Slash Commands

Handle slash commands across platforms with normalized events and argument parsing.

Slash commands let users invoke your bot with a /command prefix. ChatSDK normalizes slash command events across platforms.

Registering a Command Handler

bot.on_slash_command("/deploy") do |event|
  event.thread.post("Deploying: #{event.text}")
end

bot.on_slash_command("/status") do |event|
  card = ChatSDK.card(title: "System Status") do
    fields do
      field "API", "Operational"
      field "Database", "Operational"
      field "Workers", "Degraded"
    end
  end
  event.thread.post(card)
end

The SlashCommand Event

Attribute	Type	Description
`command`	`String`	The command name (e.g., `"/deploy"`)
`text`	`String`	Everything the user typed after the command
`user_id`	`String`	Who invoked the command
`channel_id`	`String`	Where the command was invoked
`trigger_id`	`String`	For opening modals (platform-dependent)
`thread`	`Thread`	For posting replies
`platform`	`Symbol`	Which platform

Parsing Arguments

The event.text contains everything after the command. Parse it however you like:

bot.on_slash_command("/deploy") do |event|
  args = event.text.split
  service = args[0]
  environment = args[1] || "staging"

  event.thread.post("Deploying #{service} to #{environment}...")
end

Slash commands provide a trigger_id you can use to open a modal:

bot.on_slash_command("/create-ticket") do |event|
  modal = ChatSDK::Modals::Builder.new(
    title: "New Ticket",
    submit_label: "Create",
    callback_id: "new_ticket"
  ) do
    text_input id: "title", label: "Title", placeholder: "Brief description"
    text_input id: "details", label: "Details", multiline: true, optional: true
    select_input id: "priority", label: "Priority" do
      option "High", value: "high"
      option "Medium", value: "medium"
      option "Low", value: "low"
    end
  end.build

  event.thread.open_modal(trigger_id: event.trigger_id, modal: modal)
end

Platform Setup

Slack

Go to your Slack app settings -> Slash Commands.
Create a new command (e.g., /deploy).
Set the Request URL to your webhook endpoint (e.g., https://your-app.com/webhooks/slack).
Slack sends slash command payloads to the same webhook URL as other events.

Teams

Slash commands in Teams are handled through the Bot Framework messaging extension. Configure commands in your bot's app manifest.

Google Chat

Google Chat uses slash commands configured in the Google Cloud Console under your Chat app's settings.

Testing Slash Commands

bot = ChatSDK::Testing.build_bot
adapter = bot.config.adapters[:test]

bot.on_slash_command("/deploy") do |event|
  event.thread.post("Deploying #{event.text}")
end

adapter.simulate_slash_command(bot, command: "/deploy", text: "production v2.0")

assert_equal 1, adapter.posted_messages.size
assert_equal "Deploying production v2.0", adapter.posted_messages.first.message.text

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