Slack CLI

Interact with Slack workspaces from the command line using

slack-cli

and direct Slack API calls.

Assume
slack-cli
is already installed and configured. If the
slack
command is not found or returns
not_inited
, refer to references/INSTALLATION.md for setup instructions.

When to Use

User wants to send, update, or delete Slack messages
User wants to read channel history or search messages
User wants to list channels, users, or conversations
User wants to upload files to Slack
User wants to manage reminders, snooze, or presence
User wants to automate Slack workflows

Setup

slack

is not available or not configured, see references/INSTALLATION.md for full setup instructions.

The token is stored at the path configured in the

slack

binary's

etcdir

variable (typically

/opt/homebrew/etc/slack-cli/.slack

on macOS). You can also use the

SLACK_CLI_TOKEN

environment variable.

Credential Management with psst

Store the Slack token in the global psst vault:

bash

psst --global set SLACK_CLI_TOKEN --tag slack

For built-in commands, inject the token via psst:

bash

psst --global SLACK_CLI_TOKEN -- slack chat send 'Hello!' '#channel'

For direct API calls, use inline

psst get

bash

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" "https://slack.com/api/..."

Built-in Commands

The

slack

CLI supports these commands natively:

Chat

bash

# Send a message
slack chat send 'Hello world!' '#channel'

# Send with rich formatting
slack chat send --text 'text' --channel '#channel' --color good --title 'Title' --pretext 'Pretext'

# Pipe content as a message
echo "some output" | slack chat send --channel '#channel'

# Update a message (requires timestamp and channel)
slack chat update 'Updated text' 1405894322.002768 '#channel'

# Delete a message
slack chat delete 1405894322.002768 '#channel'

# Chain: send, capture ts+channel, then update
slack chat send 'hello' '#general' --filter '.ts + "\n" + .channel' | \
  xargs -n2 slack chat update 'goodbye'

Files

bash

# Upload a file
slack file upload README.md '#channel'

# Upload with metadata
slack file upload README.md '#channel' --comment 'See attached' --title 'README'

# Create a Slack post from markdown
slack file upload --file post.md --filetype post --title 'Post Title' --channels '#channel'

# List files
slack file list
slack file list --filter '[.files[] | {id, name, size}]'

# File info / delete
slack file info F2147483862
slack file delete F2147483862

Reminders

bash

# Add a reminder
slack reminder add 'lunch' $(date -v +30M "+%s")

# List / complete / delete
slack reminder list
slack reminder complete Rm7MGABKT6
slack reminder delete Rm7MGABKT6

Snooze (Do Not Disturb)

bash

slack snooze start 60          # Start snooze for 60 minutes
slack snooze info              # Check your snooze status
slack snooze end               # End snooze

Presence

bash

slack presence active
slack presence away

Global Options

All commands support:

```
--filter|-f <jq-filter>
```
— Apply a jq filter to the JSON response
```
--compact|-cp
```
— Compact JSON output
```
--monochrome|-m
```
— No color in jq output
```
--trace|-x
```
— Enable bash trace for debugging

Known Limitations

DMs via built-in CLI don't work reliably.
```
slack chat send 'msg' '@user'
```
often fails with
```
channel_not_found
```
. Use the direct API pattern below instead.
Messages sent via
chat:write
appear as the Slack App, not as your user. This is a Slack API limitation — even with a user token, the app identity is used.

Direct API Calls

The

slack

CLI doesn't cover all Slack API methods. For anything beyond the built-in commands, call the Slack API directly using

curl

. Read the token from the CLI's config file.

