How to send Slack messages for new Cal.com bookings

Your playbook is the core of your automation workflow. In this case, it's where you'll define how new Cal.com bookings trigger messages in Slack.

First, create an account on Relay and navigate to the dashboard. Once there, select the "New playbook" button to begin setting up your integration.

Name your playbook something descriptive like "Cal.com to Slack Notifications" and choose an emoji that represents bookings or notifications to make it easily recognizable.

The trigger is a crucial element that initiates the automated process within your playbook. For this guide, the Cal.com "New booking" trigger is what you'll use to start the workflow whenever there's a new booking.

To set this up, click "Add trigger" in your playbook, choose the Cal.com "New booking" option, and proceed with the configuration. If you haven't connected your Cal.com account yet, follow the prompts to integrate it with Relay.

In your playbook, each step carries out a specific action during its run. Automations, especially, perform tasks in another service or tool.

For the Cal.com → Slack workflow, you'll add the "Send channel message from @Relay.app" automation as a step. This sends a predetermined message to a Slack channel when a new booking occurs.

Click "Add step" in your playbook and look for the Slack automation options. Once selected, customize it with the information you’ve specified earlier, such as the destination channel and message content with booking details. Should you need to link your Slack account to Relay, follow the prompt to establish the connection.

Activating your playbook is the final step to enable the automated workflow. When you turn it on, new Cal.com bookings will automatically prompt your playbook to send the customized messages to the chosen Slack channel.

To activate the playbook, simply click the toggle button located in the playbook's header. However, it’s advised to run a test before you set it live. This helps to ensure that the trigger and automation steps function as expected and that the messages arrive correctly in Slack.