July 16, 2025 • 30 mins
Slack can be so much more than a way to chat with your colleagues. In this episode of Code[ish], we’re joined by Maria José Hernández to find out how Slack Apps and Slack AI can elevate the app into an organization-wide, personalized Work OS.
In conversation with Julián Duque, Maria shares insights into the tools available for developers, and what’s included in the
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rita Pattni (00:03):
Hello and welcome to Code[ish],
an exploration of thelives of modern developers.
Join us as we dive into topicslike languages and frameworks,
data and event driven architectures,
artificial intelligence, andindividual and team productivity.
Tailored to developersand engineering leaders,
this episode is partof our DevLife series.
Julián Duque (00:27):
We are back on a new Code[ish] episode.
Today I have the honor to have as guest,Maria José Hernández.
She's a senior developeradvocate for Slack.
Hello, Maria. How’re you doing?
Maria (00:42):
Thank you so much for having me here today, Julián.
I’m the honored one tobe here with you today.
Julián (00:50):
Awesome, awesome.
I’m super, super happy to have you here,
I've always wanted tocollaborate with you.
For those who don't know this,Maria and I both speak Spanish natively,
so you are going to feelour beautiful accent.
But ironically, todaywe are collaborating in English, but
(01:10):
in the future we are going to make sureto see what we can do
in Spanish for our Spanishspeaking audience.
Maria (01:16):
Maybe we will do it in Spanish.
Julián (01:19):
Okay, Maria, before we start.
Tell me about yourself.
What do you do at Slack?
What are the new cool stuffthat the Slack team has been working on?
Maria (01:30):
Yeah, so this week exactly,
it's my third year at Slack,
so I'm really, really happyand celebrating my work anniversary.
Julián (01:39):
Congratulations!
Maria (01:41):
Yes. Thank you.
And I've been working at Slackas a developer advocate,
so we meet many, many of our Slackdevelopers around the world,
collecting their feedbackabout how they use the platform,
the Slack platform, giving them adviceon how to be on the platform,
but also like the amazing toolingthat we are building for them.
Julián (02:06):
Awesome.
I've been doing apps on Slack mostly
using the Bold SDK into developers,so that's the thing I know.
But I see that there is supportfor other different languages.
What languages or technologiescan I use today to build on Slack?
Maria (02:27):
Yeah, so, let's start like from the beginning.
So, we have amazing APIs.
So regardless of the languagethat you use, you can just connect easily
to those and start developingin the own language of your choice.
But like just to make things simpler,we have different SDKs
and these SDKs are available forNode, Python, Java, and Dino.
Julián (02:52):
Dino, okay.
Maria (02:54):
Yeah! And on top of that, we have the Bold framework
that probably you’re more like,acquainted with.
But like, they use like the SDKsand the idea behind it is just to make it
simpler and faster for developersto start developing in Slack.
And as I mentioned, like, we have likeDino is like our latest SDK
(03:14):
or our latest addition to our SDK package.
We just brought it becausewe wanted to make it simpler
and more secure for developersto start developing smaller apps.
Just like functions that were like easy
to create, to build,and to deploy in our system.
(03:35):
And with that came the Slack CLI,
and the CLI allows us tocontrol and manage
all our apps from theterminal, basically.
Thanks to that, we actually expand itand we included this to support
also all the Bold framework.
(03:56):
The different apps that are availablewith Bold that are in JavaScript, Python,
and Java, and it just like makes it likea better developer experience overall.
Julián (04:07):
That’s amazing. I love developer tooling and CLIs.
But I’ve got to be honest,I have not used Slack’s CLI.
What I recently have been working
mostly with, the Workflow Builder
and I’ve been automatinga bunch of work with that tool.
And it’s very convenient,because it’s kind of like low-code.
(04:31):
I don’t need to write like a single lineof code to do automations
or manage Lists or connect to Canvases or
notify my coworkers.
But it also allows meto do some cost-to-code execution
or call to external APIs.
So, can these appscreated with Workflow Builder
(04:53):
be connected with an existingSlack app or a function?
How could this work?
Maria (05:00):
This is a great question, and it’s a question that we get a lot
when we meet with developers.
So basically, we have,I put it like, in a line, right?
And one side no code and we goto pro-code, passing through low-code.
So, in the no-code sectionwe have Workflow Builder,
which is a no-codeintegration that helps you
(05:22):
to create automationswithout writing a single line of code.
And on the other side,so we already talk about the Slack SDKs,
frameworks, and APIs,so we have that pro-code side
with all this different toolingand in the middle we have the low-code,
which is the Slack CLIand the integration between both.
(05:42):
So, for Workflow Builder,what I really like
is that anybody in anorganization can start creating
their own automationsto make their work, like, simpler.
So, if you identify a taskthat is repetitive
and is like really timeconsuming, that’s a great candidate
for creating an automationwith Workflow Builder.
(06:05):
Workflow Builder is a toolthat is available for everybody in any
plan in Slack.
If you see on the sidebar, you’llfind it under automations.
And when you start creating,you have like different steps.
And then it’s really easy because you dragand drop the different steps
into kind of like a canvas andthis is how you create your automation.
(06:31):
Once it’s ready to sharewith the rest of the organization,
you can add it to a channel,you can add it to a Canvas,
which is a document within Slack,or you can send it to somebody
directly in a DMor in another conversation.
So, it makes it really, really easyto get started
(06:52):
automating your work within Slack.
