Slack
Search and interact with Slack workspaces from the command line.
Important: Token Security
NEVER include $SLACK_TOKEN directly in curl commands. The token will be logged and exposed.
Always use the wrapper scripts which read the token from the environment internally:
slack send- notcurl... -H "Authorization: Bearer $SLACK_TOKEN"slack-api POST...- for advanced API calls
Quick Setup (New Users)
# Add scripts to PATH
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.letta/skills/slack/scripts"
# Create Slack app with one click (opens browser)
slack-setupThis opens Slack's app creation page with all permissions pre-configured. Then:
- Click Create to create the app
- Go to OAuth & Permissions → Install to Workspace
- Copy the User OAuth Token (
xoxp-...) - NOT the bot token - Set it in your shell:
export SLACK_TOKEN="xoxp-..."
Why user token? Bot tokens (xoxb-) cannot search messages (Slack limitation). User tokens can do everything bots can, plus search.
Quick Setup (Existing Token)
export SLACK_TOKEN="xoxp-..." # User token (recommended) or xoxb- bot token
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.letta/skills/slack/scripts"Commands
Search messages
slack search "deployment failed"
slack search "from:@caren database"
slack search "in:#engineering api"
slack search "in:#engineering after:2024-01-01 bug"Search supports Slack's modifiers: from:, in:, to:, has:link, has:reaction, before:, after:, on:.
Send messages
slack send "#general" "Hello team!"
slack send "#alerts" ":rocket: Deployment complete"
slack send "@caren" "Quick question..."Join a channel
The bot must be a member of a channel to read its history. Join public channels with:
slack join "#engineering"For private channels, someone must invite the bot manually via Slack.
List channels
slack channelsRead channel history
slack history "#engineering"
slack history "#engineering" 50 # Last 50 messagesRead thread replies
slack thread "C1234567890" "1234567890.123456"
slack thread "C1234567890" "1234567890.123456" --json # Raw JSON outputThread timestamps (ts) come from search results or channel history.
List and view users
slack users
slack user "U1234567890"Advanced: Direct API Access
For operations not covered by slack, use slack-api (keeps token secure):
# Post with rich formatting (blocks)
slack-api POST chat.postMessage '{"channel": "#general", "blocks": [{"type": "section", "text": {"type": "mrkdwn", "text": "*Bold* and _italic_"}}]}'
# Add reaction
slack-api POST reactions.add '{"channel": "C1234", "timestamp": "1234.5678", "name": "thumbsup"}'
# Get user info
slack-api GET "users.info?user=U1234567890"
# Reply to thread
slack-api POST chat.postMessage '{"channel": "C1234", "thread_ts": "1234.5678", "text": "Thread reply"}'See references/api.md for more API patterns.
Permissions Included
The manifest (slack-setup) includes these bot scopes:
| Category | Scopes |
|---|---|
| Search | search:read |
| Messaging | chat:write, chat:write.public, reactions:read, reactions:write |
| Public channels | channels:read, channels:history, channels:join |
| Private channels | groups:read, groups:history |
| Direct messages | im:read, im:write, im:history |
| Users | users:read, users:read.email |
| Files | files:read, files:write |
| Other | emoji:read, links:read |