This software is now deprecated: I created this some time ago when I was using slack at a job. Slack has deprecated the basic system this was using to keep your user active, therefore this software does not work as intended anymore. There's probably a new way of accomplishing the same, but I do not use slack at the moment and lack the time to keep this updated. Luckily for you, there are alternatives that seem to work: https://libraries.io/rubygems/slack-keep-presence

slack-keep-presence

Keeps your slack user active whenever auto-away kicks in. Also logs or shows a system notification whenever you are mentioned or receive a DM. Perfect for these ocasions when you feel like… slacking from Slack.

Installation

$ npm install slack-keep-presence

Usage

Following assumes $HOME/node_modules/.bin is present on your $PATH

$ slack-keep-presence --help
usage: slack-keep-presence [-h] [-t TOKEN] [-d] [-n]

Keeps your user active whenever auto-away kicks in

Optional arguments:
  -h, --help            Show this help message and exit.
  -t TOKEN, --token TOKEN
                        Your slack token. Can be set by env var SLACK_TOKEN.
  -d, --debug           Log all slack RTM events
  -n, --notifications   Try to use system notifications for mentions and DMs
  -m MSG, --msg MSG     (Auto Away) Respond to mentions and PM with this msg
  -c CONFIG, --config CONFIG
                        Read config file

Check conf.sample for config usage. This file can be either provided with the -c flag or stored in $HOME/.config/slack-keep-presence.

Examples

$ slack-keep-presence -t <your token>

$ SLACK_TOKEN=<your_token> slack-keep-presence

Easiest is to define SLACK_TOKEN environment variable and just run it as

$ slack-keep-presence

You can get a token linked to your user at https://api.slack.com/docs/oauth-test-tokens

Set an auto-away message

It's good to be slacking, but it's even better to let others know. By passing a message to command, this will be responded to the channel where the event happened.

$ slack-keep-presence --msg "Currently away, will be back at 10.00 UTC"

By default, it will post as a bot (with your name set to away) and on the channel or direct message where the mention happened.

It's fully configurable through the configuration file. See conf.

Configuration

To avoid overcrowding the utility with flags, it accepts a config file on TOML format. It can either be passed with -c path or set up at $HOME/.config/slack-keep-presence.

Sample

conf.sample

# You can set configuration options here. All have been defined with the
# defaults, so you can tweak them at your will

# Your slack token, get one linked to you at https://api.slack.com/docs/oauth-test-tokens
token = "<my token here>"

# Debug all RTM events
debug = false

# Try to use system notifications for mentions and direct messages
notifications = false

[auto_reply]
# If it starts and ends with ':' it's considered an emoji
# If "${me}" is set, it will use your user image
# Accepts urls too
icon = ":robot_face:"

# Accepts "${me}", which will be your name
username = "[away] ${me}"

# Post as me (this overrides icon and username)
as_me = false

# If mention happens on public, respond to user in a private msg
in_private = false

# Template to use to format away message. Defaults to "${msg}"
reply_template = "Hello, ${user} I am away, reason: \"${msg}\""

# Time to wait before sending msg again to channel / DM (in minutes)
warmup = 5

Motivation

https://twitter.com/slackhq/status/448966862521786368

Disabling auto-away isn't on our immediate roadmap, but it's on our "someday" list. Stay tuned! ✨

Auto-away in slack is annoying. Not lurking around slack for 30 minutes does not mean not being available for anyone to ping and "someday" seems a bit vague for an essential feature like this. Fortunately using the slack API it's easy to circumvent this restriction.