Title: SlashPress
Author: Roy Orbitson
Published: <strong>April 28, 2020</strong>
Last modified: November 21, 2025

---

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![](https://ps.w.org/slashpress/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3400159)

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# SlashPress

 By [Roy Orbitson](https://profiles.wordpress.org/lev0/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/slashpress.1.2.0.zip)

 * [Details](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/slashpress/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/slashpress/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/slashpress/#installation)
 * [Development](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/slashpress/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/slashpress/)

## Description

It’s very easy to create a [custom slash command on Mattermost](https://developers.mattermost.com/integrate/slash-commands/custom/),
or [a private app on Slack](https://api.slack.com/apps) that has [the slash command feature](https://docs.slack.dev/interactivity/implementing-slash-commands/).
This plugin turns that convenient chat interface into a subscribable event using
standard WordPress filter & action hooks. This enables automation of tasks that 
need to be run on-demand, and provision of interactive help for them.

The hooks provided are as follows:

 * `slashpress_command_${command}`
 * `slashpress_command`
 * `slashpress_help_${command}`
 * `slashpress_help`

The subscribed events receive a helper object representing the sent slash command,
with methods to respond using Markdown or a rich response object the chat service
can render. Plugins may listen for a specific slash command or a site-wide one, 
and respond based on the command content. Long-running tasks (> 3 seconds) can provide
an immediate acknowledgement response, then later a result response; this is easily
achieved by ensuring a [proper cron invocation](https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/hooking-wp-cron-into-the-system-task-scheduler/)
for the site, then passing the helper object to `wp_schedule_single_event()` to 
run the task in the background and POST a status message back upon completion.

By itself, this plugin doesn’t perform any tasks. It is aimed at developers and 
maintainers to abstract away the boring plumbing and authentication, allowing you
to keep your code DRY. It supports authentication by both tokens and HMAC signatures.
There is no limit on the number of such integrations this endpoint can handle. Only
POST method requests are accepted and sent so access logs are kept clean. The interactive
help keyword is configurable.

There is no logging, metrics, analytics, nags, or anything that would violate your
privacy or GDPR obligations contained in this plugin. It is not freemium; there 
is no ‘Pro’ version.

## Installation

 1. Install and activate the usual way.
 2. Go to _Settings > SlashPress_, add a service ID.
 3. Copy its endpoint URL and insert them into your chat service integration.
 4. Copy the authentication credential from your integration back into the plugin settings
    and save.
 5. Test the integration by entering your slash command followed by `help` (or other
    default keyword).
 6. Subscribe to the provided hooks in your own plugin code.

## FAQ

### What is this good for?

Running any task any task that you want to start immediately from the comfort of
your chat app. It’s great for providing instant summaries, triggering actions like
backups, clearing/preloading caches of optimisation plugins, updating copies of 
remote data.

Your code can respond with anything you need, from a simple `OK` to a full tabulated
response using Markdown:

    ```
    |Order stat|Count|
    |:---|---:|
    |New orders today|27|
    |Orders to fulfil|8|
    |Unpaid orders|2|
    ```

### So how do I use this thing?

A simple example is probably best:

    ```
    add_action(
        'slashpress_help'
        , function(SlashPress\Command $slash, string $help_terms) {
            $slash->addHelp('flubbers', '`flubbers` Gets the latest map of nearby flubbers.')
                ->addHelp('gronks', '`gronks` Updates the list of the top 100 gronks and their values.')
                ->addHelp('uncache', 'Site content not looking quite right? Use `uncache` to clear the out the generated pages.');
        }
        , 100
        , 2
    );

    add_filter(
        'slashpress_command'
        , function($initial_response, SlashPress\Command $slash) {
            if (!$slash->known) {
                $text = trim($slash->data['text']);
                switch ($text) {
                    case 'flubbers':
                    case 'gronks':
                        $slash->handled = true;
                        wp_schedule_single_event(time(), 'big_data_fetch_cron_event_hook', [$text, $slash]);
                        return 'Big data fetch queued.';
                    case 'uncache':
                        $slash->handled = true;
                        if (function_exists('w3tc_flush_posts')) {
                            w3tc_flush_posts();
                            return 'Cleared the post cache.';
                        }
                        return 'No cache found to clear.';
                }
            }
            return $initial_response;
        }
        , 10
        , 2
    );

    add_action(
        'big_data_fetch_cron_event_hook'
        , function(string $what = null, SlashPress\Command $slash = null) {
            $results_bad = $results = [];
            if (null == $what || 'flubbers' == $what) {
                if (fetch_flubbers()) {
                    $results[] = 'Flubbers fetched.';
                }
                else {
                    $results_bad[] = $results[] = 'Could not fetch the flubbers.';
                }
            }
            if (null == $what || 'gronks' == $what) {
                if (fetch_gronks()) {
                    $results[] = 'Gronks fetched.';
                }
                else {
                    $results_bad[] = $results[] = 'Could not fetch the gronks.';
                }
            }
            if ($slash) {
                if ($slash->canRespondDelayed()) {
                    $slash->respondDelayed(implode("  \n", $results));
                }
            }
            elseif ($results_bad) {
                echo implode("  \n", $results_bad);
            }
        }
    );
    ```

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“SlashPress” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this
plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Roy Orbitson ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/lev0/)

[Translate “SlashPress” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/slashpress)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/slashpress/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/slashpress/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/slashpress/) by 
[RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/slashpress/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Meta

 *  Version **1.2.0**
 *  Last updated **5 months ago**
 *  Active installations **Fewer than 10**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.7.1 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **6.8.5**
 *  PHP version ** 7.0 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/slashpress/)
 * Tags
 * [Mattermost](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/mattermost/)[slack](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/slack/)
   [slash commands](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/slash-commands/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/slashpress/advanced/)

## Ratings

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/slashpress/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/slashpress/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Roy Orbitson ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/lev0/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/slashpress/)