| name | 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
Triggers: "slack message", "slack thread", "slack URL", "slack link", "read slack", "reply on slack", "search slack", "channel history", "recent messages", "channel messages", "latest messages"
|
Slack automation with slack
Use the bundled CLI launcher at ./.agents/skills/slack/bin/slack (or ./.bin/slack).
The first invocation installs the latest upstream main CLI into this skill (.agents/skills/slack/vendor/agent-slack + .agents/skills/slack/bin/slack-cli).
./.agents/skills/slack/bin/slack user list
Quick start (auth)
Authentication is automatic on macOS (Slack Desktop first, then Chrome fallback).
If credentials aren’t available, run one of:
slack auth import-desktop
slack auth test
slack auth import-chrome
slack auth test
- Or set env vars (browser tokens; avoid pasting these into chat logs):
export SLACK_TOKEN="xoxc-..."
export SLACK_COOKIE_D="xoxd-..."
slack auth test
export SLACK_TOKEN="xoxb-..."
slack auth test
Check configured workspaces:
slack auth whoami
Canonical workflow (given a Slack message URL)
- Fetch a single message (plus thread summary, if any):
slack message get "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"
- If you need the full thread:
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):
slack message list "#general" --limit 20
slack message list "C0123ABC" --limit 10
slack message list "#general" --with-reaction eyes --oldest "1770165109.000000" --limit 20
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 absolute paths in JSON output (typically under message.files[].path / files[].path).
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.
slack message draft "#general"
slack message draft "#general" "initial text"
slack message draft "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"
Send, edit, delete, or react
slack message send "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "I can take this."
slack message edit "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "I can take this today."
slack message delete "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000"
slack message react add "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "eyes"
slack message react remove "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1700000000000000" "eyes"
Channel mode for edit/delete requires --ts:
slack message edit "#general" "Updated text" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"
slack message delete "#general" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"
List channels + create/invite users
slack channel list
slack channel list --user "@alice" --limit 50
slack channel list --all --limit 100
slack channel new --name "incident-war-room"
slack channel new --name "incident-leads" --private
slack channel invite --channel "incident-war-room" --users "U01AAAA,@alice,bob@example.com"
slack channel invite --channel "incident-war-room" --users "partner@vendor.com" --external
slack channel invite --channel "incident-war-room" --users "partner@vendor.com" --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:
slack search all "smoke tests failed" --channel "#alerts" --after 2026-01-01 --before 2026-02-01
slack search messages "stably test" --user "@alice" --channel general
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 (#general / general), pass --workspace (or set SLACK_WORKSPACE_URL) to avoid ambiguity:
slack message get "#general" --workspace "https://myteam.slack.com" --ts "1770165109.628379"
slack message get "#general" --workspace "myteam" --ts "1770165109.628379"
Canvas + Users
slack canvas get "https://workspace.slack.com/docs/T123/F456"
slack user list --workspace "https://workspace.slack.com" --limit 100
slack user get "@alice" --workspace "https://workspace.slack.com"
References
