Purpose of Using App Manifests in a Slack App - A SalesforceSphere By CodeWithTarun

App manifests in Slack are YAML or JSON configuration files that define your app’s structure, settings, and permissions in a single, sharable document. They’re especially useful for collaboration, deployment, and version control.

✅ Why Use App Manifests?

🛠 Simplified App Creation
- You can create or update an app by simply pasting a manifest into the Slack API dashboard.
- No need to manually configure scopes, event subscriptions, or features one by one.
📄 Clear Documentation of App Configuration
- Everything from app name, bot scopes, event subscriptions, slash commands, to redirect URLs is documented in one place.
👥 Easier Team Collaboration
- Share the manifest file across your team so everyone works with the exact same configuration.
- Great for onboarding new developers or syncing across environments.
🔁 Repeatable Deployments
- Perfect for deploying the same app configuration across multiple workspaces (e.g., dev, QA, and prod).
🧪 Faster Prototyping and Testing
- Quickly spin up or modify an app setup without clicking through UI settings.
- Ideal for hackathons or rapid development.
📦 Version Control Compatibility
- You can track changes, roll back versions, and review configuration history through Git or other version control tools.

💡 Example Use Case:

You build a Slack app for internal ticketing. Using a manifest:

Your dev team can clone the app in a dev workspace.
Your QA team can test it in a staging workspace.
You can deploy it to production with the same settings, just by copying the manifest.

Feature / Use Case	Is It Accurate?	Notes

Simplifies app creation

✅ Yes

Paste manifest to create/update app quickly

Documents app configuration

✅ Yes

Keeps scopes, URLs, settings all in one file

Team collaboration

✅ Yes

Share config with teammates easily

Repeatable deployments

✅ Yes

Deploy to multiple workspaces consistently

Faster prototyping/testing

✅ Yes

No manual UI clicks needed

Version control compatibility

✅ Yes

Easily track, revert, or review changes

Here’s a ready-to-use sample Slack app manifest (in YAML format) that you can paste directly into the Slack API Dashboard under the “Create an App using a Manifest” option.

🔹 Sample Slack App Manifest (YAML)

_display_information:
  name: TicketBot
  description: A bot that helps manage internal support tickets.
  background_color: "#4A154B"

features:
  bot_user:
    display_name: TicketBot
    always_online: true

oauth_config:
  scopes:
    bot:
      - channels:read
      - chat:write
      - commands
      - users:read
      - app_mentions:read

settings:
  event_subscriptions:
    request_url: https://your-server.com/slack/events
    bot_events:
      - app_mention
      - message.channels

  interactivity:
    is_enabled: true
    request_url: https://your-server.com/slack/interactions

  org_deploy_enabled: false
  socket_mode_enabled: false
  token_rotation_enabled: false
  redirect_urls:
    - https://your-server.com/slack/oauth/callback

  development:
    slack_redirect_uri: https://your-server.com/slack/oauth/callback
    allowed_ip_ranges:
      - 0.0.0.0/0

  app_directory:
    short_description: A bot to manage internal support tickets.
    long_description: >
      TicketBot helps your team quickly create, assign, and track internal IT support tickets right from Slack.