I feel also that an easy, like
step to get into the automation mode
is to start integrating theapps that you already use.
So, if you have a calendar appor like an email app, it can easily
(07:12):
go to the apps directory and checkif that app is available there.
And just connecting to it,like giving it permissions
to be within your workspace,
it makes your work more productive
because you don’t have toconstantly switch from one app
(07:34):
or the app that you areworking in which is Slack,
to go and check your calendarand go to check your email
or any other tool that you usein your department or within your team.
So, you start saving time.
It’s actually known to usbased on a survey that we had,
I think it saves people,makes them like 47% more productive
(07:58):
when they start integratingthe tools and the apps
that they are already working withand adding them to Slack.
So, if you are a productivity person,like they really chase productivity.
This is like a game-changer.
Julián (08:14):
Nice. So, there is this marketplace for apps.
An individual like myselfor any of the other developers
that are listening to thisepisode can build and distribute
an app on this marketplace?
Or there is kind of likea specific restriction
of what type of apps can be added here?
Maria (08:36):
So, there are like two types
of developer personaswhen it comes to creating an app.
So, we have people that workfor an organization
or for different organizations,and they want to build apps
for that specific organizationor team, to increase productivity
(08:56):
and to connect their own systemswith a platform like Slack,
which is like where people are alreadytalking and collaborating in.
And that makes a majorityof our developers,
so people that develop in-house andto connect their own systems with Slack.
(09:16):
On the other side, we have developersthat want to create different apps,
and those are the apps that you,
a specific app that solvesa specific problem for many companies,
and they pass a process
to get their app to theirSlack marketplace.
It’s not a difficult process,but there is like a series of steps
(09:40):
that our team in theSlack marketplace check
to be able to publish those apps.
So, if you are using Slack,if you go to see apps, more apps,
you get to the Slack marketplaceand if you want to have it published,
I think there is a button therethat gives you all
the different steps that you need tofollow to be able to do that.
Julián (10:04):
So there is also like an option for developers to get like some sort of revenue
by creating and buildingapps on the Slack marketplace.
Maria (10:12):
There are people that publish their apps totally for free.
If they have a business idea behind itthat’s completely on their side.
What we do here at Slackis just like build a platform
at the service of those developersand connect it with the people
that are really waitingto use that specific app.
Julián (10:33):
Nice. You and me, we both care about our developer audience,
so as an individual developer,how can I start
building apps or getting access
to like a Slack environmentto build an application?
Like sometimes, for example,I work for this
big organizationcalled Salesforce, you too,
(10:55):
but we don’t have accessto the Salesforce Enterprise
Slack instance to build appsor to experiment with apps.
Because of coursethis is the Enterprise one,
but I want to get accessto a sandbox or a place
where I can like buildapplications, do my tests.
How can developers get access to it?
(11:16):
I heard previously at one
event that you were sponsoringRender Atlanta, if I am not wrong,
that you were launchingthe Slack Developer Program.
So, can you tell us a little bit moreabout the Slack Developer Program
and me as a developer,what can I get from joining that program?
Maria (11:36):
Actually you heard correctly.
We do have a Slack Developer Programand the Slack Developer Program is our way
of helping developers build great things
on Slack faster, with confidence.
It’s completely for free to joinand it gives developers access
to everything from an enterprise-grade
(11:58):
sandbox for testing, to earlyaccess to new features,
and curated like learningexperiences and events.
So, each developer gets accessto a dedicated portal
where they can manage up to 10 sandboxes.
They can also explore resources,they can sign up for events, opt
into the different betas that we’regoing to be releasing before anybody else,
(12:23):
so they get to test those featureswhen they’re still in beta.
And then control theircommunications preferences
all in one placein that specific dashboard.
So, we launched this programlast year at TDX in March 2024
in like beta, but now it’slike fully available for everybody.
(12:43):
And the goal in our mind was to createa true central hub for Slack developers.
Something that gives them tools,learning paths,
and community in just one space.
So, why should people join this program?
If you’re a developer building with Slack,this program is the easiest way
to stay ahead, because like we giveall those features in advance.
(13:07):
You’ll be the first to know what’s coming,get a chance to test new features
before anyone else, and learn directly
from the Slack expertsthrough those different events.
All while building in a safe
and fully featuredenterprise-grade sandbox.
It’s really cool becausesometimes when you are testing
(13:30):
like you can prototypeand you want to test an idea
before you present it, and especiallyif your organization is really big,
you don’t want to test itin your own workspace
because you’re working with your dataand anything could go wrong.
But if you test it in anotherenvironment like a sandbox,
it’s really easy to prove your point
(13:52):
and help you get buy-in fromother people in your organization.
And once you are completely surethat everything’s in there
and everything works correctly,you can deploy that in your own workspace.
And then the way you can sign upfor the developer program,
you can go to Slack.dev and on this page
(14:12):
the first thing that you’re going to seeis “Join the Developer Program”
and it will take you to sign upfor the program.
And then after that you just confirmwith your email and you are in.
So, it’s completely for free.
It’s open to everybody.
It’s the best way to get starteddeveloping in Slack.
Julián (14:32):
Easy to memorize. Remember, Slack.dev.
We are going to add,of course, the link to the show notes
for all of those interestedin joining the developer program.
I have a question.
Is the program time based?
Let’s say I joined the program and I onlyhave access for six months or one year.
Or is this unlimitedor is it not constrained by time?
(14:56):
How does that work?
