Slack

Slack is an instant messaging program often used by teams for work communication, but also used socially for other kinds of online groups.

What can I beemind with Slack?

Actually, this is an atypical "integration" — instead of Beeminder fetching Slack data into your Beeminder goals, we're going to send Beeminder goal data into Slack! There are a couple different options available to make Beeminder more effective via Slack: you can get reminders via Slack in addition to the usual email and app methods, and you can also use it to add data and a few other nifty thing like setting up one-off charges.

If you'd be eager to beemind your Slack usage in some way, we'd love to hear about it, though! E.g. what metrics you'd hope to use, what sort of graph you'd like to see (Do More? Do Less? Whittle Down)... tell us the use-case of your dreams!

Reminders

Once you've authorized Beeminder to connect to your Slack account in your account permissions, you'll be able to get reminders via Slack (alongside all the other methods, of course). Make sure you've authorized Beeminder to post to Slackbot. If you want reminders posted more publicly in addition to the private DMs, you can also authorize Beeminder to post to specific channels in your team.

Screenshot showing the reminders page and where to check the Slack box and pick a channel

To enable reminders via DM, simply check the Slack DM box next to the goal in your reminder settings and Save Changes.

Screenshot showing how Slack reminders appear from the beebot, e.g. "@chelsea: metamd needs +1 by Thu at 03:00. bmndr.com/chelsea/metamd"

To enable reminders in a specific channel, enter the #channelname in the Slack Channel box next to the goal in your reminder settings and Save Changes.

Beebot

If you can add the Beeminder Slackbot to your team, Beebot lets you add data to your goals, tells you the most urgent deadlines on command, and even lets you schedule charges for one-off tasks (similar to our defunct GTBee app).

The available commands are:

  • /bee help will list these available commands!
  • /bee list will display your five soonest-derailing goals
  • /bee list N will display your N soonest-derailing goals
  • /bee goalname will display the status and graph for the goal with that goalname
  • /bee goalname date value "comment" will add a datapoint to the goal with that goalname
  • /bee goalname++ is a shortcut for adding a datapoint of 1 for today for the goal with that goalname
  • /bee goalname-- is a shortcut for adding a datapoint of -1 for today for the goal with that goalname
  • /bee charge N in X will schedule a charge of $N to be triggered in X minutes
  • /bee charge cancel will cancel a pending charge
  • /bee charge help will list more available charge options and examples

There is also some extra functionality that isn't as closely tied to Beeminder, but might still be useful or interesting to you! Try out the help commands listed below to learn more.

  • /bid help if you're interested in sealed-auctions (or guesses) functionality
  • /karma help if you're interested in a lightweight karmabot
  • /roll N to roll an N-sided die, when you need help making a decision
  • /tagtime help if you'd like to get TagTime pings via Slack
  • /tock help if you're interested in a pomodoro-esque time tracking tool (whose results you can send to a Beeminder goal via /tock beemind goalname)


Keywords: Slack bot, Slackbot, adding data via Slack

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