Slack Auto Away

Set Slack to away using legacy API tokens without the need to install apps or use webhooks. Once compiled to a binary, you can set up schedules to be away and auto (active) at specific times. Uses go which is cross-compatible with with Windows, Linux and macOS.

Instructions

1. Log in to your Slack team (https://[TEAMNAME].slack.com/) and get your SLACK_API token by following the following steps:

   1. Go to https://[TEAMNAME].slack.com/customize/emoji
   2. Press F12 to get Developer Tools
   3. Go to JavaScript "Console" tab and run window.prompt("Your SLACK_API token is: ", TS.boot_data.api_token) [1][2]

2. Download releases

3. Set SLACK_API environment variables then restart the Terminals

   • Windows

     setx SLACK_API "xoxs-....."

   • Linux

     echo "export SLACK_API="xoxs-....."" >> ~/.bashrc

   • macOS

     echo "export SLACK_API="xoxs-....."" >> ~/.zshrc

4. Test if it's working e.g. ./slackaway -s away

5. Set up tasks on Task Scheduler for Windows or cron jobs for Linux and macOS

Build (optional)

git clone https://github.com/jimmy-ly00/slack-auto-away 
go get -u -v github.com/akamensky/argparse
go build -o slackaway main.go

Testing

jly@JIMMY-LAPTOP:/mnt/c/Users/Jimmy/GitHub/slack-auto-away$ ./slackaway -h
usage: slack-auto-away [-h|--help] -s|--status (active|away)

                       Set a slack status

Arguments:

  -h  --help    Print help information
  -s  --status  Set a slack status
jly@JIMMY-LAPTOP:/mnt/c/Users/Jimmy/GitHub/slack-auto-away$ ./slackaway -s away
jly@JIMMY-LAPTOP:/mnt/c/Users/Jimmy/GitHub/slack-auto-away$ ./slackaway -s auto

Scheduling

Windows

Add two separate scheduled tasks. Weekdays sets auto (active) at 9:00am and sets away at 18:00.

C:\Users\Jimmy\>schtasks /create /sc weekly /D mon,tue,wed,thu,fri /tn "SlackAutoAway\auto" /tr "'c:\Google Drive\Misc\Scripts\slackaway-windows-amd64.exe' -s auto" /st 09:00

C:\Users\Jimmy\>schtasks /create /sc weekly /D mon,tue,wed,thu,fri /tn "SlackAutoAway\away" /tr "'c:\Google Drive\Misc\Scripts\slackaway-windows-amd64.exe' -s away" /st 18:00

Linux and macOS

Edit crontab to add two jobs. Weekdays sets auto (active) at 9:00am and sets away at 18:00.

jimmy@Jimmys-Mac ~/> crontab -e
0 9 * * 1-5 /bin/slackaway -s auto
0 18 * * 1-5 /bin/slackaway -s away
jimmy@Jimmys-Mac ~/> crontab -l
0 9 * * 1-5 /bin/slackaway -s auto
0 18 * * 1-5 /bin/slackaway -s away