Maria (14:59):
It is not constrained by time, as far as I know.
Like you join the program, you are in.
Where we do have a little bit of like
limitations is the amount of sandboxesthat you can create at the same time.
I don’t think anybody is going
to need more than 10 sandboxesrunning at the same time.
You can delete the previous one and youcan add like new ones whenever you need.
(15:23):
Another thing that you get access to apartfrom all the different events
and information andknowledge from different experts,
is also the develop newsletter, whichactually I curate every month and it’s
just a way to stay informedof what’s relevant to you
when you are developing
(15:45):
with Slack or trying tobuild something for yourself
or for your organizationusing the Slack platform.
I feel like there is alsoa community behind it
that will support you in your developinglike journey, your building journey.
You get like a lot of thingsfor free, to be able to automate work
(16:06):
and make work like simplerfor other people at your organization,
not only for the things that you automate
for yourselfbut also for the possibilities
of like helping othersto automate their work and let them focus
what’s really important to themand what they’re really good for.
Julián (16:23):
This is amazing.
And one of the thingsthat I’m checking here
in the Slack.dev siteare the certifications.
I remember like two, three years ago
I got the Slack developer certification,
but sadly I let that expire.
(16:43):
So what other certifications are availableand how can I get certified on Slack?
Maria (16:49):
Yeah, you can find all this information on Slack.dev.
So, we have differentcertifications basically
for becoming a Slack developer,but also a Slack admin.
On top of the certifications that youhave to renew every now and then
as you just mentioned,we also have Trailhead modules.
(17:09):
Trailhead is a place where you can
learn and develop different skills
that is part of the Salesforce ecosystem
and we have our own space therewith our own modules
and that will teach youthe latest features, specifically
like how to get starteddeveloping in Slack.
(17:33):
One thing that connectsthat Trailhead modules, that is like a new
feature that we launched recently,is that you can connect
your developer program sandboxes
with those Trailhead modules.
So, you follow the learning paththat we created for you,
like in different courses,and you get to practice in real sandboxes.
Julián (17:58):
Amazing.
And I’m just needing like 2500 pointsto get to the double Ranger.
So now I know what modulesI’m going to be doing on Trailhead.
Maria (18:10):
Absolutely.
I’m just a Ranger,and I feel so far, like the Lone Ranger.
Julián (18:15):
Yeah, for those who don’t know Trailhead has like a gamification system
where the more modules or coursesyou complete, you’re going to get points
and these will give you somesort of rank within the system.
Maria (18:29):
And prizes.
Julián (18:30):
Awesome. This is, and prizes. Oh, my God.
Maria (18:33):
[Laughing] If you become a Ranger, you know, you get some swag.
Julián (18:38):
Yes, sadly, my Ranger hoodie,
my dog was playing with itand destroyed it.
So, I don’t know how to get a new one. [Laughs]
But that is a story for a different day.
You know, dogs are beautiful.
I cannot get mad at her.
Maria (18:54):
And so now you’re getting double Ranger so you can get like different hoodie,
replace that one. [Laughs]
Julián (18:59):
I’m hoping.
People think that we Salesforceemployees have access to those things
for free and nope, that’snot how it works.
Maria (19:08):
We also work really hard to get them. [Laughs]
Julián (19:11):
Yeah, we need to work for them.
Okay, this is amazing, all of theseresource things that people have access to,
to start like building applicationson the Slack platform.
And what are the latest news around
this recent topic called AI?
What can I build on the platform
(19:34):
that involves AI?
Maria (19:37):
Yeah. So, this is like the most asked question lately.
Because AI is now part ofour lives, [Laughs] everyday lives.
Yeah, so we love Slack, we use Slack,
and people who actually workwith Slack, they love it too.
And the way that people use it, it’sdifferent depending on the organization.
(20:00):
But I think if peoplethat are listening to
this podcast have everused Slack, they will like,
know that Slack is more than justa conversational tool.
So, it’s not just like a simple, like chat
in which like you can get to talkto your coworkers.
It includes more than that.
(20:22):
And how we call itis that it is “Work OS”.
So, “Work OS” is like where workhappens, but because there’s also
a series of tools that allow that work
to be more productive and efficient.
So, one of the things that allowsthat is automations
on the different integrationswith the apps, but also AI.
(20:47):
The way that we combine the human side
with data, with the data available in AI
right from all these conversationsand the things we share there,
whereas the differentintegrations and automations
and now AI is whatmakes it like a work OS.
When we talk about AI, I like toexplain this into two different parts.
(21:11):
So, in the product we have Slack AI,
which is an add-on to every plan
that allows us to have a better search.
So, when you try to look somethingin Slack that you go to the search bar,
you can have that powered by AI,this is like a feature that I use a lot.
(21:33):
For example, I knowsomething was shared in a channel,
but I don’t know wherebecause I have so many channels.
I’m looking just for the rightinformation about something specific,
I don’t really need to likeread the whole thing.
So, I asked, for example, I’m going toTDX in Bengaluru in like two weeks.
I don’t know the date.
(21:54):
So I asked “when is TDX Bengaluru?”in the search bar.
And it gives methe answer based on the data
from the different conversationsand public channels.
So it’s a really, really nice way to findthe things that you are looking for.
Julián (22:09):
That’s something that I’ve been using lately
a lot, is using the searchjust to ask questions to it.
Maria (22:17):
Yeah, it’s not only good for like for finding things but also like
you get answers to the questionslike what is the developer program?
