List Slack Channels

Use OpenAI, NextJS, and the Auth0-AI SDKs to list your Slack channels

Javascript

AI SDK

Prerequisites

Before getting started, make sure you have completed the following steps:

1. Install Node.js 20+ and npm
2. Complete the User authentication quickstart to create an application integrated with Auth0.
3. Set up an OpenAI API key.
4. Configure a Social Connection for Slack in Auth0

   • Under the Purpose section, make sure to enable the Use for Connected Accounts with Token Vault toggle.

1. Configure Auth0 AI

First, you must install the SDK:

npm install @auth0/ai-vercel

Then, you need to initialize Auth0 AI and set up the connection to request access tokens with the required Slack scopes.

./src/lib/auth0-ai.ts

import { Auth0AI } from "@auth0/ai-vercel";
import { auth0 } from "@/lib/auth0";

const auth0AI = new Auth0AI();

export const withSlack = auth0AI.withTokenVault({
  connection: "sign-in-with-slack",
  scopes: ["channels:read", "groups:read"],
  refreshToken: async () => {
    const session = await auth0.getSession();
    const refreshToken = session?.tokenSet.refreshToken as string;

    return refreshToken;
  },
});

Here, the property auth0 is an instance of @auth0/nextjs-auth0 to handle the application auth flows.
You can check different authentication options for Next.js with Auth0 at the official documentation.

2. Integrate your tool with Slack

Wrap your tool using the Auth0 AI SDK to obtain an access token for the Slack API.

./src/lib/tools/listChannels.ts

import { ErrorCode, WebClient } from "@slack/web-api";
import { getAccessTokenFromTokenVault } from "@auth0/ai-vercel";
import { TokenVaultError } from "@auth0/ai/interrupts";
import { withSlack } from "@/lib/auth0-ai";
import { tool } from "ai";
import { z } from "zod";

export const listChannels = withSlack(
  tool({
    description: "List channels for the current user on Slack",
    parameters: z.object({}),
    execute: async () => {
      // Get the access token from Auth0 AI
      const accessToken = getAccessTokenFromTokenVault();

      // Slack SDK
      try {
        const web = new WebClient(accessToken);

        const result = await web.conversations.list({
          exclude_archived: true,
          types: "public_channel,private_channel",
          limit: 10,
        });

        return result.channels?.map((channel) => channel.name);
      } catch (error) {
        if (error && typeof error === "object" && "code" in error) {
          if (error.code === ErrorCode.HTTPError) {
            throw new TokenVaultError(
              `Authorization required to access the Token Vault connection`
            );
          }
        }

        throw error;
      }
    },
  })
);

3. Handle authentication redirects

Interrupts are a way for the system to pause execution and prompt the user to take an action—such as authenticating or granting API access—before resuming the interaction. This ensures that any required access is granted dynamically and securely during the chat experience. In this context, Auth0-AI SDK manages authentication redirects in the Vercel AI SDK via these interrupts.

Server Side

On the server-side code of your Next.js App, you need to set up the tool invocation and handle the interruption messaging via the errorSerializer. The setAIContext function is used to set the async-context for the Auth0 AI SDK.

./src/app/api/chat/route.ts

import { createDataStreamResponse, Message, streamText } from "ai";
import { listChannels } from "@/lib/tools/";
import { setAIContext } from "@auth0/ai-vercel";
import { errorSerializer, withInterruptions } from "@auth0/ai-vercel/interrupts";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const { id, messages} = await request.json();
  const tools = { listChannels };
  setAIContext({ threadID: id });

  return createDataStreamResponse({
    execute: withInterruptions(
      async (dataStream) => {
        const result = streamText({
          model: openai("gpt-4o-mini"),
          system: "You are a friendly assistant! Keep your responses concise and helpful.",
          messages,
          maxSteps: 5,
          tools,
        });

        result.mergeIntoDataStream(dataStream, {
          sendReasoning: true,
        });
      },
      { messages, tools }
    ),
    onError: errorSerializer((err) => {
      console.log(err);
      return "Oops, an error occured!";
    }),
  });
}

Client Side

In this example, we utilize the TokenVaultConsentPopup component to show a pop-up that allows the user to authenticate with Slack and grant access with the requested scopes. You’ll first need to install the @auth0/ai-components package:

npx @auth0/ai-components add TokenVault

Then, you can integrate the authentication popup in your chat component, using the interruptions helper from the SDK:

./src/components/chat.tsx

"use client";

import { useChat } from "@ai-sdk/react";
import { useInterruptions } from "@auth0/ai-vercel/react";
import { TokenVaultInterrupt } from "@auth0/ai/interrupts";
import { TokenVaultConsentPopup } from "@/components/auth0-ai/TokenVault/popup";

export default function Chat() {
  const { messages, handleSubmit, input, setInput, toolInterrupt } =
    useInterruptions((handler) =>
      useChat({
        onError: handler((error) => console.error("Chat error:", error)),
      })
    );

  return (
    <div>
      {messages.map((message) => (
        <div key={message.id}>
          {message.role === "user" ? "User: " : "AI: "}
          {message.content}
        </div>
      ))}

      {TokenVaultInterrupt.isInterrupt(toolInterrupt) && (
        <TokenVaultConsentPopup
          interrupt={toolInterrupt}
          connectWidget={{
            title: "List Slack channels",
            description:"description ...",
            action: { label: "Check" },
          }}
        />
      )}

      <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
        <input value={input} placeholder="Say something..." onChange={(e) => setInput(e.target.value)} />
      </form>
    </div>
  );
}

Account Linking

If you’re integrating with Google, but users in your app or agent can sign in using other methods (e.g., a username and password or another social provider), you’ll need to link these identities into a single user account. Auth0 refers to this process as Account Linking.

Account Linking logic and handling will vary depending on your app or agent. You can find an example of how to implement it in a Next.js chatbot app here. If you have questions or are looking for best practices, join our Discord and ask in the #auth0-for-gen-ai channel.