RCIT — Slack Channel Automation for New Customers

Automates creation of standard Slack channels whenever RCIT onboards a new client. Triggered manually via GitHub Actions workflow_dispatch — no code changes needed per customer.

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Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• Slack workspace admin access (needed to create and install the bot app)
• GitHub repo access with permission to add repository secrets and run Actions

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Setup (one-time)

1. Create a Slack Bot Token

1. Go to https://api.slack.com/apps → Create New App → From Scratch
2. Name it something like rcit-channel-bot and select your workspace
3. Under OAuth & Permissions, add these Bot Token Scopes:
   • channels:manage — create public channels
   • groups:write — create private channels
   • chat:write — post summary messages
4. Click Install to Workspace → copy the Bot OAuth Token (starts with xoxb-...)

2. Add the token to GitHub Secrets

In your GitHub repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret:

Secret Name	Value
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN	xoxb-your-token-here

3. Invite the bot to your internal channel

The workflow posts a completion summary to #team_rcit-internal after each run. You must invite the bot there first — otherwise the notification will silently fail.

In Slack, open #team_rcit-internal and run:

/invite @rcit-channel-bot

That's it — the workflow file is already included in this repo, so no additional setup is needed.

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Usage

1. Go to your GitHub repo → Actions tab
2. Select "New Customer Slack Channel Setup" in the left sidebar
3. Click "Run workflow" (top right)
4. Fill in:
   • Customer slug — lowercase, hyphens only (e.g. acme-corp)
   • Customer display name — human-readable (e.g. Acme Corp)
   • Channel preset — choose from the options below
5. Click Run workflow — channels will be created within seconds

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Channel Presets

standard (default — most new clients)

Channel	Visibility
client_{name}-it-support	Public
client_{name}-it-support-private	Private
client_{name}-hr-it-support	Private
client_{name}_onboarding_offboarding	Private

full (clients with deeper engagement — DevOps, security alerts)

All of standard, plus:

Channel	Visibility
client_{name}-devops	Private
client_{name}-access-alerts	Public
client_{name}-it-announcements	Public

minimal (trial / short-term engagements)

Channel	Visibility
client_{name}-it-support	Public

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Example

Inputs:

• Customer slug: ignition-benefits
• Display name: Ignition Benefits
• Preset: standard

Channels created:

• #client_ignition-benefits-it-support (public)
• #client_ignition-benefits-it-support-private (private)
• #client_ignition-benefits-hr-it-support (private)
• #client_ignition-benefits_onboarding_offboarding (private)

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Behavior Notes

• Idempotent — if a channel already exists (name_taken), it's skipped, not errored.
• Purpose auto-set — each channel gets a description set via API automatically.
• Completion notification — a summary is posted to #team_rcit-internal after every run.
• Validation — the slug is validated before any API calls are made.

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Prospect Deal Rooms + Slack Connect (#dealroom-*)

"Prospect Deal Room + Slack Connect" (.github/workflows/dealroom_connect.yml) provisions a prospect deal-room channel and sends the prospect a Slack Connect invitation so the channel is shared between the two workspaces.

Additional bot scopes required

The existing bot app needs these extra OAuth scopes (re-install the app after adding):

Scope	Used for
conversations.connect:write	conversations.inviteShared: sending Slack Connect invites
users:read.email	users.lookupByEmail: resolving rep emails to user IDs
channels:read	conversations.list: resolving the channel ID when name_taken
channels:join	conversations.join: bot joins a pre-existing channel before inviting

Workspace prerequisites: both workspaces must be on a paid Slack plan, and Manage permissions for inviting people to channels must permit the chosen invite type; otherwise conversations.inviteShared returns restricted_action.

Run it

Manually: Actions → Prospect Deal Room + Slack Connect → Run workflow.

• prospect_slug / prospect_display_name: e.g. acme-corp / Acme Corp
• channel_name: optional override (default dealroom-<slug>; use ext-<name>-redcupit for the external naming convention)
• rep_emails: comma-separated @redcupit.com emails to add to the channel
• connect_invite_emails: comma-separated prospect emails; one Connect invite per email
• external_limited: true recommended. Prospects can post but not invite/export/rename
• mode: dry-run (default) prints the plan; execute applies it

Trigger it from another system (CRM deal stage, n8n, Linear, …)

Send a repository_dispatch event: the workflow runs in execute mode:

curl -X POST https://api.github.com/repos/RedCupIT/slack-client-channel-creation/dispatches \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -d '{
    "event_type": "prospect-dealroom-connect",
    "client_payload": {
      "slug": "acme-corp",
      "display_name": "Acme Corp",
      "connect_invite_emails": "cto@acme.example,it@acme.example",
      "rep_emails": "dan@redcupit.com",
      "external_limited": "true"
    }
  }'

client_payload keys mirror the manual inputs (slug, display_name, connect_invite_emails, rep_emails, external_limited, channel_name, mode).

Behavior notes

• Idempotent: name_taken resolves the existing channel and continues; re-invites that return already_in_channel are non-fatal.
• The channel becomes a Slack Connect channel only when the prospect accepts the emailed invite; until then treat it as internal.
• Invite failures (e.g. restricted_action, unresolved rep email) are logged and reported in the #team_rcit-internal summary: they do not fail the run.

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Brain Dump Channels (#brew-*) — INT-2477

In addition to client channels, this repo provisions the internal #brew-<name> brain dump channels — one public channel per Red Cup IT staff member for thinking out loud (inspired by Shopify's #shhtobi). Reactions over replies; not a deliverables queue.

• Roster: brew_roster.json — channel name, display name, email, and Slack user ID for each staff member. Edit this file to add/remove people.
• Script: create_brew_channels.py — standard library only (no pip install). For each roster entry it creates the public channel (idempotent on name_taken), sets the topic (Brain dump from <Name>. Lurk freely. Reactions over replies.), invites the owner, and posts + pins a kickoff message.
• Workflow: "Brew Brain Dump Channels (INT-2477)" in the Actions tab.

Run it

Via GitHub Actions (uses the existing SLACK_BOT_TOKEN secret):

1. Actions → Brew Brain Dump Channels (INT-2477) → Run workflow
2. mode: dry-run (default, prints planned actions) or execute (applies changes)
3. announce_channel (optional): e.g. general to post the launch announcement

Locally:

SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-... python create_brew_channels.py            # dry run (default)
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-... python create_brew_channels.py --execute  # apply
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-... python create_brew_channels.py --execute --announce general

Required scopes & limitations

• Token scopes: channels:manage and chat:write (the README setup above). Pinning the kickoff message additionally needs pins:write — without it the kickoff is still posted, only the pin is skipped (logged, non-fatal). channels:history lets a re-run locate an already-posted kickoff and pin it instead of posting a duplicate; without it, re-running --execute re-posts the kickoff.
• Idempotent kickoff — on re-run the script finds the existing kickoff per channel (via channels:history) and just pins it, so re-running to backfill pins is safe.
• Channel owner: the bot is the channel creator. Slack Business+ has no API to transfer channel ownership to another user (that requires Enterprise Grid admin APIs), so each person is invited as a member rather than set as owner. "Owner posts first message within 48 hours" remains a manual step for each person.

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Future Enhancements (optional)

• Trigger from Pylon webhook when a new account is created (instead of manual dispatch)
• Auto-invite RCIT team members to the new private channels
• Create matching Notion SOP page for the client automatically
• Post a welcome message in it-support with RCIT contact info