c0fdb89a6f
Human-readable history of the bot from launch (Apr 3) through v1.9.2, written for a non-technical reader. Recent entries map to the new semantic version tags (v1.7.19-v1.9.2); earlier work is grouped by dated milestone since those releases were daily auto-versioned.
3.7 KiB
Changelog
What's changed in the After-Hours Shift Manager — the Slack bot that runs our after-hours on-call phone duty. Newest first, in plain language.
Versions are MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH: a minor bump adds a new feature, a patch
is a fix or tidy-up, and a major would be a big change to how things work.
v1.9.2 — June 1, 2026
Setup-guide fix. Corrected the install instructions so secrets (the Slack and phone-system passwords) are stored in the right, secure place. No change to the bot itself — this only affects someone setting it up from scratch.
v1.9.0 / v1.9.1 — June 1, 2026
You can no longer drop a shift at the last minute. If a shift starts within the next 24 hours, you can't just drop it and walk away — you have to hand it to someone specific (a swap they accept), or ask an admin. This stops the phones from being left uncovered with no notice. (v1.9.1 was a routine update of behind-the-scenes software libraries.)
v1.8.0 — June 1, 2026
Swaps now need the other person to say yes. Before, /oncall swap instantly
dumped your shift on someone else. Now they get a Slack message with Accept
and Decline buttons, and the shift only moves if they accept. Until then it
stays yours. If they don't respond before the shift starts, the request quietly
expires.
v1.7.19 — June 1, 2026
Quality safety net (no visible change). Added an automated test suite that checks the bot's behavior on every change, so bugs get caught before they ship. You won't notice anything different day-to-day — it just makes future updates safer.
May 2026 — Phone-system automation & a big fix
- Live phone routing follows the schedule. The system that decides which phone rings after hours now reads directly from the on-call schedule, so pickups, drops, and swaps take effect automatically.
- Fixed a release that had broken the whole bot. A packaging mistake stopped all of the bot's functions from running; this was found and fixed.
- Ongoing routine updates to behind-the-scenes software libraries.
- Behind the scenes: moved to an automated build-and-release pipeline, added automatic code checks and formatting, and turned on automated dependency and code-review tooling. None of this changes how you use the bot.
May 1, 2026 — Reliability & notifications
- No more double-booking. Fixed a timing bug where two people could grab the same open shift at once.
- Shift changes are announced. When someone picks up, drops, or swaps a shift, a note is posted to the team channel.
- Fixed a confusing error that showed up when picking a shift even though the pickup had actually worked.
April 8, 2026 — Schedule & pay polish
- The weekly schedule now always starts on Monday (it used to start from today).
- Tidied up the weekly pay report (recipient and wording).
April 7, 2026 — Scheduling & pay
- Two-week schedule view instead of just the current week.
- Weekly pay totals for on-call shifts, with a configurable flat rate.
- Per-person pay rates and an
/oncall ratecommand to manage them from Slack. - Weekend day shifts — weekends are split into a daytime and an overnight shift.
- Automatic employee roster sync — the bot pulls the staff list from the phone system each day, so the roster stays current on its own.
- Weekly "Bonus Pay Summary" emailed to payroll (and sent as a Slack DM to the admin) every Monday.
April 3, 2026 — Launch 🎉
The first version of the After-Hours Shift Manager:
- See the on-call schedule in Slack with
/oncall. - Pick up an open shift and drop a shift you're covering.
- Link your Slack account to your phone extension with
/oncall register.