README.md

Slack Birthday & Work Anniversary Bot 🎉

This bot automatically sends messages to a Slack channel when:

• An employee has a birthday today 🎂
• An employee is celebrating their work anniversary 🎉

It also fetches a professional-looking Happy Birthday GIF using the Giphy API.

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🚀 Features

✅ Sends automated messages to a Slack channel.
✅ Checks for birthdays and work anniversaries every day at 9 AM.
✅ Fetches high-quality birthday GIFs from Giphy.
✅ Runs automatically without requiring manual execution.

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🛠️ Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-repo/slack-birthday-bot.git
cd slack-birthday-bot

2️⃣ Install Dependencies

yarn install

3️⃣ Create a .env File

Inside the project folder, create a .env file and add the following environment variables:

SLACK_TOKEN=xoxb-your-slack-bot-token
GIPHY_API_KEY=your-giphy-api-key
SLACK_CHANNEL_ID=your-slack-channel-id

• SLACK_TOKEN → Your Slack bot token (xoxb-...)
• GIPHY_API_KEY → Your Giphy API key
• SLACK_CHANNEL_ID → The Slack channel ID where messages should be sent

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▶️ Running the Bot

To start the bot manually:

yarn ts-node bot.ts

The bot will:

• Immediately check birthdays and anniversaries upon startup.
• Schedule itself to run at 9 AM daily to send messages.

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🔄 Running the Bot Continuously (PM2)

To keep the bot running in the background:

yarn global add pm2
pm2 start bot.ts --interpreter=ts-node
pm2 save
pm2 startup

Check logs:

pm2 logs bot

Stop the bot:

pm2 stop bot

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📦 Deployment Options

1️⃣ Run on a Cloud Server (VPS)

Deploy it on a server (e.g., AWS, DigitalOcean, Vultr) and use pm2 to keep it running.

2️⃣ Run on a Serverless Function

Convert it into an AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Function with a scheduled trigger.

3️⃣ Run on a Local Machine

Keep the script running in the background on your machine.

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🛠️ Troubleshooting

Bot is not sending messages?

• Check if the bot has chat:write permissions in Slack.
• Ensure the .env file has the correct tokens.
• Verify the channel ID is correct (SLACK_CHANNEL_ID).

GIFs are not loading?

• Make sure your Giphy API key is valid.
• Giphy API may be rate-limiting requests—try again later.

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📌 Next Steps

✅ Fetch GIFs based on user preferences.
✅ Expand database to use a proper backend.
✅ Allow custom message templates.

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🏆 Author

[gab]
Feel free to contribute, improve, or fork this project! 🚀