And it gave me the complete answer
based on all the data thatwe have shared internally.
Also, another thing that I use itfor is, for example, when I have a holiday
and I wasn’t able to joinfor like a week or something.
(22:38):
When I come back, my fear was like,
I’m going to be drownedby like all the different notifications
that I’m going to get for likeone week of not being in Slack.
Now, in Slack AI, I can create
a summary of what happenedduring that week on the channels
that I’m really interested in knowing,like what actually happened there.
(23:02):
So, it gives me a summaryof what happened there.
Or I can also create a summaryof what happened in a specific channel,
what’s being said in a specific channel.
With the tool there’s a little star
on the upper rightcorner of the interface.
And another way is tocreate recaps of those channels
that are really important to you.
(23:23):
And then we have that recapsection within like the sidebar.
So, that Slack AI is making working
with Slack more intuitive and easier.
It is like having your personal assistantwith you all the time and it knows
all the context of the conversationsthat you are a part of.
(23:46):
So that’s all the first part.
Now the second part ishow you can integrate AI in the apps
that you are building.
Integrating AI or like AI capabilities
into the app that you develop,thanks to the different tooling
that does something specific,and then we have agents.
(24:09):
Agents we work reallyhand-to-hand with Agentforce,
which is our in-house toolingfrom Salesforce to create agents
that also get all theinformation from context.
So, in Slack we have allthis conversational data
that is unstructured datathat feeds an agent, or an AI,
(24:31):
with the relevant information to help us
or like solve specific requests.
So, for on the one hand we havethose agents that we can create
with Agent Builder,
but it doesn’t live in Agent Builderand we can bring them to Slack
and make it accessible for peopleat our organization, could be like
a repository of institutional knowledge
(24:53):
for a lot of people in the organization.
You can ask things likeif you are like new to a company
and you ask like “how is this done,”“what are the processes for this,”
“can you help me with this other thing?”It just makes your work easier
within Slack because it containsall that context already.
(25:14):
In the apps that you’re building,you have the opportunity to connect to
whichever LLM that you want to use
and that will power your appin a way that makes sense.
If you go to the Slackmarketplace, we have many,
many apps that already have AI features.
(25:38):
We have partner appsas well that are featured
on top of the marketplacethat are already showing
how they are using AI to power theirapps and make it like more relevant
and helpful for the people thatinstalled them to their workspaces.
So, we have a bunch of different ways
(26:01):
to integrate AI intolike what we’re doing.
From Slack AI to developing
or building Slack appsthat integrate with AI,
but also creating agents that willhelp us make our work simpler.
Julián (26:18):
I love it and now I have an idea of something that I could build,
which is a Slack application that uses the
Heroku Managed Inference and Agents,which is our managed LLM.
We support different LLMs and integrateeverything on a Slack application,
deploy everything to Heroku and voilá,that will be the best of both worlds.
Maria (26:41):
That’s a great idea, send it my way.
Julián (26:44):
Once I have it ready, I will share it with you. [Laughs]
Maria (26:47):
Yes, please.
I’d like to try it out.
Julián (26:49):
Of course.
Maria, this has been amazing,talking to you, learning
about all of this cool stuffthat Slack has for developers.
Do you have any final wordsfor our audience?
Maria (27:02):
I want to encourage everybody to get started building in Slack.
We have an amazingrepository of sample apps
that people, they just cantake a look, they can clone it,
they can just run it right away,
or they can just change some thingsand adapt it to their own needs
and test it out and be like,seriously, the work that the developer
(27:27):
experience team does isamazing in creating those tools.
We listen to all your feedback,we try to improve it every day, and once
you get hands-on and developing withSlack, you’ll see it’s not really hard.
They do such a good job and make itthis really simple to get started.
(27:47):
From there, it can get as complexas you want, depending on your use case,
but I feel like the wholeexperience is really good
for developers that are getting started.
But there’s also moreadvanced examples
and use cases for developersthat are already building with Slack.
And what’s really niceabout being part of this ecosystem,
(28:11):
like the Slack developersecosystem is you’re not alone.
You have a community to support you,to help you out, to answer your questions.
My team is in all the forumswhere people ask questions,
but people in the communityare faster than us and they actually
get to answer those questionsand help other people in the community.
(28:32):
So it is a great wayto be part of this community,
automate work, become moreproductive and help yourself
but also others, to make work moreenjoyable and productive in the end.
So, I invite everybodyto take a look into Slack.dev
if you want to get started with anythingand just take a look at what’s out there.
(28:54):
We also have a blogin which we collaborate
with other developers,and sign up for the newsletter
because we have really niceinformation that we share.
And for those that are alreadyreally experts, they want to try it out
developing with Slack, there is ahackathon going on right now,
a virtual hackathon, and we haveone prize for the best use of Slack.
(29:16):
So, I invite everybody to join that andmaybe we can link it in the show notes.
And if everybody wants to participate,it’s a great way to test your knowledge
and start creating something,something pretty amazing for everybody.
Julián (29:30):
Awesome. Maria, thank you.
Thank you very muchfor joining us here at Code[ish]
and looking forwardto have you on a future edition.
Maria (29:39):
Please, I’d be really honored to be back and thank you so much for this time
and this opportunity to talk to youabout what we do here at Slack.
Julián (29:47):
Of course, and thank you, you all for listening to Code[ish]
and see you on the next one.
Rita (29:56):
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Code[ish] podcast.
Code[ish] is produced by Heroku.
