Slack CLI

Use the Slack CLI to create, run, and manage Slack apps — including calling Web API methods directly and searching Slack developer documentation from the terminal.

For initial setup (sandbox creation, project scaffolding from templates), use the

slack:create-slack-app

skill instead.

Step 1: Detect the Slack CLI

Resolve the path to the public Slack CLI before running any other command. We refer to the resolved value as

SLACK_CMD

— substitute it everywhere below. Try 1a → 1b → 1c in order; do not skip ahead.

1a. Standard install path (preferred — no verification needed)

The official install scripts place the binary at a fixed per-user path. If the file exists, use it directly: only the install script writes to that path.

macOS / Linux:
```
~/.slack/bin/slack
```

Windows:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\slack-cli\bin\slack.exe

(or

%USERPROFILE%\.slack-cli\bin\slack.exe

as a fallback)

POSIX shell:

bash

[ -x "$HOME/.slack/bin/slack" ] && echo "$HOME/.slack/bin/slack"

PowerShell:

powershell

$p = "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\slack-cli\bin\slack.exe"
if (Test-Path $p) { $p } elseif (Test-Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.slack-cli\bin\slack.exe") { "$env:USERPROFILE\.slack-cli\bin\slack.exe" }

If a path is returned, set

SLACK_CMD

to that absolute path and proceed to Step 2. Do not also run

_fingerprint

1b.

slack

on PATH (verify with fingerprint)

If 1a found nothing, try

slack

on PATH:

bash

slack _fingerprint 2>/dev/null

If it outputs

d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e

, set

SLACK_CMD=slack

and proceed.

1c. Ask about an alias, or install

If 1b fails or returns a different value, ask the developer using AskUserQuestion:

"The
```
slack
```
command on your system doesn't appear to be the public Slack CLI. Do you have it installed under a different name or alias?"
Options: "Yes, it's aliased as..." (let them provide the alias), "No, I need to install it"

If they provide an alias, verify it with

<alias> _fingerprint 2>/dev/null

and set

SLACK_CMD=<alias>

If they need to install it, run:
text
```
curl -fsSL https://downloads.slack-edge.com/slack-cli/install.sh | bash
```
Then re-run 1a — the install script will have written
```
~/.slack/bin/slack
```
.

Common mistakes: Don't use

which slack

to discover the binary —

which

resolves any shell alias and defeats the point of 1a. In Git Bash on Windows, use the POSIX probe form, not PowerShell.

Step 2: Command Discovery via Help

Always run
SLACK_CMD <command> --help
before constructing a command you have not used in the current session. Do not guess at flags — the help output is the source of truth.

```
SLACK_CMD help
```
— lists all available command groups
```
SLACK_CMD <command> --help
```
— shows subcommands, flags, and usage examples

Resolving

--app

and

--team

values

When a command requires

--app

--team

App ID: Run
```
SLACK_CMD app list
```
from the project directory to see installed apps and their IDs.
Team ID: Run
```
SLACK_CMD auth list
```
to see authenticated workspaces and their team IDs.

Step 3: Searching Documentation (

slack docs search

)

Search Slack's developer documentation directly from the terminal.

bash

SLACK_CMD docs search "<query>" --output=text --limit=5

Use

--output=text

for concise terminal-readable results. Use this when you are already running CLI commands and want to:

Check a Slack feature before implementing it
Verify API behavior or required scopes
Look up Block Kit elements, event types, or method parameters

Step 4: Calling Web API Methods (

slack api

)

Call any Slack Web API method directly. Run

SLACK_CMD api --help

for full details and examples.

Parameters are passed as positional

key=value

pairs (NOT

--key=value

flags):

bash

SLACK_CMD api chat.postMessage channel=C0123456789 text="Hello from the CLI"

Important distinction:

--team

--token

--json

, and

--data

are meta-flags (prefixed with

--

). API method parameters use positional

key=value

syntax without dashes.

Reference: Full method list at https://docs.slack.dev/reference/methods.md.

Step 5: Authentication (

slack auth

)

When to run this flow

Slack auth is per-team, not a single boolean. Run the seamless login flow below whenever any of these is true:

The developer is not authenticated to any team yet.
The developer wants to add a new team / workspace / sandbox, even if
```
SLACK_CMD auth list
```
already shows other teams.
The developer asks to log in, switch teams, or re-authenticate.

SLACK_CMD auth list

showing other teams is not a reason to skip login — those are different teams. Ask the developer which team they want, then run the flow.

Inspect existing auth (optional)

bash

SLACK_CMD auth list

Use this to show the developer which teams are already authenticated, or to confirm a successful login. Do not treat a non-empty list as "auth complete" when the developer asked to log in to a new team.

Run the seamless login flow

The agent drives this end-to-end — no separate terminal window, no browser confirmation.

SLACK_CMD login --no-prompt

makes the CLI emit a single-use ticket and exit immediately instead of waiting on stdin. Slack itself renders the challenge code inside a workspace modal when the developer sends the

/slackauthticket

slash command — there is no browser step. The agent submits the challenge back to the CLI to complete login.

1. Start login and capture the ticket

bash

SLACK_CMD login --no-prompt

The CLI prints a

/slackauthticket <ticket>

slash command and exits. Capture the ticket — you will need it in step 4. Sample output:

text

📋 Run the following slash command from any Slack channel in the workspace
   you'd like to authenticate

   /slackauthticket eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJh…

? Slack will then show you a challenge code. Submit it via:
   slack login --ticket <ticket> --challenge <code>

2. Hand the slash command to the developer

Show the full

/slackauthticket …

line and ask the developer to paste it into the message box of the Slack workspace they want to authenticate, then send it. Slack responds with a modal containing a short challenge code (e.g.