Sending Direct Messages

The built-in

slack chat send

doesn't handle DMs well. Use the API directly:

bash

# Step 1: Open (or find) the DM channel with a user
DM_CHANNEL=$(curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"users":"USER_ID"}' \
  "https://slack.com/api/conversations.open" | jq -r '.channel.id')

# Step 2: Send the message
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"channel\":\"${DM_CHANNEL}\",\"text\":\"Hello!\"}" \
  "https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage"

Requires
im:write
scope. Without it,

conversations.open

will fail. If you don't have

im:write

, you can work around it by finding an existing DM channel:

bash

DM_CHANNEL=$(curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/conversations.list?types=im&limit=200" | \
  jq -r '.channels[] | select(.user == "USER_ID") | .id')

List Channels

bash

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/conversations.list?types=public_channel,private_channel&limit=200" | \
  jq '[.channels[] | {name, id, is_private}]'

Read Channel History

bash

# Get recent messages from a channel (use channel ID)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/conversations.history?channel=CHANNEL_ID&limit=20" | \
  jq '[.messages[] | {user, text, ts}]'

# Get messages from last 7 days
OLDEST=$(date -v -7d +%s)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/conversations.history?channel=CHANNEL_ID&oldest=${OLDEST}&limit=100" | \
  jq '[.messages[] | {user, text, ts}]'

# Get messages within a specific date range (oldest and latest are unix timestamps)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/conversations.history?channel=CHANNEL_ID&oldest=${START_TS}&latest=${END_TS}&limit=100" | \
  jq '[.messages[] | {user, text, ts}]'

List Users

bash

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/users.list" | \
  jq '[.members[] | {name, id, real_name}]'

# Resolve multiple user IDs (no batch endpoint — fetch all and filter)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/users.list" | \
  jq '[.members[] | select(.id == "U1234" or .id == "U5678") | {id, name: .real_name}]'

Workspace Info

bash

# Use auth.test (not team.info — team.info requires a scope we don't have)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/auth.test" | \
  jq '{team, team_id, url}'

Search Messages

bash

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/search.messages?query=keyword&count=10" | \
  jq '[.messages.matches[] | {channel: .channel.name, text, ts}]'

Reactions

bash

# Add a reaction
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel":"CHANNEL_ID","timestamp":"1234567890.123456","name":"thumbsup"}' \
  "https://slack.com/api/reactions.add"

# Get reactions on a message
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/reactions.get?channel=CHANNEL_ID&timestamp=1234567890.123456"

Thread Replies

bash

# Get replies in a thread (use the parent message ts)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  "https://slack.com/api/conversations.replies?channel=CHANNEL_ID&ts=1234567890.123456" | \
  jq '[.messages[] | {user, text, ts}]'

Post to a Thread

bash

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel":"CHANNEL_ID","text":"reply text","thread_ts":"1234567890.123456"}' \
  "https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage"

Tips

Channel arguments accept
```
#name
```
format for built-in commands, but direct API calls require channel IDs (e.g.
```
CHANNEL_ID
```
)
Use
```
--filter
```
with any built-in command to extract specific fields via jq
Pipe commands together using
```
--filter '.ts + "\n" + .channel'
```
to chain send/update/delete
For direct API calls, always quote the URL to prevent shell glob expansion
Pagination: most list endpoints support
```
cursor
```
and
```
limit
```
parameters — check
```
response_metadata.next_cursor
```
in the response

To look up a user ID by name:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $(psst --global get SLACK_CLI_TOKEN)" "https://slack.com/api/users.list" | jq -r '.members[] | select(.real_name | test("Name"; "i")) | {name, id, real_name}'

Message permalinks:

https://<workspace>.slack.com/archives/<channel_id>/p<ts_without_dot>

— remove the dot from the message timestamp (e.g. ts

1769935497.539749

becomes

p1769935497539749

)

slack-cli

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Slack CLI

When to Use

Setup

Credential Management with psst

Built-in Commands

Chat

Files

Reminders

Snooze (Do Not Disturb)

Presence

Global Options

Known Limitations

Direct API Calls

Sending Direct Messages

List Channels

Read Channel History

List Users

Workspace Info

Search Messages

Reactions

Thread Replies

Post to a Thread

Tips