Integration with Slack

RocketChat also has integrated video chat, although I haven't tried that feature yet; and RocketChat is already available on Sandstorm.

I've done a little bit of reading about Slack, MatterMost, and RocketChat. MatterMost was designed specifically as a Slack alternative, but it seems like RocketChat is actually more like a WebRTC platform than a Slack alternative. The NZ Open Source Society have set up an instance of RocketChat if anyone wants to try it out.

Yeah but I'd say they wouldn't get very far in whatever prioritization process we end up with, because they strike me as high cost low reward at the moment. Would more likely be an open source contributor with a specific interest in using those tools with Loomio showing up and rocking it out.

@jameskiesel can we integrate with those Slackternatives?

Not addressing a specific case, just making a general point. For the record, I haven't used Slack and if I needed those functions, I would probably use a free code alternative like MatterMost or RocketChat. Do you intend to put integration with those into a paid plan as well, or only integration with proprietary apps? If it's the latter, on reflection, I actually support that.

Which apps are you thinking of, Strypey?

We're really happy to tailor arrangements to suit different groups. If you've got a group like that who're really keen to integrate with Slack but can't afford a subscription, let's talk ([email protected]) — I'm sure we can work something out :smiley:

Your choice of course, but I'm not sure if this is wise. If Loomio charges for Slack integration, and other free code decision-making apps don't, that could be reason enough for a group who use Slack a lot not to choose Loomio.

Hi Michael — we're looking at offering Slack integration on our paid plans. If you'd like to give it a try, drop me a note: [email protected] and I can set up a trial for you.

Just wanted to say this would be an awesome tool to have for Slack. Currently I find my network having conversations on Loomio rather than utilizing the core decision making aspect. A Slack add in would concentrate Loomio to it's main function, the interactive proposal piece. Can't wait to see this!

Oh dear! I'm being challenged to put my time where my typing fingers are ;) As a project coordinator rather than a developer I'm not sure how I can help, but I'll certainly keep an eye out for opportunities to integrate your work into our work on permaculture.org.nz.

EDIT: I have some other thoughts on this, and this tangent is important, but its at risk of hijacking this thread about Slack integration, so I'll post elsewhere and post a link here. A 'fork' button would be so useful right now!

Help us out here, @strypey (if you want). We're itching to work on this kind of thing.

This is a bit of a tangent, but I'm really pleased to see Slack and MatterMost using the same API. I think the web app world gain a lot from a major push for open standardization, so for example one standard API for all apps in the style of Slack/ MatterMost/ RocketChat, one API for decision-making apps like Loomio etc, one API for microblogging feeds (Twitter, GNU Social, Pump.io etc). This way a project like Loomio could implement support for one API to support a whole class of other web apps.The web is massively extensible because HTML provides such a bridge between websites and browsers, regardless of vendor on either end.

mattermost apparently has been designed to use the same api as slack so presumably it wouldn't be a huge amount more work to enable support for this? a tick box and somewhere to set config for where your mattermost server was? (would be nice for loomio to be co-supporting open source colleagues!)

Sure. We have a slack integration which is in 'beta' (ie, we're testing it internally some before deciding how to integrate it into the interface, whether it's a premium feature, etc.). The response to it has been overwhelmingly positive.

I'm currently moving the event system in Loomio from a services architecture to a pub/sub architecture, (<- technical babble), which functionally means that this feature is likely to become one of our first plugins (although I kinda don't like that word, heh.).

I don't want to spend time on a mattermost / rocketchat integration unless Loomio itself moves to one of these platforms (something we've discussed a bit internally, but hasn't really gotten traction yet), but am more than happy to support a contributor with this, and I think that once this rearchitecture is complete (ETA end-of-year), writing new integrations will be pretty easy.

RocketChat is another free (and open source) Slack alternative

@jameskiesel do you want to update about your work on this?

+1 for MatterMost.

MatterMost is a free code Slack alternative which would also be a good candidate for integration with Loomio.

It would work really well, and Loomio already has a good structure in which to add this - but someone has to be willing to do the work and core devs have L1.0 prioritised until at least April.

If Loomio doesn't already have webhook functionality, I'm afraid I don't have the time to help with that atm. You might look into adding some event-based features to the Angular app's API if this is something you'd be interested in supporting eventually.

@jameskiesel I agree that this isn't essential, but is nifty. Other than https://github.com/loomio/loomio/issues/1530 what else can we look at to determine the feasibility of this with the current Loomio API? Thanks.

Sounds like something fun to work on on a rainy day down the road.

@george2 is this something you might want to work on? I am not sure if we have webhooks... @robertguthrie @jameskiesel

If you have a Slack account, check out https://slack.com/services/new#diy and https://slack.com/services/new/incoming-webhook. (Screenshot if you don't.) Looks super easy, if Loomio has webhooks? Also, looks like https://api.slack.com/slash-commands could be used to "/vote someproposal yes" etc., directly from Slack.

+1000000 to this idea! Anyone know what's involved in making this work?

This would be cool, and probably something that could be done independently by using the Loomio API, which I've researched some but wish I knew more about.

Anyone know if it's possible to be notified from the API "[w]hen someone votes, creates a discussion or proposal..."?