semantic-release-slack-bot

semantic-release plugin to get release notifications on slack from a slack bot

Install

Add the plugin to your npm-project:

$ npm install semantic-release-slack-bot -D

The corresponding slack app has to be installed in your slack workspace as well. Follow the instructions under configuration for more information.

Usage

The plugin can be configured in the semantic-release configuration file:

{
  "plugins": [
    "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
    "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
    [
      "semantic-release-slack-bot",
      {
        "notifyOnSuccess": false,
        "notifyOnFail": true
      }
    ]
  ]
}

With this example:

• Slack notifications are skipped on a successful release
• Slack notifications are sent on a failed release

Screenshots

Configuration

Slack app installation

The plugin uses a slack webhook which you get by adding the slack app to your slack workspace. Register the app using the button below or this link.

For the security concerned, feel free to create your own slack app and create a webhook or inspect the server code that does this creation for you at create-webhook.js. The only required permission for the webhook is to publish to a single channel.

Slack app authentication

Installing the app will yield you with a webhook that the app uses to publish updates to your selected channel. The Slack webhook authentication link is required and needs to be kept a secret. It should be defined in the environment variables.

Environment variables

The SLACK_WEBHOOK variable can be defined in the environment where you will run semantic release. This can be done by exporting it in bash or in the user interface of your CI provider. Obtain this token by installing the slack app according to slack app installation.

Alternatively, you could pass the webhook as a configuration option.

Options

Function

If a function is provided with either the onSuccessFunction or onFailFunction options, it will be used for the respective slack message. The function should return an object that follows the Slack API message structure. The function is passed two objects, pluginConfig and context, the same objects that are passed to plugins.

Note: This only works with a configuration file that exports an object (see below for an example).

const slackifyMarkdown = require('slackify-markdown')
const { chunkifyString } = require('semantic-release-slack-bot/lib/chunkifier')

const onSuccessFunction = (pluginConfig, context) => {
  const releaseNotes = slackifyMarkdown(context.nextRelease.notes)
  const text = `Updates to ${
    pluginConfig.packageName
  } has been released to *Stage!*`
  const headerBlock = {
    type: 'section',
    text: {
      type: 'mrkdwn',
      text
    }
  }

  return {
    text,
    blocks: [
      headerBlock,
      ...chunkifyString(releaseNotes, 2900).map(chunk => {
        return {
          type: 'section',
          text: {
            type: 'mrkdwn',
            text: chunk
          }
        }
      })
    ]
  }
}

module.exports = {
  branches: ['master'],
  preset: 'eslint',
  plugins: [
    [
      'semantic-release-slack-bot',
      {
        notifyOnSuccess: true,
        onSuccessFunction,
        packageName: 'Testing Semantic Release'
      }
    ]
  ]
}

Templating

If a template is provided via either the onSuccessTemplate or onFailTemplate options, it will be used for the respective slack message. The template should be an object that follows the Slack API message structure. Strings within the template will have keywords replaced:

A sample configuration with template can look like this

"onSuccessTemplate": {
  "text": "A new version of $package_name with version $npm_package_version has been released at $repo_url!"
}

Helper functions

There are two helper functions exported by the chunkifier module.

chunkifyArray takes an array of strings and returns a new array based on maxLength and delimiter. delimiter is optional and defaults to newline.

chunkifyString takes a string and returns an array based on maxLength and delimiter. delimiter is optional and defaults to newline.

See respective implementation for more details.