slack

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

1. Read the token from ~/.charliebot/config.yaml
2. If looking up a user, call users.list first to resolve the user ID
3. If reading DMs, call conversations.list?types=im to find the DM channel ID by matching the user ID
4. Call conversations.history to fetch messages
5. Use python3 to parse JSON responses for readability — format output with timestamps, sender names, and message text