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Eze Williams
Eze Williams

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How to Send Messages to a Slack Channel from Your Web App Using JavaScript

In this guide, you'll learn how to send messages to a Slack channel directly from your JavaScript web application.

Prerequisites
Before we dive in, here’s what you’ll need:

  • A Slack workspace.
  • A Slack App with a bot token.
  • A public or private Slack channel.
  • Basic knowledge of JavaScript (Node.js or browser-based app).

Step 1: Create a Slack App

  1. Go to the Slack API portal.
  2. Click "Create New App" → From scratch.
  3. Give it a name (e.g., NotifyBot) and choose your workspace.
  4. After creation, navigate to "OAuth & Permissions".
  5. Under Scopes, add the following Bot Token Scope:
    • chat:write – allows sending messages to channels.
  6. Install the app to your workspace. You’ll get a Bot User OAuth Token (starts with xoxb-...). Save this token securely.

Step 2: Write JavaScript Code to Send a Message

Using Node.js with @slack/web-api

npm install @slack/web-api
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const { WebClient } = require('@slack/web-api');

const token = 'xoxb-your-bot-token';
const channelId = 'C12345678'; // Replace with your channel ID

const slackClient = new WebClient(token);

async function sendMessage(text) {
  try {
    const result = await slackClient.chat.postMessage({
      channel: channelId,
      text,
    });
    console.log('Message sent: ', result.ts);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Slack API error:', error);
  }
}

sendMessage('✅ Task completed successfully!');

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When to use

  • You can trigger these functions during various app events:
  • After a successful form submission.
  • On user registration.
  • When an error occurs.
  • On completion of background jobs.

Example (in an Express.js route):

app.post('/register', async (req, res) => {
  // ...register user logic
  await sendMessage(`🎉 New user registered: ${req.body.email}`);
  res.sendStatus(200);
});

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Conclusion
Integrating Slack messaging into your web app allows you to stay updated and react quickly. Whether for internal monitoring or user-facing actions. With just a few lines of JavaScript, you can keep your team in the loop — automatically.

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