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Guidance for effectively searching Slack to find messages, files, channels, and people
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Based on SOC occupation classification
Guide developers through creating a Slack app or agent using the Slack CLI and Bolt (JS or Python). Handles prerequisites, sandbox setup, authentication, project creation from templates, and local development.
Help developers build and validate Block Kit layouts for Slack messages, modals, and Home tabs. Provides authoritative block references and validates with the blocks.validate API. Use this skill whenever the developer wants to compose Slack message layouts, build modals/forms/dialogs, design Home tab interfaces, create interactive messages with buttons or menus, modify existing Block Kit JSON, or asks about any Slack UI component (sections, actions, inputs, headers, alerts, tables, carousels). Also trigger when they mention "blocks", "Block Kit Builder", or paste JSON containing block structures like `"type": "section"`.
Discover, navigate, and call Slack Web API methods (the family.method endpoints at slack.com/api like chat.postMessage, conversations.history, users.info, views.open). Use this skill whenever the developer asks which Slack API method does something, needs a method's required OAuth scopes or token type, wants to call or test a Web API method, is handling cursor pagination (next_cursor), hitting rate limits (tier/ratelimited/Retry-After), or debugging API errors like missing_scope, invalid_auth, or channel_not_found. Also trigger when they paste a slack.com/api/ URL or a docs.slack.dev/reference/methods link, or ask how to list/fetch/post/update Slack resources via the API. This skill covers the Web API method layer: finding the right method, reading its contract (scopes, arguments, errors), and calling it over raw HTTP with curl or through a Slack SDK.
Use the Slack CLI to create, run, and manage Slack apps from the terminal. Use whenever the developer wants to log in, add a team, switch workspaces, or authenticate with Slack; whenever Slack CLI commands are needed (local development with `slack run`, managing app lifecycle, the manifest); or when searching the Slack developer documentation for any topic (socket mode, the Events API, OAuth, manifests, Bolt).
Guidance for composing well-formatted, effective Slack messages using standard markdown
| name | slack-search |
| description | Guidance for effectively searching Slack to find messages, files, channels, and people |
This skill provides guidance for effectively searching Slack to find messages, files, and information.
Apply this skill whenever you need to find information in Slack — including when a user asks you to locate messages, conversations, files, or people, or when you need to gather context before answering a question about what's happening in Slack.
| Tool | Use When |
|---|---|
slack_search_public | Searching public channels only. Does not require user consent. |
slack_search_public_and_private | Searching all channels including private, DMs, and group DMs. Requires user consent. |
slack_search_channels | Finding channels by name or description. |
slack_search_users | Finding people by name, email, or role. |
in:, from:, date ranges).project X deadline) — Best for finding specific, exact content.Don't rely on a single search. Break complex questions into smaller searches:
in:channel-name — Search within a specific channelin:<#C123456> — Search in channel by ID-in:channel-name — Exclude a channelin:<@U123456> — Search in DMs with a userfrom:<@U123456> — Messages from a specific user (by ID)from:username — Messages from a user (by Slack username)to:me — Messages sent directly to youis:thread — Only threaded messageshas:pin — Pinned messageshas:link — Messages containing linkshas:file — Messages with file attachmentshas::emoji: — Messages with a specific reactionbefore:YYYY-MM-DD — Messages before a dateafter:YYYY-MM-DD — Messages after a dateon:YYYY-MM-DD — Messages on a specific dateduring:month — Messages during a specific month (e.g., during:january)"exact phrase" — Match an exact phrase-word — Exclude messages containing a wordwild* — Wildcard matching (minimum 3 characters before *)To search for files, use the content_types="files" parameter with type filters:
type:images — Image filestype:documents — Document filestype:pdfs — PDF filestype:spreadsheets — Spreadsheet filestype:canvases — Slack CanvasesExample: content_types="files" type:pdfs budget after:2025-01-01
After finding relevant messages:
slack_read_thread to get the full thread context for any threaded message.slack_read_channel with oldest/latest timestamps to read surrounding messages for context.slack_read_user_profile to identify who a user is when their ID appears in results.AND, OR, NOT are not supported. Use spaces (implicit AND) and - for exclusion.().slack_read_channel for the most recent messages.slack_search_public_and_private when you need to include private channels, but note this requires user consent.