Inspect Element
Access documentation & view code without leaving your Slack workspace
Today we’re launching Slack Developer Tools (SDT), a Slack app designed to make building apps simpler, more pleasant and more productive. Before now, accessing Slack’s developer tools and documentation required parsing through the Slack API site in a separate browser. With SDT, you can receive quick, instructional guidance right in your Slack workspace, making it easier and faster to learn how to build an app using Slack APIs. SDT also gives you access to view the code and structure behind any message.
SDT does not replace the tools you already know and love, but augments them to quickly pull information into Slack without breaking your flow. Read on to learn what you can do with SDT.
Pull documentation in channel
When I joined Slack’s Developer Relations team earlier this year, I immersed myself in learning and building on the platform. I was constantly switching back and forth to our documentation and found it would be much easier if I could access everything right in Slack.With SDT, you can immediately access relevant documentation without leaving your Slack workspace.
Imagine you’re building an app that requires sending a channel notification, and you’d like to understand the method. Instead of navigating to api.slack.com, you can type /sdt docs chat.postMessage into Slack to instantly receive all details needed to implement that particular API.
Inspect code, get inspired
When curious about how a page is built on the web, you can usually view HTML & CSS using the browser’s built-in Inspect Element function.
Similarly, you might see a message in Slack from an integration you use and want to know how to achieve something similar with your own app. With SDT, now you can hover over a message, and click the Inspect action (under the […] menu) to view how that particular message was built as a JSON payload from the Slack API.
Designed for collaboration
The SDT app has become essential to my daily work — whether I’m building code samples or helping a developer debug an issue.
Get started by visiting the Slack Developer Tools landing page, and click “Add to Slack” to access the tools in your workspace. Get a list of commands you can run on SDT by typing /sdt help. Happy coding!
Questions or feedback? Send us a note at devsupport@slack.com or tweet @SlackAPI.
