slack

name	slack
description	Operate Justin's Slack on his behalf via user-token (xoxp-) API — read channels/DMs/threads, search messages, post as Justin, react. Workspace: SignLab. Single-workspace today; designed to multi-tenant later.
version	1.0.0
author	Apollo
license	MIT
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["slack","signlab","messaging","second-brain"],"related_skills":["obsidian","google-workspace"]}}

Slack (SignLab workspace, user-token mode)

⚠️ READ FIRST — operating posture

This Slack access is user-token (xoxp-), not a bot. That means:

• Anything you post appears as Justin himself, not as "Apollo". There is no visible distinction in Slack between "Justin typed this on his phone" and "Apollo posted this via the API on Justin's behalf." Co-workers will react to your posts as if Justin wrote them.
• You can read every channel, DM, and group DM Justin can read. That includes potentially sensitive conversations. Treat what you see as you would treat reading Justin's email: extract what's useful, don't quote verbatim to third parties.
• Default to read-only operations. Posting and reacting are allowed but require either (a) Justin explicitly asking ("post X in #foo") or (b) a cron/skill flow that Justin has previously approved.
• Never post in a public channel without confirming with Justin first unless the post is in a channel he's explicitly designated for automation (none today).

Workspace

• SignLab (only workspace today)
• Auth: env var SLACK_USER_TOKEN (starts with xoxp-)
• App name in Slack: "Apollo" (or similar) — Justin owns it
• Scopes installed: channels/groups/im/mpim history+read, users:read, search:read, files:read, reactions:read, chat:write, reactions:write

If a write op 403s with missing_scope, the response includes the needed scope. Tell Justin which scope is missing rather than guessing.

The wrapper: slack CLI

There is a thin Python wrapper at scripts/slack.py (installed onto PATH as slack). Call it via the standard pattern:

~/.hermes/hermes-agent/venv/bin/python \
  ~/.hermes/skills/social-media/slack/scripts/slack.py <subcommand> [args]

All subcommands print JSON to stdout by default (parseable). Use --text for human-readable rendering of message lists.

Subcommands

whoami

Returns the authed user's identity. Sanity-check the token works:

slack whoami
# {"user_id": "U01ABC...", "team_id": "T01...", "team": "SignLab", "user": "justin"}

channels [--type public|private|im|mpim|all] [--member-only] [--limit N]

List channels. Default: --type all --member-only (only conversations Justin is in — usually what you want).

slack channels --type public --member-only
# [{"id": "C01...", "name": "general", "is_member": true, "is_private": false, "num_members": 42}, ...]

Use --type im to list DMs, --type mpim for group DMs. IM entries include user (the other person's user ID).

read <channel_id> [--since 24h|2d|2025-05-15] [--limit N] [--text]

Fetch recent messages from a channel/DM/thread. Resolves user IDs to display names automatically.

slack read C0123456789 --since 24h --text
# 2026-05-20 09:14  alice: heads up, the deploy is rolling
# 2026-05-20 09:16  bob:   ack

--since accepts: Nh / Nd / Nw (relative) or YYYY-MM-DD (absolute, midnight UTC). Default: 24h.

JSON mode (no --text) returns each message with ts, user, user_name, text, thread_ts, reply_count, reactions.

thread <channel_id> <thread_ts> [--text]

Fetch a full thread (parent + all replies).

slack thread C0123 1716200000.123456 --text

search <query> [--limit N] [--text]

Use Slack's search.messages endpoint. Supports Slack search modifiers: from:@alice, in:#general, before:2025-05-01, after:, has::eyes:, -from:@bot, quoted phrases, etc.

slack search 'in:#engineering deploy after:2025-05-15' --limit 20

JSON mode returns hits with permalink (so you can cite back to Justin in Telegram).

post <channel_id> <text> [--thread <ts>] [--broadcast]

Post a message. Posts as Justin. Confirm with Justin first unless the ask is explicit.

slack post C0123 "Will follow up after the 2pm."
slack post C0123 "ack" --thread 1716200000.123456

--broadcast (only with --thread): also surface the thread reply to the main channel ("Also send to channel" in the Slack UI).

