Retirement and deprecation complete
All changes described in this changelog have now taken place. Those still using rtm.start will now receive the response given by rtm.connect instead.
The original way to connect to one of our oldest APIs is finally retiring. For existing apps, rtm.start will start behaving exactly like rtm.connect on September 27, 2022. Beginning November 30, 2021, newly created apps and integrations will only be able to use rtm.connect.
The RTM API remains available to developers using rtm.connect.
Before continuing, we wanted to point out that this announcement is not deprecating the Real Time Messaging (RTM) API. If that time ever comes, we'll fully communicate that as a separate deprecation and retirement plan.
Read on to learn how to adapt your apps and integrations to upcoming changes to rtm.start.
Beginning November 30, 2021, newly created Slack apps will no longer be able to make API calls to rtm.start.
Beginning September 27, 2022, rtm.start's current response will completely retire. To help most apps transition seamlessly, we will replace the response of rtm.start with that of its replacement, rtm.connect.
We're also introducing two new API methods: team.preferences.list and team.billing.info. These APIs provide information previously available only in the disorganized jumble of data returned, along with websocket URIs, in rtm.start.
Beginning today, you'll see method_deprecated warnings returned by rtm.start. After November 30, 2021, newly created apps will see the warning migrate to a method_deprecated error.
Existing apps and integrations may continue using the RTM API. With few ways remaining to connect to the RTM API, we strongly recommend you consider alternatives (like Socket Mode) even if you already use rtm.connect.
For apps created before November 30, 2021, making API calls to https://slack.com/api/rtm.start will still technically succeed and return successful, but highly truncated responses even after September 27, 2022.
You have at least two options when migrating off of rtm.start.
rtm.connect instead of rtm.start and other Web API methods as neededIf you're still using the RTM API, it means you haven't migrated to modern Slack apps yet, which don't support the RTM API. However, modern Slack apps do support websocket-based connections that operate behind the firewall, the most common reason developers chose RTM in the past.
Learn how "Socket Mode" and Bolt make building event-driven apps easier.
Building modern Slack apps allow you to build more interactive, event-driven applications with friendlier user interfaces than the types of bots and integrations enabled by the RTM API.
rtm.connect Following this path will help assure you that your app, integration, or bot will continue functioning after September 27, 2022 while requiring the fewest code changes. However, you'll still be using legacy APIs.
Migrate your API requests from rtm.start to rtm.connect. In most cases, calls to rtm.start are looking for only a few basic pieces of information about a workspace and the websocket URI to connect to, which is exactly what rtm.connect provides.
Here's an example of rtm.connect's response:
{
"ok": true,
"url": "wss://some-fancy-url.slack-msgs.com/websocket/secretCodesOnlyMonstersUnderstand==/2",
"team": {
"id": "T061EG9R6",
"name": "Subarachnoid Workspace",
"domain": "subarachnoid"
},
"self": {
"id": "U061F7AUR",
"name": "episod"
}
}
You'll see there's only a few pieces of info there -- most importantly that websocket url field that allows you to connect to the RTM API.
The monstrously verbose information in rtm.start was originally returned so Slack clients built by Slack would have a quick dump of data to store in memory to initialize state from. Back then, a workspace had no more than a few hundred users or channels.
When we shared the platform with other developers, we left all that extraneous info in there. We stopped using it years ago. If there's info you rely on in rtm.start beyond the url, here's where to find most of what you're looking for:
conversations.list but often users.conversations will give you want you want to know.users.list and get even more info about them with users.info.team.preferences.list.team.billing.info.Beginning November 30, 2021, you won't be able to make API calls to rtm.start with newly created classic Slack apps or custom bot tokens. Apps and integrations created prior to November 30, 2021 may continue calling rtm.start, but ideally you'll adjust your calls to rtm.connect instead.
If you choose to do absolutely nothing before September 27, 2022 your app or integration will quite possibly break.
Whether your app or integration breaks or not depends on how dependent your code is on the plethora of fields yielded by rtm.start but not returned by rtm.connect. If your current code primarily relies on looking for url and team and self and none of the other fields found in rtm.start, your app may continue functioning just fine. To verify whether that's true, you could adjust your API calls to rtm.connect instead. If it works, you've just migrated your app -- thank you!
There are three key dates for the retirement of the method called rtm.start.
| Date | Happenstance |
|---|---|
| November 30, 2021 | Apps created on or after November 30, 2021 will no longer be able to use rtm.start. |
| September 13, 2022 | At π 18:30-23:30 UTC (which is 11:30am-4:30pm Pacific and 3:30am-8:30am Japan Standard Time) π Β we will preview the future behavior of rtm.start. This is so you can understand exactly how the method's response may impact your existing apps and integrations, even if you haven't read this document yet or had time to make adjustments. It's possible we'll cut the preview duration short. If you experience issues during the preview, please contact support. |
| September 27, 2022 | All apps still using rtm.start will receive the briefer response found in rtm.connect instead beginning September 27, 2022. |
If you have questions or concerns about this limited, focused deprecation and retirement for the method rtm.start, please contact us.