agent-slack

name

agent-slack

description

Slack automation CLI for AI agents. Use when: - Reading a Slack message or thread (given a URL or channel+ts) - Browsing recent channel messages / channel history - Downloading Slack attachments (snippets, images, files) to local paths - Searching Slack messages or files - Sending, editing, or deleting a message; adding/removing reactions - Listing channels/conversations; creating channels and inviting users - Fetching a Slack canvas as markdown - Looking up Slack users - Marking channels/DMs as read - Opening DM or group DM channels - Discovering and running Slack workflows Triggers: "slack message", "slack thread", "slack URL", "slack link", "read slack", "reply on slack", "search slack", "channel history", "recent messages", "channel messages", "latest messages", "mark as read", "mark read"

Slack automation with agent-slack

agent-slack is a CLI binary on $PATH. Invoke directly (e.g. agent-slack user list).

Installation

If agent-slack is not found on $PATH, install it:

• curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stablyai/agent-slack/main/install.sh | sh (recommended)
• npm i -g agent-slack (requires Node >= 22.5)
• nix run github:stablyai/agent-slack -- <args> (no install needed, prefix all commands)

CRITICAL: Bash command formatting rules

Claude Code's permission checker has security heuristics that force manual approval prompts. Avoid these patterns to keep commands auto-allowed. See: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/34379

1. No # anywhere in the command string. Treated as a comment delimiter even inside quotes. Use bare channel names (general not #general). No # comments in inline scripts — use the Bash tool's description parameter instead.
2. No '' (consecutive single quotes) or "" (consecutive double quotes). Triggers "potential obfuscation" check. Avoid Python empty string literals like d.get('key', '') — use d.get('key') instead.
3. Only | jq for filtering — no python3, no other commands. python3 -c is not in the allow list and triggers prompts. jq with single-quote-only expressions (no " inside) is safe:
   • WRONG: agent-slack search ... | python3 -c "..." (not allowed)
   • WRONG: agent-slack search ... | jq '.a + "x"' (mixed quotes)
   • RIGHT: agent-slack search ... | jq '.a'
   • RIGHT: agent-slack search ... | jq '.messages[] | .ts'
4. No || or && chains. Run multiple agent-slack commands as separate Bash tool calls.
5. No file redirects (>, >>). Process JSON output directly, don't write to files.

Quick start (auth)

Authentication is automatic on macOS and Windows (Slack Desktop first, then Chrome/Firefox fallbacks on macOS).

If credentials aren’t available, run one of:

• Slack Desktop import (macOS/Windows):

agent-slack auth import-desktop
agent-slack auth test

• Chrome fallback:

agent-slack auth import-chrome
agent-slack auth test

• Firefox fallback:

agent-slack auth import-firefox
agent-slack auth test

• Or set env vars (browser tokens; avoid pasting these into chat logs):

export SLACK_TOKEN="xoxc-..."
export SLACK_COOKIE_D="xoxd-..."
agent-slack auth test

• Or set a standard token:

export SLACK_TOKEN="xoxb-..."  # or xoxp-...
agent-slack auth test

Check configured workspaces:

agent-slack auth whoami

Canonical workflow (given a Slack message URL)

1. Fetch a single message (plus thread summary, if any):

agent-slack message get "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"

2. If you need the full thread:

agent-slack message list "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"

Browse recent channel messages

To see what's been posted recently in a channel (channel history):

agent-slack message list "general" --limit 20
agent-slack message list "C0123ABC" --limit 10
agent-slack message list "general" --with-reaction eyes --oldest "1770165109.000000" --limit 20
agent-slack message list "general" --without-reaction dart --oldest "1770165109.000000" --limit 20

This returns the most recent messages in chronological order. Use --limit to control how many (default 25). When using --with-reaction or --without-reaction, you must also pass --oldest to bound scanning.