JDt1IK7X

3. Collect the challenge code

Use

AskUserQuestion

to ask the developer for the challenge code shown in the Slack modal. Wait for their answer — do not guess or default.

4. Complete login

bash

SLACK_CMD login --ticket <ticket> --challenge <code>

On success the CLI returns the team name and ID. Verify with

SLACK_CMD auth list

and report the team back to the developer.

Troubleshooting: tickets are single-use and time-limited. If step 4 fails with an invalid/expired ticket or wrong challenge, restart from step 1 with a fresh

SLACK_CMD login --no-prompt

— do not retry the same ticket.

Use

--team <team_id>

on individual commands to target a specific workspace without switching globally.

Red flags — STOP

If you catch yourself thinking any of these, you are about to regress to the old broken flow:

Rationalization	Reality
" `auth list` already shows teams, so login isn't needed."	Auth is per-team. The developer asked for a new team — drive the flow.
" `slack login` needs browser confirmation, so I can't drive it."	False with `--no-prompt` . The challenge code appears in Slack's modal, not a browser. The agent runs both `slack login` invocations itself.
"I should tell the developer to run `slack login` in a separate terminal."	Never. Step 5 is the agent's job from start to finish.

All of these mean: run
SLACK_CMD login --no-prompt
yourself and follow the four numbered steps above.

Step 6: Running an App Locally (

slack run

)

Run

SLACK_CMD run --help

for all available flags.

Resolve the app or team target

Run

SLACK_CMD app list

from the project directory to check for installed apps:

If an app exists: Use
```
--app=<app_id>
```
in the run command.
If no apps are listed: Use
```
--team=<team_id>
```
instead (get the team ID from
```
SLACK_CMD auth list
```
).

Start the dev server in the background

Run this command as a background process so the developer can continue working:

If an app ID was found:

bash

cd <project-dir> && SLACK_CMD run --org-workspace-grant=all --app=<app_id>

If no apps — use the team ID:

bash

cd <project-dir> && SLACK_CMD run --org-workspace-grant=all --team=<team_id>

Tell the developer the app is running in the background. They can ask:

"What's the status of the dev server?" — to check on it
"Show me the output from slack run" — to see activity logs
"Stop the dev server" — to terminate the process

Step 7: Managing the Manifest

Run

SLACK_CMD manifest --help

for subcommands (

validate

info

) and the

--source local|remote

flag.

Use

SLACK_CMD manifest validate

before deploying or when something seems wrong with the app configuration.

Step 8: Other Commands

For any other command group (e.g.,

trigger

datastore

env

collaborator

external-auth

deploy

), run

SLACK_CMD <command> --help

to discover subcommands and flags. Run

SLACK_CMD help

to see all available command groups.

Notes

```
SLACK_CMD
```
is a placeholder — always substitute the actual command name resolved in Step 1.
Always run
--help
before constructing a command you have not used in the current session.
Interactive commands (e.g.,
```
slack trigger create
```
without
```
--trigger-def
```
) cannot be run in the background. Tell the developer to run these in a new terminal window.
```
slack login
```
is not in this category — drive it inline using the
```
--no-prompt
```
/
```
--ticket
```
/
```
--challenge
```
flow in Step 5.
```
slack run
```
runs locally for development.
```
slack deploy
```
deploys to Slack's hosted infrastructure. These are different operations — do not confuse them.

slack-cli

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Slack CLI

Step 1: Detect the Slack CLI

1a. Standard install path (preferred — no verification needed)

1b.
`slack`
on PATH (verify with fingerprint)

1c. Ask about an alias, or install

Step 2: Command Discovery via Help

Resolving
`--app`
and
`--team`
values

Step 3: Searching Documentation (
`slack docs search`
)

Step 4: Calling Web API Methods (
`slack api`
)

Step 5: Authentication (
`slack auth`
)

When to run this flow

Inspect existing auth (optional)

Run the seamless login flow

Red flags — STOP

Step 6: Running an App Locally (
`slack run`
)

Resolve the app or team target

Start the dev server in the background

Step 7: Managing the Manifest

Step 8: Other Commands

Notes

slack-cli

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Slack CLI

Step 1: Detect the Slack CLI

1a. Standard install path (preferred — no verification needed)

1b. slack on PATH (verify with fingerprint)

1c. Ask about an alias, or install

Step 2: Command Discovery via Help

Resolving --app and --team values

Step 3: Searching Documentation (slack docs search)

Step 4: Calling Web API Methods (slack api)

Step 5: Authentication (slack auth)

When to run this flow

Inspect existing auth (optional)

Run the seamless login flow

Red flags — STOP

Step 6: Running an App Locally (slack run)

Resolve the app or team target

Start the dev server in the background

Step 7: Managing the Manifest

Step 8: Other Commands

Notes

1b.
`slack`
on PATH (verify with fingerprint)

Resolving
`--app`
and
`--team`
values

Step 3: Searching Documentation (
`slack docs search`
)

Step 4: Calling Web API Methods (
`slack api`
)

Step 5: Authentication (
`slack auth`
)

Step 6: Running an App Locally (
`slack run`
)