Returns {"ok": true, "ts": "1716200099.123", "channel": "C0123", "permalink": "https://signlab.slack.com/archives/C0123/p17162..."}.

react <channel_id> <message_ts> <emoji>

Add a reaction. emoji without colons (thumbsup, not :thumbsup:).

slack react C0123 1716200000.123456 eyes

permalink <channel_id> <message_ts>

Get a permalink for citation. Often the most useful op when answering Justin: cite the source.

user <user_id>

Resolve a user ID to profile info (name, real_name, email if available, title, status). Cached for the duration of the process.

dm <user_id_or_name> <text>

Convenience: opens (or finds) a DM with the user and posts. user_id_or_name accepts either U01ABC... or @alice (resolved via users.list).

Common recipes

"Extract Brain Notes from Slack (🧠 Emoji)" If Justin reacts to a message with the 🧠 (brain) emoji, use scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py to fetch the message and its surrounding context.

1. List all new reacted messages:

   python3 ${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/skills/social-media/slack/scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py --list-new
   

2. For each new item:
   • Generate a summarized Slack log in Inputs/Slack/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md.
   • Do NOT append to the daily note (as the Notepad section is retired).
   • Mark the item as processed so it is never duplicated:

     python3 ${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/skills/social-media/slack/scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py --mark-processed <channel_id> <ts>
     

"What did I miss in #foo today?"

1. slack channels --type public --member-only to find the channel ID.
2. slack read <id> --since 24h --text.
3. Summarize for Justin in Telegram. If you cite specific messages, include the permalink so he can jump.

"Did anyone @ me?"

1. slack search '@<justin_user_id>' --limit 30. Or, more reliably:
2. Iterate Justin's member-channels, fetch recent messages, filter for <@U_justin> in text. The search endpoint sometimes misses mentions in private channels depending on indexing.

"What do I have reminders set on?" Use is:saved (to find starred/saved messages) and has:reminder (as a fallback) in a search query — this is the supported workaround for the missing reminders:read scope (see Pitfalls). It returns messages Justin has saved or flagged with Slack's native reminder feature:

slack search '(has:reminder OR is:saved) after:2026-05-19' --limit 50

Note: the literal word "reminder" appearing in message text can occasionally bleed in via has:reminder (e.g. "Reminder: meeting at 3pm"). Use channel context to distinguish these from genuinely reminder-flagged or saved messages.

"Reply to Alice's DM"

1. slack channels --type im to find the DM channel ID for Alice's user_id.
2. slack read <dm_id> --since 24h --text to read context.
3. Confirm content with Justin in Telegram (paraphrase his ask).
4. slack post <dm_id> "<message>".

Find the discussion about $TOPIC

1. slack search '$TOPIC' --limit 20.
2. Pick the relevant thread, grab channel and thread_ts (use ts if no thread_ts).
3. slack thread <channel> <thread_ts> --text for full context.

The Brain Note-Taking System (🧠)

You can capture high-quality conversation logs directly from Slack into the Obsidian vault under Inputs/Slack/ using the emoji 🧠 or via interactive prompts in the Morning Briefing.

1. Automated Log Capture (via 🧠 reaction)

When Justin adds a 🧠 reaction to a message:

• A cron job (Slack Brain Note Capture) runs every 2 hours using the fetch_slack_brains.py helper.
• If Justin (user ID U095LHMC4UW) reacted with 🧠, the script fetches the entire thread (if part of one) or an 11-message context window surrounding the message.
• It synthesizes a Markdown log inside /home/justin.guest/Developer/obsidian-vault/Inputs/Slack/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md with participants, a summary of who said what, and key decisions/takeaways. Do NOT include verbatim Slack messages; store only summaries with retrieval metadata.
• It does NOT append to today's daily note (as the Notepad section is retired).
• It marks the thread processed inside ~/.hermes/processed_slack_brains.json.

2. Manual Candidate Suggestions (Morning Briefing Phase 5)

If a conversation wasn't explicitly tagged, the Morning Briefing live-scans active Slack threads from the last 36 hours for note-worthy discussions:

• Runs python3 ~/.hermes/scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py --list-candidates.
• Candidate filters: Requires >= 3 messages, >= 2 unique human participants, Justin's active participation or mention, and no existing 🧠 reaction (to avoid double-processing).
• Prompts Justin with numbered candidates. If approved, it synthesizes the log, saves it as an input, and marks it processed (without updating the daily note).

