| name | slack |
| description | This skill should be used when the user asks to read Slack messages, search Slack conversations, look up Slack users, check DMs, or interact with the Slack workspace in any way. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
Slack
Read messages, search conversations, and look up users in the configured Slack workspace using the Slack Web API.
Configuration
- Token location:
~/.charliebot/config.yaml under slack_user_token
- Token type: User OAuth Token (
xoxp-)
- Available scopes:
channels:history, channels:read, groups:history, groups:read, im:history, im:read, mpim:history, search:read, users:read
API Reference
All requests require the header: -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN"
Read the token from ~/.charliebot/config.yaml before making any API calls.
Authentication
GET https://slack.com/api/auth.test
Users
GET https://slack.com/api/users.list?limit=200
To find a user, match against real_name, name, and profile.display_name fields (case-insensitive).
Channels
GET https://slack.com/api/conversations.list?types=public_channel,private_channel&limit=200
Direct Messages
List all DM conversations:
GET https://slack.com/api/conversations.list?types=im&limit=200
Each DM channel has a user field — match it against the target user's ID to find the right channel.
Read Messages
GET https://slack.com/api/conversations.history?channel=CHANNEL_ID&limit=50
Use oldest and latest (Unix timestamps) to filter by date range. Use cursor for pagination.
Read Threads
GET https://slack.com/api/conversations.replies?channel=CHANNEL_ID&ts=THREAD_TS
Search Messages
GET https://slack.com/api/search.messages?query=QUERY
Supports Slack search modifiers: from:username, in:#channel, before:2026-01-01, after:2026-01-01, has:link, etc.
Important Workarounds
- Do NOT use
conversations.open — it requires im:write scope which is not available. Instead, list DM conversations with conversations.list?types=im and find the channel by user ID.
- Do NOT use
conversations.join or any write endpoints — only read scopes are available.
Workflow
- Read the token from
~/.charliebot/config.yaml
- If looking up a user, call
users.list first to resolve the user ID
- If reading DMs, call
conversations.list?types=im to find the DM channel ID by matching the user ID
- Call
conversations.history to fetch messages
- Use
python3 to parse JSON responses for readability — format output with timestamps, sender names, and message text
