Vestabot (Slack)

A Slack app that lets anyone in your workspace post to a Vestaboard. Supports two slash commands:

• /vesta [message] — post any text to the Vestaboard (rate-limited to once per minute per user)
• /tides — post today's high and low tide times for Cohasset Harbor to the Vestaboard

Prerequisites

• Node.js v22+
• A Slack app with Socket Mode enabled
• A Vestaboard Read/Write API token (Vestaboard app → Settings → Developer)

Slack App Setup

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps and click Create New App → From scratch.

2. Enable Socket Mode (Settings → Socket Mode → Enable). This avoids needing a public URL.

   • Generate an App-Level Token with the connections:write scope → save it as SLACK_APP_TOKEN.

3. Add Slash Commands (Features → Slash Commands → Create New Command). Add both:

   Command	Short Description	Usage Hint
   /vesta	Post a message to the Vestaboard	[your message]
   /tides	Post today's Cohasset tide chart to the Vestaboard

   Leave Request URL blank for both — Socket Mode handles routing.

4. Set OAuth Scopes (Features → OAuth & Permissions → Bot Token Scopes):

   • commands
   • chat:write

5. Install the app to your workspace (OAuth & Permissions → Install to Workspace).

   • Copy the Bot User OAuth Token → save it as SLACK_BOT_TOKEN.

6. Copy the Signing Secret (Basic Information → App Credentials) → save it as SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET.

Installation

1. Clone and install dependencies:

   git clone <your-repo-url>
   cd vestabot-slack
   npm install

2. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your credentials:

   cp .env.example .env

   Variable	Required	Where to find it
   SLACK_BOT_TOKEN	Yes	OAuth & Permissions → Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-...)
   SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET	Yes	Basic Information → App Credentials → Signing Secret
   SLACK_APP_TOKEN	Yes	Basic Information → App-Level Tokens (xapp-...)
   VESTABOARD_TOKEN	Yes	Vestaboard app → Settings → Developer → Read/Write API token
   TIDE_STATION	No	NOAA station ID for /tides (defaults to 8444762 — Cohasset Harbor)

Running

node index.js

You should see:

⚡ Vestabot (Slack) is running!

• /vesta Your message here — posts text to the Vestaboard
• /tides — fetches today's tide predictions from NOAA and posts a formatted chart to the Vestaboard

Running in Docker

Build:

docker build -t vestabot-slack .

Run:

docker run -d --restart unless-stopped --env-file .env --name vestabot-slack vestabot-slack

Rebuild after changes:

docker build -t vestabot-slack . && docker rm -f vestabot-slack && docker run -d --restart unless-stopped --env-file .env --name vestabot-slack vestabot-slack

Useful commands:

docker logs vestabot-slack   # view logs
docker restart vestabot-slack
docker stop vestabot-slack