Attachments (snippets/images/files)

message get/list and search auto-download attachments and include file metadata in JSON output (typically under message.files[] / files[]), including name when available and path for the local download. Failed message attachment downloads keep the attachment entry, preserve a local .download-error.txt path, and include message.files[].error for message get/list or messages[].files[].error for search messages|all; search files skips files whose download fails.

Draft a message (browser editor)

Opens a Slack-like rich-text editor in the browser for composing messages with formatting toolbar (bold, italic, strikethrough, links, lists, quotes, code, code blocks). After sending, shows a "View in Slack" link.

agent-slack message draft "general"
agent-slack message draft "general" "initial text"
agent-slack message draft "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"

Send, edit, delete, or react

agent-slack message send "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "I can take this."
agent-slack message send "alerts-staging" "here's the report" --attach ./report.md
agent-slack message edit "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "I can take this today."
agent-slack message delete "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"

agent-slack message send "general" "Here's the plan:
- Step 1: do the thing
- Step 2: verify it worked
  - Sub-step: check logs"
agent-slack message react add "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "eyes"
agent-slack message react remove "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "eyes"

Channel mode for edit/delete requires --ts:

agent-slack message edit "general" "Updated text" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"
agent-slack message delete "general" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"

Attach options for message send:

• --attach <path> upload a local file (repeatable)

List channels + create/invite users

agent-slack channel list
agent-slack channel list --user "@alice" --limit 50
agent-slack channel list --all --limit 100
agent-slack channel new --name "incident-war-room"
agent-slack channel new --name "incident-leads" --private
agent-slack channel invite --channel "incident-war-room" --users "U01AAAA,@alice,[e-mail]"
agent-slack channel invite --channel "incident-war-room" --users "[e-mail]" --external
agent-slack channel invite --channel "incident-war-room" --users "[e-mail]" --external --allow-external-user-invites

For --external, invite targets must be emails. By default, invitees are external-limited; add --allow-external-user-invites to allow them to invite other users.

Search (messages + files)

Prefer channel-scoped search for reliability:

agent-slack search all "smoke tests failed" --channel "alerts" --after 2026-01-01 --before 2026-02-01
agent-slack search messages "stably test" --user "@alice" --channel general
agent-slack search files "testing" --content-type snippet --limit 10

Multi-workspace guardrail (important)

If you have multiple workspaces configured and you use a channel name (e.g. general), pass --workspace (or set SLACK_WORKSPACE_URL) to avoid ambiguity:

agent-slack message get "general" --workspace "https://myteam.slack.com" --ts "1770165109.628379"
agent-slack message get "general" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"

DM / group DM channels

Get the channel ID for a DM or group DM, useful for sending messages to a group of users:

agent-slack user dm-open @alice @bob
agent-slack user dm-open U01AAAA U02BBBB U03CCCC

Mark as read

Mark a channel, DM, or group DM as read up to a given message:

agent-slack channel mark "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"
agent-slack channel mark "general" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"
agent-slack channel mark "D0A04PB2QBW" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"

To make a specific message appear unread, set --ts to just before it (subtract 0.000001). This moves the read cursor so that message and everything after it appear as new:

agent-slack channel mark "general" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628378"

Workflows

Discover and run Slack workflows bookmarked in channels:

# List workflows in a channel
agent-slack workflow list "#ops"

# Preview trigger metadata (no side effects)
agent-slack workflow preview "Ft123ABC"

# Get workflow definition including form fields and steps
agent-slack workflow get "Ft123ABC"
agent-slack workflow get "Wf456DEF"

# Trip a workflow trigger
agent-slack workflow run "Ft123ABC" --channel "#ops"

Canvas + Users

agent-slack canvas get "https://workspace.slack.com/docs/T123/F456"
agent-slack user list --workspace "https://workspace.slack.com" --limit 100
agent-slack user get "@alice" --workspace "https://workspace.slack.com"

References

• references/commands.md: full command map + all flags
• references/targets.md: URL vs #channel targeting rules
• references/output.md: JSON output shapes + download paths