
      state: state,
      log_level: Rails.env.production? ? :info : :debug
    )

    # Register handlers
    bot.on_new_mention do |thread, message|
      thread.post("Hello from Rails, #{message.author.name}!")
    end

    bot.on_action("approve_btn") do |event|
      event.thread.post("Approved!")
    end

    bot
  end
end

Routes

Mount the webhook endpoint in your routes file:

# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  mount ChatBot.instance.webhooks[:slack] => "/webhooks/slack"

  # Or, if using multiple adapters:
  # mount ChatBot.instance.webhooks.router => "/webhooks"
end

Set your Slack app's Event Subscriptions Request URL to https://your-app.com/webhooks/slack.

Multi-Adapter Setup

If your bot talks to multiple platforms:

# config/initializers/chat_bot.rb
slack = ChatSDK::Slack::Adapter.new
teams = ChatSDK::Teams::Adapter.new

bot = ChatSDK::Chat.new(
  user_name: "my-bot",
  adapters: { slack: slack, teams: teams },
  state: ChatSDK::State::Redis.new
)

# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  mount ChatBot.instance.webhooks.router => "/webhooks"
  # Handles /webhooks/slack and /webhooks/teams
end

Using Rails Credentials

Store secrets in Rails encrypted credentials instead of environment variables:

# config/credentials.yml.enc (decrypted)
slack:
  bot_token: xoxb-...
  signing_secret: abc123...

slack = ChatSDK::Slack::Adapter.new(
  bot_token: Rails.application.credentials.dig(:slack, :bot_token),
  signing_secret: Rails.application.credentials.dig(:slack, :signing_secret)
)

Proactive Messages

To send messages from controllers, jobs, or other non-handler code:

class DeployController < ApplicationController
  def create
    bot = ChatBot.instance
    channel = bot.channel(params[:channel_id], adapter_name: :slack)
    channel.post("Deploy started by #{current_user.name}")
    head :ok
  end
end

Background Processing

Event handlers run synchronously in the webhook request. For long-running work, enqueue a job:

bot.on_new_mention do |thread, message|
  thread.post("Working on it...")
  GenerateReportJob.perform_later(
    channel_id: message.channel_id,
    thread_id: message.thread_id,
    text: message.text
  )
end

class GenerateReportJob < ApplicationJob
  def perform(channel_id:, thread_id:, text:)
    bot = ChatBot.instance
    channel = bot.channel(channel_id, adapter_name: :slack)
    thread = channel.thread(thread_id)
    result = ExpensiveService.call(text)
    thread.post(result)
  end
end