The easiest way to deploy, manage,and scale your applications in the cloud.
If you’d like to learn more aboutCode[ish] or any of Heroku’s podcasts,
please visit Heroku.com/podcasts.
Hello and welcome to Code[ish],
an exploration of thelives of modern developers.
Join us as we dive into topicslike languages and frameworks,
data and event driven architectures,
artificial intelligence, andindividual and team productivity.
Tailored to developersand engineering leaders,
this episode is partof our DevLife series.
Julián Duque (00:27):
We are back on a new Code[ish] episode.
Today I have the honor to have as guest,Maria José Hernández.
She's a senior developeradvocate for Slack.
Hello, Maria. How’re you doing?
Maria (00:42):
Thank you so much for having me here today, Julián.
I’m the honored one tobe here with you today.
Julián (00:50):
Awesome, awesome.
I’m super, super happy to have you here,
I've always wanted tocollaborate with you.
For those who don't know this,Maria and I both speak Spanish natively,
so you are going to feelour beautiful accent.
But ironically, todaywe are collaborating in English, but
(01:10):
in the future we are going to make sureto see what we can do
in Spanish for our Spanishspeaking audience.
Maria (01:16):
Maybe we will do it in Spanish.
Julián (01:19):
Okay, Maria, before we start.
Tell me about yourself.
What do you do at Slack?
What are the new cool stuffthat the Slack team has been working on?
Maria (01:30):
Yeah, so this week exactly,
it's my third year at Slack,
so I'm really, really happyand celebrating my work anniversary.
Julián (01:39):
Congratulations!
Maria (01:41):
Yes. Thank you.
And I've been working at Slackas a developer advocate,
so we meet many, many of our Slackdevelopers around the world,
collecting their feedbackabout how they use the platform,
the Slack platform, giving them adviceon how to be on the platform,
but also like the amazing toolingthat we are building for them.
Julián (02:06):
Awesome.
I've been doing apps on Slack mostly
using the Bold SDK into developers,so that's the thing I know.
But I see that there is supportfor other different languages.
What languages or technologiescan I use today to build on Slack?
Maria (02:27):
Yeah, so, let's start like from the beginning.
So, we have amazing APIs.
So regardless of the languagethat you use, you can just connect easily
to those and start developingin the own language of your choice.
But like just to make things simpler,we have different SDKs
and these SDKs are available forNode, Python, Java, and Dino.
Julián (02:52):
Dino, okay.
Maria (02:54):
Yeah! And on top of that, we have the Bold framework
that probably you’re more like,acquainted with.
But like, they use like the SDKsand the idea behind it is just to make it
simpler and faster for developersto start developing in Slack.
And as I mentioned, like, we have likeDino is like our latest SDK
(03:14):
or our latest addition to our SDK package.
We just brought it becausewe wanted to make it simpler
and more secure for developersto start developing smaller apps.
Just like functions that were like easy
to create, to build,and to deploy in our system.
(03:35):
And with that came the Slack CLI,
and the CLI allows us tocontrol and manage
all our apps from theterminal, basically.
Thanks to that, we actually expand itand we included this to support
also all the Bold framework.
(03:56):
The different apps that are availablewith Bold that are in JavaScript, Python,
and Java, and it just like makes it likea better developer experience overall.
Julián (04:07):
That’s amazing. I love developer tooling and CLIs.
But I’ve got to be honest,I have not used Slack’s CLI.
What I recently have been working
mostly with, the Workflow Builder
and I’ve been automatinga bunch of work with that tool.
And it’s very convenient,because it’s kind of like low-code.
(04:31):
I don’t need to write like a single lineof code to do automations
or manage Lists or connect to Canvases or
notify my coworkers.
But it also allows meto do some cost-to-code execution
or call to external APIs.
So, can these appscreated with Workflow Builder
(04:53):
be connected with an existingSlack app or a function?
How could this work?
Maria (05:00):
This is a great question, and it’s a question that we get a lot
when we meet with developers.
So basically, we have,I put it like, in a line, right?
And one side no code and we goto pro-code, passing through low-code.
So, in the no-code sectionwe have Workflow Builder,
which is a no-codeintegration that helps you
(05:22):
to create automationswithout writing a single line of code.
And on the other side,so we already talk about the Slack SDKs,
frameworks, and APIs,so we have that pro-code side
with all this different toolingand in the middle we have the low-code,
which is the Slack CLIand the integration between both.
(05:42):
So, for Workflow Builder,what I really like
is that anybody in anorganization can start creating
their own automationsto make their work, like, simpler.
So, if you identify a taskthat is repetitive
and is like really timeconsuming, that’s a great candidate
for creating an automationwith Workflow Builder.
(06:05):
Workflow Builder is a toolthat is available for everybody in any
plan in Slack.
If you see on the sidebar, you’llfind it under automations.
And when you start creating,you have like different steps.
And then it’s really easy because you dragand drop the different steps
into kind of like a canvas andthis is how you create your automation.
(06:31):
Once it’s ready to sharewith the rest of the organization,
you can add it to a channel,you can add it to a Canvas,
which is a document within Slack,or you can send it to somebody
directly in a DMor in another conversation.
So, it makes it really, really easyto get started
(06:52):
automating your work within Slack.
I feel also that an easy, like
step to get into the automation mode
is to start integrating theapps that you already use.
So, if you have a calendar appor like an email app, it can easily
(07:12):
go to the apps directory and checkif that app is available there.
