Listening & responding to shortcuts

The shortcut() method supports both global shortcuts and message shortcuts.

Shortcuts are invocable entry points to apps. Global shortcuts are available from within search in Slack. Message shortcuts are available in the context menus of messages. Your app can use the shortcut() method to listen to incoming shortcut requests. The method requires a callback_id parameter of type string or RegExp.

warning

If you use shortcut() multiple times with overlapping RegExp matches, all matching listeners will run. Design your regular expressions to avoid this possibility.

Shortcuts must be acknowledged with ack() to inform Slack that your app has received the request.

Shortcuts include a trigger_id which an app can use to open a modal that confirms the action the user is taking.

When configuring shortcuts within your app configuration, you'll continue to append /slack/events to your request URL.

warning

Global shortcuts do not include a channel ID. If your app needs access to a channel ID, you may use a conversations_select element within a modal. Message shortcuts do include channel ID.

// The open_modal shortcut opens a plain old modal
app.shortcut('open_modal', async ({ shortcut, ack, client, logger }) => {

  try {
    // Acknowledge shortcut request
    await ack();

    // Call the views.open method using one of the built-in WebClients
    const result = await client.views.open({
      trigger_id: shortcut.trigger_id,
      view: {
        type: "modal",
        title: {
          type: "plain_text",
          text: "My App"
        },
        close: {
          type: "plain_text",
          text: "Close"
        },
        blocks: [
          {
            type: "section",
            text: {
              type: "mrkdwn",
              text: "About the simplest modal you could conceive of :smile:\n\nMaybe <https://api.slack.com/reference/block-kit/interactive-components|*make the modal interactive*> or <https://api.slack.com/surfaces/modals/using#modifying|*learn more advanced modal use cases*>."
            }
          },
          {
            type: "context",
            elements: [
              {
                type: "mrkdwn",
                text: "Psssst this modal was designed using <https://api.slack.com/tools/block-kit-builder|*Block Kit Builder*>"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    });

    logger.info(result);
  }
  catch (error) {
    logger.error(error);
  }
});

Listening to shortcuts using a constraint object

You can use a constraints object to listen to callback_id and type values. Constraints in the object can be of type string or RegExp object.

// Your middleware will only be called when the callback_id matches 'open_modal' AND the type matches 'message_action'
app.shortcut({ callback_id: 'open_modal', type: 'message_action' }, async ({ shortcut, ack, client, logger }) => {
  try {
    // Acknowledge shortcut request
    await ack();

    // Call the views.open method using one of the built-in WebClients
    const result = await client.views.open({
      trigger_id: shortcut.trigger_id,
      view: {
        type: "modal",
        title: {
          type: "plain_text",
          text: "My App"
        },
        close: {
          type: "plain_text",
          text: "Close"
        },
        blocks: [
          {
            type: "section",
            text: {
              type: "mrkdwn",
              text: "About the simplest modal you could conceive of :smile:\n\nMaybe <https://api.slack.com/reference/block-kit/interactive-components|*make the modal interactive*> or <https://api.slack.com/surfaces/modals/using#modifying|*learn more advanced modal use cases*>."
            }
          },
          {
            type: "context",
            elements: [
              {
                type: "mrkdwn",
                text: "Psssst this modal was designed using <https://api.slack.com/tools/block-kit-builder|*Block Kit Builder*>"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    });

    logger.info(result);
  }
  catch (error) {
    logger.error(error);
  }
});