Set up Getwello with Slack, end to end

This guide walks you through setting up Slack so it receives a message every time Mum checks in (or misses a day, or someone posts in the Family Room). No code, no Slack apps to publish, just a free Incoming Webhook.

What you'll end up with

A dedicated Slack channel that shows, in real time: every check-in, every missed-day alert, every Family Room message, and every new scheduled visit. Searchable, threaded, in the tool the family already uses.

What you need

• A Slack workspace you control (free Slack works fine).
• A Getwello Coordinator account with an active subscription.
• About 5 minutes.

Step 1: Create a Slack channel for the family

In Slack, create a private channel (suggestion: #family-getwello) and invite the family members you want to see the messages. They do not need Getwello accounts for this. They just need to be in the Slack channel.

Step 2: Add an Incoming Webhook to that channel

1. Click the channel name at the top to open settings.
2. Click Integrations, then Add an App.
3. Search for “Incoming Webhooks” and click Add.
4. Slack will ask which channel to post to. Pick your family channel.
5. Click Add Incoming WebHooks integration. Slack gives you a URL that looks like https://hooks.slack.com/services/T.../B.../.... Copy it.

Step 3: Mint a Getwello API key

Open Settings → Developer API as a Coordinator. Create a key called “Slack: family channel”. The webhook itself does not strictly need a key, but having one tied to this integration means you can revoke just this connection later if needed.

Step 4: Create the Getwello webhook subscription

Same settings page, scroll down to the Webhooks section.

1. Name: “Slack channel”.
2. Circle: pick the one you want messages from.
3. URL: paste the Slack webhook URL from Step 2.
4. Events: tick check_in.created, check_in.missed, family_room.message_posted, visit.created. Adjust later.
5. Click Create webhook.
6. Save the signing secret it shows you, in case you want to verify signatures later.

Step 5: Test it

Back on the Developer settings page, click Test next to your new Slack webhook. Within a couple of seconds, your Slack channel should show a JSON message. That confirms the wire is working.

Make it pretty (optional, recommended)

Out of the box, Slack will display our raw event JSON, which is functional but ugly. Two options to make it look nice:

Option A: Zapier as a middleman

1. Replace the Slack URL on Getwello's webhook with a Zapier “Catch Hook” URL.
2. In Zapier, add an action: “Send Channel Message” (Slack).
3. Map the fields to friendly text: e.g. “:white_check_mark: Mum checked in at {{occurred_at}} (mood: {{data.mood}})”.
4. Turn the Zap on.

Option B: A Cloudflare Worker

If you're comfortable with a few lines of JS, a Cloudflare Worker can sit between us and Slack, reshape the payload to use Slack's Block Kit, and post it. Free for the first 100k requests/day. Skeleton code in the developer overview.

Tuning notifications

• Set the Slack channel to Mentions only if you want check-ins to be silent (you'll see them in the unread badge but no ping).
• Set it to All messages if you want a ping for every check-in.
• For missed-day alerts only, set the webhook to only subscribe to check_in.missed and use All messages on the channel.

Troubleshooting

Slack channel shows nothing after Test: double-check the URL you pasted into the Getwello webhook. Slack URLs are case-sensitive and easy to truncate.

Some events show but others do not: open the webhook subscription on the Getwello side and check the “Events” list is what you expected.

You got a real check-in but Slack stayed silent: check the webhook subscription's health dot. If it has gone red, the most recent attempt failed. Click for the reason.