Entry points: slash commands, shortcuts, mentions and unfurls
How users start an app's workflow and what each entry point delivers: slash commands and their limits, global versus message shortcuts and their payload types, app_mention versus message.im, and link unfurling with link_shared and chat.unfurl, including composer previews.
Handle possible user entry points for an app's workflow.
~7 min read · 13 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Pick the entry point from the context the workflow needs: a typed command, a global shortcut, a message shortcut, a mention, a DM or a pasted link.
- Configure shortcuts correctly:
commandsscope and reinstall, Interactivity Request URL, 3-second acknowledgement, the five-and-five limit, verb-first names. - Route shortcut payloads by
type(shortcutormessage_action) andcallback_id. - Know where entry points don't work: slash commands in threads, message shortcuts on ephemeral messages, replies into a thread, some guest accounts.
- Receive mentions with
app_mentionand DMs withmessage.im. - Unfurl links with
link_sharedandchat.unfurl, including composer previews and new domains.
Key terms: entry point (an app feature users invoke to start an interaction); global shortcut (available from the composer's shortcuts button and search, no message context); message shortcut (in a message's context menu, carries that message); callback_id (the ID you give a shortcut, sent in its payload); link_shared (the event sent when a link to your registered domain is posted or pasted).
Key facts
- Detail
- Not supported; only built-in and Giphy commands
- Detail
- The most recently installed app's command runs
- Detail
- 5 global and 5 message shortcuts per app
- Detail
commands; reinstall if not requested before
type- Detail
shortcut(global) ormessage_action(message)
- Detail
- Not sent as
app_mention; subscribe tomessage.im
- Detail
- Up to five; changes require reinstall
- Detail
channel_idis alwaysCOMPOSER; unfurl withunfurl_idandsource(orCOMPOSERandts)
Sources for this section (5)
- Why does a message shortcut suit "attach this message to a task" better than a global shortcut?
- When must an app be reinstalled to unfurl links?
- Why doesn't a help bot see questions sent to it by DM with only `app_mention`?
- Which name follows the shortcut naming guidance: "Log a visit" or "Visit logger"?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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