Add recent Hacker News context to a Slack incident
When an incident raises a wider technology question, get a quick scan of recent discussion around it.
Trigger
Channel Message Received
Triggered when a message is posted in a Slack channel (public, private, or multi-party IM). Does NOT match direct messages.
Action
Get Latest Hackernews Posts
Get the latest posts from hacker news based on optional filters. results can be limited using the size parameter.
Why this helps
During incident follow-up, founders may need outside context but have little attention left for open-ended research.
- Use an incident's named technology as a focused search topic.
- See whether there is relevant recent community discussion.
- Keep the research report available for a later review.
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Slack and Hackernews to Notis once through the portal.
- 2Create the automation through the portal or ask Notis to describe and create it conversationally.
- 3Give Notis one instruction to search recent Hacker News posts when a Slack incident message requests ecosystem context and summarize only relevant results.
- 4Choose Channel Message Received and select the report destination.
- 5Test with a non-sensitive incident follow-up that names a technology topic.
Questions about this workflow
Should I include incident details in Slack?
Use only the topic needed for research, such as the affected technology. The workflow is for public discussion context, not incident response.
Will this identify the cause of an incident?
No. It can surface related public posts for context. The team should use its own technical investigation to understand the incident.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Slack to Hackernews. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Slack triggers
Hackernews actions
Recurring trigger
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Get Hackernews Frontpage
Get the frontpage posts of hacker news.
Webhook trigger
Notis starts this workflow when an external tool or custom backend sends an HTTP request.
Get Hackernews Item
Get a specific item from hacker news using its id. limits response size to prevent context overflow.
New Channel Created Trigger
Triggered when a new channel is created in Slack.
Get Latest Hackernews Posts
Get the latest posts from hacker news based on optional filters. results can be limited using the size parameter.
Channel Message Received
Triggered when a message is posted in a Slack channel (public, private, or multi-party IM). Does NOT match direct messages.
Get Hackernews Today Posts
Get today's posts from hacker news.
Direct Message Received
Triggered when a new direct message (DM) is sent to a user in Slack. Catches all DMs across all DM channels.
Get Hackernews User
Get a specific user from hacker news using their username.
Message Reaction Added
Triggered when a reaction is added to a message in Slack. Supports optional filtering by channel and emoji name.
Search Hackernews Posts
Get relevant posts from hacker news based on a full-text query and optional filters. results can be limited using the size parameter.
Message Reaction Removed
Triggered when a reaction is removed from a message in Slack. Supports optional filtering by channel and emoji name.
Reaction Added Trigger
DEPRECATED: use `SLACK_MESSAGE_REACTION_ADDED` instead. Triggered when a reaction is added to a message in Slack.
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
Slack and Hackernews, or any other combination from 1,000+ integrations.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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