3. Managing the System Helper

The background script lives at:

• ~/.hermes/scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py Its database of processed threads is at:
• ~/.hermes/processed_slack_brains.json

To manually mark a thread as processed (for testing or debugging):

python3 ~/.hermes/scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py --mark-processed <channel_id> <parent_ts>

Pitfalls

Justin uses a 🧠 (brain) emoji to flag Slack conversations that should be preserved in his vault as logs under Inputs/Slack/.

There is a dedicated cron job ("Slack Brain Note Capture") running every 2 hours that automates this workflow:

1. Runs fetch_slack_brains.py to fetch messages where Justin (U095LHMC4UW) added a 🧠 reaction.
2. Checks against the processed cache at ~/.hermes/processed_slack_brains.json.
3. If new, retrieves the full conversation context (full thread replies if it's a thread; or a chronological 11-message context window around the reacted message if it's not).
4. Summarizes the discussion via the agent and writes it to /home/justin.guest/Developer/obsidian-vault/Inputs/Slack/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md. Do NOT include verbatim Slack messages; store only summaries with retrieval metadata.
5. Marks the message as processed using python3 fetch_slack_brains.py --mark-processed <channel_id> <ts>. (Does NOT append to the daily note notepad, as that section is retired).

To run the fetcher script manually to list new reactions:

python3 ~/.hermes/scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py

Pitfalls

1. Permalinks for users not in the channel resolve to a 404 in Slack. If you cite a permalink from #private-channel to a Slack viewer not in that channel, they'll see "Channel not found." For Justin himself this is fine — he can see anything he can read. Watch out if you ever summarize for someone else.

2. search.messages excludes some recently-edited or recently-posted messages due to Slack's search index lag (~minutes). For "right now" queries on a specific channel, use read --since 1h instead of search.

3. Thread ts vs message ts. A reply has its own ts AND a thread_ts pointing to the parent. To reply IN a thread, you pass the parent's ts (which IS the thread_ts). To react TO a specific reply, you pass the reply's own ts. Read both fields from JSON output before choosing which one to pass downstream.

4. Direct messages are channels too — their IDs start with D. The channels:history scope does NOT cover DMs; im:history does. If a read against a D... ID returns missing_scope, the token wasn't installed with im:history.

5. Posting in a channel you're not a member of fails by default even with chat:write. You'd need chat:write.public (deliberately not granted). For now: slack channels --member-only to see where posting will work.

6. Display name vs username vs real name. user.name is the legacy username (often the email prefix); user.profile.display_name is what appears in the UI; user.profile.real_name is the full name. The wrapper prefers display_name > real_name > name when rendering.

7. Rate limits. User tokens are on Tier 2-3 rate limits (~20-50 requests/minute depending on method). For "scan everything Justin is in", batch and add a small time.sleep(1) between channel reads.

8. reminders:read scope is not installed. Calling reminders.list via the Slack SDK will fail with missing_scope. The installed token does not have this scope. Use is:saved (for saved/starred messages) and has:reminder in a search query as a workaround (see "What do I have reminders set on?" in Common recipes). To get the real scope, Justin would need to re-authorize the Slack app with reminders:read added.

Adding a second workspace later

When/if Justin adds Nous Research or another workspace, the design path is:

1. Create a second Slack app in that workspace, get a second xoxp- token.
2. Add SLACK_USER_TOKEN_NOUS=xoxp-... to .env (one env var per workspace, distinguished by suffix).
3. Patch scripts/slack.py to accept --workspace signlab|nous and route to the corresponding env var. Default workspace = SignLab.
4. Update this SKILL.md with the workspace list.

Pattern mirrors gws_multi.py in the google-workspace skill.

Where things live

• Token: ~/.hermes/.env → SLACK_USER_TOKEN
• Wrapper script: ~/.hermes/skills/social-media/slack/scripts/slack.py
• Reaction note capture script: ~/.hermes/scripts/fetch_slack_brains.py
• Reaction note processed cache: ~/.hermes/processed_slack_brains.json
• Convenience symlink (optional): ~/.local/bin/slack → wrapper