slack-ops

name	slack-ops
description	Operate Slack via the Web API using curl and a SLACK_TOKEN env var. Send messages, add reactions, pin messages, and list channels. Use when user says "post to Slack", "send Slack message", "react to message", "pin in Slack", or "list Slack channels".
allowed-tools	["Bash","Read","Write"]
model	haiku
user-invocable	true
when_to_use	When user wants to interact with Slack — post messages, manage reactions, pin content, or browse channels. Triggers: "send to Slack", "post in #channel", "react with emoji", "pin message", "list channels", "Slack notification".
argument-hint	<action: send|react|pin|channels|history> [channel] [content]

Slack Ops

Interact with Slack via the official Web API using curl. Requires a SLACK_TOKEN environment variable (Bot Token starting with xoxb-).

Prerequisites

No CLI install needed — uses curl (pre-installed on macOS/Linux).

Set up your bot token:

export SLACK_TOKEN="xoxb-your-token-here"
# Or add to ~/.zshrc / ~/.bashrc for persistence

To get a token: https://api.slack.com/apps → Create App → OAuth & Permissions → add scopes (chat:write, channels:read, reactions:write, pins:write) → Install to Workspace → copy Bot User OAuth Token.

Commands

Send a message:

curl -s -X POST https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel": "#general", "text": "Hello team!"}'

Send with blocks (rich text):

curl -s -X POST https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel": "#general", "blocks": [{"type":"section","text":{"type":"mrkdwn","text":"*Update*: Build passed."}}]}'

Add a reaction:

# Requires channel ID, message timestamp
curl -s -X POST https://slack.com/api/reactions.add \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel": "C12345678", "name": "white_check_mark", "timestamp": "1609459200.000100"}'

Pin a message:

curl -s -X POST https://slack.com/api/pins.add \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel": "C12345678", "timestamp": "1609459200.000100"}'

List channels:

curl -s "https://slack.com/api/conversations.list?limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN" | jq '.channels[] | {id, name}'

Get channel history:

curl -s "https://slack.com/api/conversations.history?channel=C12345678&limit=20" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN" | jq '.messages[] | {ts, text, user}'

Usage Examples

Post a quick status update:

curl -s -X POST https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel": "#deploys", "text": "v2.1.0 deployed to production."}'

Rules

• Always check that SLACK_TOKEN is set before running any command: [[ -z "$SLACK_TOKEN" ]] && echo "SLACK_TOKEN not set"
• If token is missing, instruct user to set it and stop
• Never print the token value in output
• Always parse API responses with jq and check "ok": true; if "ok": false, show the error field
• Channel names use #name format for posting; channel IDs (C...) are required for reactions/pins — run channels.list first if needed
• Confirm message sends with: "Posted to #"
• Keep messages concise; for long content, consider posting a summary with a workspace file link