And just connecting to it,like giving it permissions
to be within your workspace,
it makes your work more productive
because you don’t have toconstantly switch from one app
(07:34):
or the app that you areworking in which is Slack,
to go and check your calendarand go to check your email
or any other tool that you usein your department or within your team.
So, you start saving time.
It’s actually known to usbased on a survey that we had,
I think it saves people,makes them like 47% more productive
(07:58):
when they start integratingthe tools and the apps
that they are already working withand adding them to Slack.
So, if you are a productivity person,like they really chase productivity.
This is like a game-changer.
Julián (08:14):
Nice. So, there is this marketplace for apps.
An individual like myselfor any of the other developers
that are listening to thisepisode can build and distribute
an app on this marketplace?
Or there is kind of likea specific restriction
of what type of apps can be added here?
Maria (08:36):
So, there are like two types
of developer personaswhen it comes to creating an app.
So, we have people that workfor an organization
or for different organizations,and they want to build apps
for that specific organizationor team, to increase productivity
(08:56):
and to connect their own systemswith a platform like Slack,
which is like where people are alreadytalking and collaborating in.
And that makes a majorityof our developers,
so people that develop in-house andto connect their own systems with Slack.
(09:16):
On the other side, we have developersthat want to create different apps,
and those are the apps that you,
a specific app that solvesa specific problem for many companies,
and they pass a process
to get their app to theirSlack marketplace.
It’s not a difficult process,but there is like a series of steps
(09:40):
that our team in theSlack marketplace check
to be able to publish those apps.
So, if you are using Slack,if you go to see apps, more apps,
you get to the Slack marketplaceand if you want to have it published,
I think there is a button therethat gives you all
the different steps that you need tofollow to be able to do that.
Julián (10:04):
So there is also like an option for developers to get like some sort of revenue
by creating and buildingapps on the Slack marketplace.
Maria (10:12):
There are people that publish their apps totally for free.
If they have a business idea behind itthat’s completely on their side.
What we do here at Slackis just like build a platform
at the service of those developersand connect it with the people
that are really waitingto use that specific app.
Julián (10:33):
Nice. You and me, we both care about our developer audience,
so as an individual developer,how can I start
building apps or getting access
to like a Slack environmentto build an application?
Like sometimes, for example,I work for this
big organizationcalled Salesforce, you too,
(10:55):
but we don’t have accessto the Salesforce Enterprise
Slack instance to build appsor to experiment with apps.
Because of coursethis is the Enterprise one,
but I want to get accessto a sandbox or a place
where I can like buildapplications, do my tests.
How can developers get access to it?
(11:16):
I heard previously at one
event that you were sponsoringRender Atlanta, if I am not wrong,
that you were launchingthe Slack Developer Program.
So, can you tell us a little bit moreabout the Slack Developer Program
and me as a developer,what can I get from joining that program?
Maria (11:36):
Actually you heard correctly.
We do have a Slack Developer Programand the Slack Developer Program is our way
of helping developers build great things
on Slack faster, with confidence.
It’s completely for free to joinand it gives developers access
to everything from an enterprise-grade
(11:58):
sandbox for testing, to earlyaccess to new features,
and curated like learningexperiences and events.
So, each developer gets accessto a dedicated portal
where they can manage up to 10 sandboxes.
They can also explore resources,they can sign up for events, opt
into the different betas that we’regoing to be releasing before anybody else,
(12:23):
so they get to test those featureswhen they’re still in beta.
And then control theircommunications preferences
all in one placein that specific dashboard.
So, we launched this programlast year at TDX in March 2024
in like beta, but now it’slike fully available for everybody.
(12:43):
And the goal in our mind was to createa true central hub for Slack developers.
Something that gives them tools,learning paths,
and community in just one space.
So, why should people join this program?
If you’re a developer building with Slack,this program is the easiest way
to stay ahead, because like we giveall those features in advance.
(13:07):
You’ll be the first to know what’s coming,get a chance to test new features
before anyone else, and learn directly
from the Slack expertsthrough those different events.
All while building in a safe
and fully featuredenterprise-grade sandbox.
It’s really cool becausesometimes when you are testing
(13:30):
like you can prototypeand you want to test an idea
before you present it, and especiallyif your organization is really big,
you don’t want to test itin your own workspace
because you’re working with your dataand anything could go wrong.
But if you test it in anotherenvironment like a sandbox,
it’s really easy to prove your point
(13:52):
and help you get buy-in fromother people in your organization.
And once you are completely surethat everything’s in there
and everything works correctly,you can deploy that in your own workspace.
And then the way you can sign upfor the developer program,
you can go to Slack.dev and on this page
(14:12):
the first thing that you’re going to seeis “Join the Developer Program”
and it will take you to sign upfor the program.
And then after that you just confirmwith your email and you are in.
So, it’s completely for free.
It’s open to everybody.
It’s the best way to get starteddeveloping in Slack.
Julián (14:32):
Easy to memorize. Remember, Slack.dev.
We are going to add,of course, the link to the show notes
for all of those interestedin joining the developer program.
I have a question.
Is the program time based?
Let’s say I joined the program and I onlyhave access for six months or one year.
Or is this unlimitedor is it not constrained by time?
(14:56):
How does that work?
Maria (14:59):
It is not constrained by time, as far as I know.
Like you join the program, you are in.
Where we do have a little bit of like
limitations is the amount of sandboxesthat you can create at the same time.
