TOC!
By
@TADSTech
- 5 Devlogs
- 7 Total hours
TOC SlackBot is changing the bot landscape
Reworked the repository and folder structure for a modular design as well as adding a few new commands and removing the redundant
Ship #1
This is TOC SlackBot
Built a Slack bot in a day. Here is how it went.
Started with Bun + TypeScript + Bolt SDK. Socket Mode so no public URL needed. Just starts, connects via WebSocket, and listens for slash commands.
First pass was basic. 8 commands, Husky hooks, ESLint + Prettier locked in. Boring scaffolding stuff.
Then I went ham on the commands. Ended up with 23 slash commands across 4 categories — Utility, Fun, Knowledge, Media. Every command has random response variants so it does not feel like talking to a vending machine. Most of them pull from free APIs with fallbacks when those APIs go down (which they do, constantly).
APIs I hooked up: official jokes, useless facts, advice slip, zenquotes, dictionaryapi, numbersapi, opentdb, catfact.ninja, dog.ceo, evilinsult, would-you-rather, yesno.wtf, bored-api, kanye.rest, coingecko, wttr.in. The weather one uses wttr.in which just returns raw terminal-formatted text and I love it for that.
Made a /toc-help command that shows everything in a categorized menu with an ASCII box header because why not.
Pushed the code quality stuff early — strict tsconfig, noUnusedLocals, that whole checklist. Pre-push hook runs typecheck + lint + format check so I cannot push broken code even if I wanted to.
Built a frontend showcase site for GitHub Pages. Dark theme, command cards with search, copy-to-clipboard, keyboard shortcuts. The GitHub Actions workflow deploys it automatically on push to main. Live at tadstech.github.io/SlackBot if you want to see it.
The bot runs on Bun and stays alive through the Socket Mode WebSocket. All 23 commands registered in the Slack API dashboard. No HTTP endpoint, no ngrok, none of that nonsense.
That is it. A day of work, 23 commands, one GitHub Pages site, too many API wrappers.
TOC! Slackbot now up and running 24/7 on the nest, some bugs (network related, needs to be fixed tho)
Wanted to OverEngineer a slack bot
WHAT I CHANGED:
-
23 commands (was 8). Added weather, crypto, 8-ball, would-you-rather,
trivia, dictionary, number facts, cat/dog, quotes, roasts, insults,
yes/no, bored suggestions, kanye quotes. Basically everything the
free API tier allows. -
Dynamic response system. Ping no longer just says “Pong!” — it
bounces between 5 variants. Same for echo, time, uptime. Every
interaction feels slightly less robotic. -
Help menu got categories. Utility, Fun, Knowledge, Media. Looks
like a real app now. -
Frontend overhaul. Particle background, command search/filter,
live demo terminal where you can /pretend/ the bot works,
API grid showing all 10+ integrated services, scroll animations,
copy-to-clipboard. Still 100% static (GitHub Pages life). -
Error handling on every external API call with fallback responses.
If the API is down, the bot improvises. -
7 new API integrations: ZenQuotes, DictionaryAPI, Open Trivia DB,
Cat Facts, Dog CEO, CoinGecko, Kanye Rest. Plus wttr.in for weather.
Created a frontend demo for slack bot hosted on github pages
Just finished with the CORE of my first slack bot
