Slack Launches Long-Awaited API, Makes Custom Integrations Easier

Slack, the online collaboration platform, has introduced a new API that has been in the works for three years, intending to make customized integrations easier for businesses.

Following comments that making custom integrations was too "too darn difficult," TechRadar tells us that the company developed a modular design with reusable functions, triggers, and workflows to simplify the building process.

The developer experience is said to be faster and more straightforward, with tools such as Slack CLI and TypeScript SDK being used.

New Interesting Integration Features Coming to Slack

Slack has been beta testing the platform, which is now being released with four important features.

• The first is modular architecture, which streamlines the building process.
• The second feature is a faster and more intuitive developer experience.
• The third solution is an in-house managed, serverless infrastructure for storage and deployment, which seeks to appeal to security-conscious customers.
• Finally, the company offers a flexible user experience that is centered on collaboration and sharing.

Slack also stated in an announcement that after seeing their customers' remarkable success in automating their work with Workflow Builder, they felt that they needed to make the automation capabilities accessible to an even wider audience.

More Useful Features of Slack

The announcement also mentions Slack's Workflow Builder, which will become a "supercharged no-code tool." Recognizing that "not all workflows are the same," Slack has introduced a tiered model for its Standard workflows (which are free) and Premium workflows (which are chargeable above a certain threshold) that use custom-coded functions.

Pricing is based on how frequently someone in a company does a Premium workflow.

Slack is also offering a six-month period through October 31, 2023, for users to run unlimited Premium workflows. The company hopes this will encourage businesses to try new features and explore the possibilities of custom integrations.

Take Note

Slack's Workflow Builder is a powerful tool that allows developers and customers to create custom workflows for their teams. But what makes a workflow standard or premium? According to Slack, workflows are standard if they use built-in Slack functions and premium if they include at least one customized function.

For those who want to monitor workflow usage, Slack provides a published workflow dashboard that displays a list of workflows in the workspace or Enterprise Grid organization. Additionally, the dashboard displays a banner at the top of the page showing how much of the premium workflow allotment has been used.

Admins can also manage apps hosted on Slack's infrastructure. When a developer deploys their app to a workspace or Enterprise Grid organization, Slack will check if app approvals are required.

If approvals are needed, the app can be reviewed and approved through the normal app approval process. App managers reviewing the requests will also see any domains that the app communicates with in addition to its scopes.

Slack's Workflow Builder pilot program enables developers and customers to create customized workflows, making it easy to manage and automate team processes.

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