I don’t think anybody is going
to need more than 10 sandboxesrunning at the same time.
You can delete the previous one and youcan add like new ones whenever you need.
(15:23):
Another thing that you get access to apartfrom all the different events
and information andknowledge from different experts,
is also the develop newsletter, whichactually I curate every month and it’s
just a way to stay informedof what’s relevant to you
when you are developing
(15:45):
with Slack or trying tobuild something for yourself
or for your organizationusing the Slack platform.
I feel like there is alsoa community behind it
that will support you in your developinglike journey, your building journey.
You get like a lot of thingsfor free, to be able to automate work
(16:06):
and make work like simplerfor other people at your organization,
not only for the things that you automate
for yourselfbut also for the possibilities
of like helping othersto automate their work and let them focus
what’s really important to themand what they’re really good for.
Julián (16:23):
This is amazing.
And one of the thingsthat I’m checking here
in the Slack.dev siteare the certifications.
I remember like two, three years ago
I got the Slack developer certification,
but sadly I let that expire.
(16:43):
So what other certifications are availableand how can I get certified on Slack?
Maria (16:49):
Yeah, you can find all this information on Slack.dev.
So, we have differentcertifications basically
for becoming a Slack developer,but also a Slack admin.
On top of the certifications that youhave to renew every now and then
as you just mentioned,we also have Trailhead modules.
(17:09):
Trailhead is a place where you can
learn and develop different skills
that is part of the Salesforce ecosystem
and we have our own space therewith our own modules
and that will teach youthe latest features, specifically
like how to get starteddeveloping in Slack.
(17:33):
One thing that connectsthat Trailhead modules, that is like a new
feature that we launched recently,is that you can connect
your developer program sandboxes
with those Trailhead modules.
So, you follow the learning paththat we created for you,
like in different courses,and you get to practice in real sandboxes.
Julián (17:58):
Amazing.
And I’m just needing like 2500 pointsto get to the double Ranger.
So now I know what modulesI’m going to be doing on Trailhead.
Maria (18:10):
Absolutely.
I’m just a Ranger,and I feel so far, like the Lone Ranger.
Julián (18:15):
Yeah, for those who don’t know Trailhead has like a gamification system
where the more modules or coursesyou complete, you’re going to get points
and these will give you somesort of rank within the system.
Maria (18:29):
And prizes.
Julián (18:30):
Awesome. This is, and prizes. Oh, my God.
Maria (18:33):
[Laughing] If you become a Ranger, you know, you get some swag.
Julián (18:38):
Yes, sadly, my Ranger hoodie,
my dog was playing with itand destroyed it.
So, I don’t know how to get a new one. [Laughs]
But that is a story for a different day.
You know, dogs are beautiful.
I cannot get mad at her.
Maria (18:54):
And so now you’re getting double Ranger so you can get like different hoodie,
replace that one. [Laughs]
Julián (18:59):
I’m hoping.
People think that we Salesforceemployees have access to those things
for free and nope, that’snot how it works.
Maria (19:08):
We also work really hard to get them. [Laughs]
Julián (19:11):
Yeah, we need to work for them.
Okay, this is amazing, all of theseresource things that people have access to,
to start like building applicationson the Slack platform.
And what are the latest news around
this recent topic called AI?
What can I build on the platform
(19:34):
that involves AI?
Maria (19:37):
Yeah. So, this is like the most asked question lately.
Because AI is now part ofour lives, [Laughs] everyday lives.
Yeah, so we love Slack, we use Slack,
and people who actually workwith Slack, they love it too.
And the way that people use it, it’sdifferent depending on the organization.
(20:00):
But I think if peoplethat are listening to
this podcast have everused Slack, they will like,
know that Slack is more than justa conversational tool.
So, it’s not just like a simple, like chat
in which like you can get to talkto your coworkers.
It includes more than that.
(20:22):
And how we call itis that it is “Work OS”.
So, “Work OS” is like where workhappens, but because there’s also
a series of tools that allow that work
to be more productive and efficient.
So, one of the things that allowsthat is automations
on the different integrationswith the apps, but also AI.
(20:47):
The way that we combine the human side
with data, with the data available in AI
right from all these conversationsand the things we share there,
whereas the differentintegrations and automations
and now AI is whatmakes it like a work OS.
When we talk about AI, I like toexplain this into two different parts.
(21:11):
So, in the product we have Slack AI,
which is an add-on to every plan
that allows us to have a better search.
So, when you try to look somethingin Slack that you go to the search bar,
you can have that powered by AI,this is like a feature that I use a lot.
(21:33):
For example, I knowsomething was shared in a channel,
but I don’t know wherebecause I have so many channels.
I’m looking just for the rightinformation about something specific,
I don’t really need to likeread the whole thing.
So, I asked, for example, I’m going toTDX in Bengaluru in like two weeks.
I don’t know the date.
(21:54):
So I asked “when is TDX Bengaluru?”in the search bar.
And it gives methe answer based on the data
from the different conversationsand public channels.
So it’s a really, really nice way to findthe things that you are looking for.
Julián (22:09):
That’s something that I’ve been using lately
a lot, is using the searchjust to ask questions to it.
Maria (22:17):
Yeah, it’s not only good for like for finding things but also like
you get answers to the questionslike what is the developer program?
And it gave me the complete answer
based on all the data thatwe have shared internally.
Also, another thing that I use itfor is, for example, when I have a holiday
and I wasn’t able to joinfor like a week or something.
