Skip to content

Demo: support triage with a real Slack post

This walkthrough runs examples/support-triage-demo.yaml. A support message arrives on a webhook. The agent classifies it into a typed object, looks the customer up over HTTP, drafts a reply, waits for you to approve it, and posts the reply to a Slack channel.

It shows the version 1.1 features: vars, trigger.*, expressions in {{ }}, a validated output_schema, and per-step instructions and temperature. The model is a cheap DeepSeek model on OpenRouter.

What you need

  • Node.js 22 or newer, and the repo built (npm install && npm run build).
  • An OpenRouter API key.
  • A Slack workspace where you can install an app (steps below).

1. Set up Slack

You need a bot token and a channel. It takes about five minutes.

  1. Go to https://api.slack.com/apps, choose Create New App, then From scratch. Name it (for example kampong-demo) and pick a workspace. A personal test workspace avoids needing admin approval.
  2. Open OAuth & Permissions. Under Bot Token Scopes, add chat:write. Add chat:write.public too if you want it to post in public channels without being invited.
  3. Click Install to Workspace at the top of that page, then Allow.
  4. Copy the Bot User OAuth Token (it starts with xoxb-). This is SLACK_BOT_TOKEN. If you change scopes later, click Reinstall to Workspace. The token stays the same.
  5. Create a channel such as #support-triage, then type /invite @kampong-demo in it. Without the invite, Slack answers not_in_channel (unless the channel is public and you added chat:write.public).
  6. Set SLACK_CHANNEL. The channel ID is the most reliable value: right-click the channel, choose View channel details, and copy the ID at the bottom (it looks like C0123456789). A name like #support-triage works for a public channel. A private channel needs the ID.
  7. Optional, only for Approve and Reject buttons on a headless kampong serve run: copy the Signing Secret from Basic Information into SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET, turn on Interactivity & Shortcuts, and set its Request URL to https://<your-public-host>/slack/interactions. Slack cannot reach localhost, so this needs a tunnel such as ngrok or Cloudflare (kampong does not start one). In the canvas, approval is the in-app dialog and none of this is needed. The traps to avoid, including Socket Mode, are in Slack approvals locally.

2. Put the secrets in .env

cp .env.example .env

Fill in OPENROUTER_API_KEY, SLACK_BOT_TOKEN and SLACK_CHANNEL. .env is gitignored, and a spec never holds a value, only the ${ENV_VAR} name. Don't paste these into chat, issues or commits.

You can also set them from the canvas: Secrets in the status bar (with a count of the names that have no value yet) lists every name the spec needs (including the Slack token, which the Slack component reads on its own, and the secret a webhook trigger checks, such as GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET), and lets you set or replace a value. When a test run or a check says a variable is not set, its error has a Set it here button that opens Secrets on that name. Values are saved to .kampong/secrets.env on this machine and are never shown again. This applies to the canvas (kampong dev, make up); kampong run and kampong serve still read the process environment.

The CLI reads its process environment and does not load .env itself, so load it into your shell first:

set -a; . ./.env; set +a

This runs .env as shell code, so a value with an unquoted space breaks it. Quote such a value (NAME="two words"). The Docker stack (make up) reads the same file without this step.

3. Check the setup

node packages/cli/dist/cli.js doctor examples/support-triage-demo.yaml --probe --online

doctor lists each variable by name only (never a value), and --probe asks Slack whether the token is accepted. You want Nothing would stop a run.

4. Run it in the canvas

cp examples/support-triage-demo.yaml workspace/agent.yaml
node packages/cli/dist/cli.js dev workspace

Open http://localhost:4310. You see the trigger, the two tools and the five workflow steps (classify, lookup, draft, review, send). Open the </> drawer (Alt+Y) to see the same file as YAML.

Click Run in the top bar and paste:

{"customer_id":3,"subject":"Charged twice this month","body":"Hi, I was charged twice for my subscription on the 3rd. Can you refund the duplicate? Thanks, Clementine"}

The run pauses at review with the drafted reply. Approve it and the message appears in your Slack channel. Try a second message about an outage to see urgency: high add the siren emoji in the Slack text.

5. Run it from the terminal

node packages/cli/dist/cli.js run examples/support-triage-demo.yaml \
  --input '{"customer_id":3,"subject":"Charged twice","body":"I was charged twice on the 3rd."}'

It asks for approval on stdin. --approve-all approves without asking, and --var channel=C0123456789 overrides a var.

To run without touching the network again, record once and replay:

... run <spec> --tools record --fixtures examples/fixtures/support-triage-demo --input '...' --approve-all
... run <spec> --tools replay --fixtures examples/fixtures/support-triage-demo --input '...' --approve-all

Recording makes live calls, including the Slack post. Replay needs no network and no credentials for tools. The model call is still live.

6. Run it as a webhook service

node packages/cli/dist/cli.js serve examples/support-triage-demo.yaml --port 8080

curl -s -X POST localhost:8080/webhook -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"customer_id":3,"subject":"Charged twice","body":"I was charged twice on the 3rd."}'
# { "success": true, "id": "<run id>", "state": ... }

curl -s localhost:8080/runs/<run id>                     # state; paused at "review"
curl -s -X POST localhost:8080/runs/<run id>/approve \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"approved":true}'

With SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET and a public Request URL (step 1.7) the pause also posts an Approve or Reject prompt to Slack.

Known limits

  • Export works, with a limit. kampong export produces a standalone project for this spec. Run it with npm start -- --input '{"customer_id":3,...}' --var channel=C0123456789, or npm run serve for the webhook. The hosted server runs version 1.1 specs, except the poll and schedule triggers (KAM-203).
  • The canvas shows and runs 1.1 specs but has no forms for the new fields yet. Edit vars, expressions and output_schema in the YAML panel for now (KAN-1850).
  • The customer lookup uses the public jsonplaceholder.typicode.com API (users 1 to 10), so use a customer_id in that range. Point vars.api at your own service with --var api=....