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Talk to me here

DingTalk

A robot of your own in DingTalk. No public address. 钉钉

  • About 6 minutes
  • A bot of your own
  • No public address
  • Groups only if you turn them on
  • Nobody gets in unless you let them

Connect it

Your assistant becomes a robot in your DingTalk (钉钉) organisation. Conch connects out to DingTalk in Stream mode, so nothing on your computer is opened to the internet. In Conch, open Apps, choose Talk to me here, then DingTalk.

  1. Make an app with a robot. In the DingTalk developer console, press Create App (创建应用) and give it your assistant's name. Under Add capability (添加应用能力), add a Robot (机器人). Set its Message receiving mode (消息接收模式) to Stream mode (Stream模式), and publish the robot.
  2. Paste its Client ID and Client Secret. They're on the app's Credentials & Basic Info page (凭证与基础信息); the Client ID is also called the AppKey. Conch checks them with DingTalk straight away, and connects.
  3. Turn on its permission, and publish. In Permissions (权限管理), apply for 企业内机器人发送消息权限, which lets it answer you and fetch what you send it. Then in Version Management & Release (版本管理与发布), create a version, choose who can see it (at least yourself), and publish.
  4. Say hello. In DingTalk, search for the robot by its name, open a chat with it and send it anything, like "你好". Press That's me in Conch.
  • Credentials & Basic Info
  • Robot (open this)
  • Permissions
  • Version Management & Release

Robot configuration

Robot nameConchMessage receiving modeStream modePublish (press this)

Your first hello

Once Conch knows it's you, your assistant greets you by name.

  1. You:
    你好
  2. Conch:
    Hi Ada! 👋 I’m Conch, and I’m connected to Conch on your computer. Ask me anything.

Good to know

  • Approvals are numbers. DingTalk's buttons that call back need a card template made in its card platform, so when your assistant asks before doing something, you reply with the answer's number. It then says what was decided.
  • Voice messages come with DingTalk's own transcript, and your assistant answers what you said. One without a transcript is turned into words on your computer.
  • Pictures and files. Send it photos, files and videos. A picture your assistant makes comes back as a picture, and a PDF, Word, Excel, ZIP or RAR file as a file, up to 20 MB. DingTalk takes no other kinds of file from a robot; your assistant says so, and they're in the chat in Conch.
  • Messages a month. DingTalk counts robot messages for the whole organisation: 5,000 a month on the free plan. If they run out, the channel's page says so, and it starts again next month.
  • In a group, add the robot to the group. It shows on its page in Conch, off. Turn it on there, and it answers whoever @mentions it: you as in private, everyone else in words only. DingTalk only sends the robot messages that mention it. See In a group.
  • What leaves your computer: only calls to DingTalk's own servers (api.dingtalk.com and oapi.dingtalk.com), with your app's own keys.
  • A changed Client Secret stops this channel only. Copy the new one from Credentials & Basic Info and paste it on the channel's page.