(22:38):
When I come back, my fear was like,
I’m going to be drownedby like all the different notifications
that I’m going to get for likeone week of not being in Slack.
Now, in Slack AI, I can create
a summary of what happenedduring that week on the channels
that I’m really interested in knowing,like what actually happened there.
(23:02):
So, it gives me a summaryof what happened there.
Or I can also create a summaryof what happened in a specific channel,
what’s being said in a specific channel.
With the tool there’s a little star
on the upper rightcorner of the interface.
And another way is tocreate recaps of those channels
that are really important to you.
(23:23):
And then we have that recapsection within like the sidebar.
So, that Slack AI is making working
with Slack more intuitive and easier.
It is like having your personal assistantwith you all the time and it knows
all the context of the conversationsthat you are a part of.
(23:46):
So that’s all the first part.
Now the second part ishow you can integrate AI in the apps
that you are building.
Integrating AI or like AI capabilities
into the app that you develop,thanks to the different tooling
that does something specific,and then we have agents.
(24:09):
Agents we work reallyhand-to-hand with Agentforce,
which is our in-house toolingfrom Salesforce to create agents
that also get all theinformation from context.
So, in Slack we have allthis conversational data
that is unstructured datathat feeds an agent, or an AI,
(24:31):
with the relevant information to help us
or like solve specific requests.
So, for on the one hand we havethose agents that we can create
with Agent Builder,
but it doesn’t live in Agent Builderand we can bring them to Slack
and make it accessible for peopleat our organization, could be like
a repository of institutional knowledge
(24:53):
for a lot of people in the organization.
You can ask things likeif you are like new to a company
and you ask like “how is this done,”“what are the processes for this,”
“can you help me with this other thing?”It just makes your work easier
within Slack because it containsall that context already.
(25:14):
In the apps that you’re building,you have the opportunity to connect to
whichever LLM that you want to use
and that will power your appin a way that makes sense.
If you go to the Slackmarketplace, we have many,
many apps that already have AI features.
(25:38):
We have partner appsas well that are featured
on top of the marketplacethat are already showing
how they are using AI to power theirapps and make it like more relevant
and helpful for the people thatinstalled them to their workspaces.
So, we have a bunch of different ways
(26:01):
to integrate AI intolike what we’re doing.
From Slack AI to developing
or building Slack appsthat integrate with AI,
but also creating agents that willhelp us make our work simpler.
Julián (26:18):
I love it and now I have an idea of something that I could build,
which is a Slack application that uses the
Heroku Managed Inference and Agents,which is our managed LLM.
We support different LLMs and integrateeverything on a Slack application,
deploy everything to Heroku and voilá,that will be the best of both worlds.
Maria (26:41):
That’s a great idea, send it my way.
Julián (26:44):
Once I have it ready, I will share it with you. [Laughs]
Maria (26:47):
Yes, please.
I’d like to try it out.
Julián (26:49):
Of course.
Maria, this has been amazing,talking to you, learning
about all of this cool stuffthat Slack has for developers.
Do you have any final wordsfor our audience?
Maria (27:02):
I want to encourage everybody to get started building in Slack.
We have an amazingrepository of sample apps
that people, they just cantake a look, they can clone it,
they can just run it right away,
or they can just change some thingsand adapt it to their own needs
and test it out and be like,seriously, the work that the developer
(27:27):
experience team does isamazing in creating those tools.
We listen to all your feedback,we try to improve it every day, and once
you get hands-on and developing withSlack, you’ll see it’s not really hard.
They do such a good job and make itthis really simple to get started.
(27:47):
From there, it can get as complexas you want, depending on your use case,
but I feel like the wholeexperience is really good
for developers that are getting started.
But there’s also moreadvanced examples
and use cases for developersthat are already building with Slack.
And what’s really niceabout being part of this ecosystem,
(28:11):
like the Slack developersecosystem is you’re not alone.
You have a community to support you,to help you out, to answer your questions.
My team is in all the forumswhere people ask questions,
but people in the communityare faster than us and they actually
get to answer those questionsand help other people in the community.
(28:32):
So it is a great wayto be part of this community,
automate work, become moreproductive and help yourself
but also others, to make work moreenjoyable and productive in the end.
So, I invite everybodyto take a look into Slack.dev
if you want to get started with anythingand just take a look at what’s out there.
(28:54):
We also have a blogin which we collaborate
with other developers,and sign up for the newsletter
because we have really niceinformation that we share.
And for those that are alreadyreally experts, they want to try it out
developing with Slack, there is ahackathon going on right now,
a virtual hackathon, and we haveone prize for the best use of Slack.
(29:16):
So, I invite everybody to join that andmaybe we can link it in the show notes.
And if everybody wants to participate,it’s a great way to test your knowledge
and start creating something,something pretty amazing for everybody.
Julián (29:30):
Awesome. Maria, thank you.
Thank you very muchfor joining us here at Code[ish]
and looking forwardto have you on a future edition.
Maria (29:39):
Please, I’d be really honored to be back and thank you so much for this time
and this opportunity to talk to youabout what we do here at Slack.
Julián (29:47):
Of course, and thank you, you all for listening to Code[ish]
and see you on the next one.
Rita (29:56):
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Code[ish] podcast.
Code[ish] is produced by Heroku.
The easiest way to deploy, manage,and scale your applications in the cloud.
If you’d like to learn more aboutCode[ish] or any of Heroku’s podcasts,
please visit Heroku.com/podcasts.
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