Slack Explorer

Explore and search Slack data using the direct API CLI.

Inputs

Raw arguments: $ARGUMENTS

Infer from the arguments:

QUERY: what to search or read (topic, channel name, or command like history #engineering)
WORKSPACE: (optional) a Slack workspace domain detected by presence of .slack.com in the arguments — falls back to $SLACK_WORKSPACE env var if not provided
EXTRA_CONTEXT: (optional) any additional filters or constraints (e.g. date range, user, channel)

Pass --workspace <WORKSPACE> to the CLI when a workspace is inferred from arguments.

Privacy Rules (Mandatory)

These rules are non-negotiable and must be followed on every use of this skill:

Do not store or forward PII. Message content, user emails, real names, and phone numbers must only be used within the current task. Never write them to files, memory, or external systems.
Do not bulk-read DMs. Channels starting with D (direct messages) must not be read unless the user explicitly requests it and provides a clear work-related reason.
Prefer public channels. Always search public channels first. Only access private channels or DMs when the task cannot be completed otherwise.
Do not surface credentials. If a message contains tokens, passwords, API keys, or secrets, redact or skip them — do not repeat or log them.
User profile data (email, real name) is for identification only. Use it to resolve a user ID to a name within the current task. Do not aggregate or store profile data.
Scope searches tightly. Use --channel, --user, and --days filters to minimise how much data is fetched. Avoid open-ended bulk reads.

Execution Note

Run scripts with network permissions (required_permissions: ["network"]) - they need network access for API calls.

Available Commands

Command	Purpose	Use When
`search`	Search messages	Looking for specific topics, mentions, or discussions
`history`	Read channel messages	Need recent activity from a channel
`replies`	Read thread replies	Need full context of a conversation thread
`channels`	List channels	Need to find channel IDs or browse available channels
`recent`	Recent messages (all channels)	Quick overview of activity
`user`	Get user info by ID	Need to look up username from user ID

Quick Examples

Search Messages

# Search for a topic
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search "quarterly report"

# Search in specific channel
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search "deployment" --channel "#engineering"

# Search from specific user (use Slack username, NOT user ID)
# Use `slack.js user <userId>` to look up a username from a user ID
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search --user "@jane.smith" --limit 20

# Search by date range
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search "release" --after "2025-01-01" --before "2025-01-15"

# Search last N days
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search "decision" --days 7

# Search threads only
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search "decision" --threads-only true

Read Channel History

Channel names and IDs both work — the script resolves names to IDs automatically.

# Get recent messages by channel name (preferred — name resolves automatically)
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js history --channel "#general" --limit 20

# Get recent messages by channel ID
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js history --channel C1234567890 --limit 50

# Get messages from last 7 days
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js history --channel "#general" --limit 7d

# Get DM history (use channel ID for DMs)
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js history --channel D1234567890 --limit 20

Read Thread Replies

# Get all replies in a thread
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js replies --channel C1234567890 --thread 1234567890.123456

# Limit to recent replies
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js replies --channel C1234567890 --thread 1234567890.123456 --limit 20

List Channels

# List public channels (default)
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js channels --limit 50

# List public channels with a higher limit
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js channels --types public_channel --limit 200

Recent Messages

# Get messages from last hour (all channels)
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js recent

# Get messages from last 24 hours
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js recent --hours 24 --limit 100

Get User Info

# Look up a single user by ID (returns username needed for search)
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js user U012AB3CD45

# Look up multiple users at once
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js user U012AB3CD45,U012EF6GH78,U012IJ9KL01 --json

Common Workflows

Find and Read a Discussion

Search for the topic:

node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search "API redesign" --limit 10 --json

Get thread context (use channelId and threadTs from search results):

node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js replies --channel C1234567890 --thread 1234567890.123456

Monitor Channel Activity

Get recent messages:

node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js history --channel C1234567890 --limit 7d

For any active threads, get full context:

node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js replies --channel C1234567890 --thread 1234567890.123456

Search for Mentions

If provided a user's slack handle you can search for mentions (note handles for this script are of the form name not @name - no @ symbol)

# Find mentions in last 7 days (replace <handle> with user's slackHandle)
node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/slack.js search "<handle>" --days 7 --limit 50 --json

Search Query Tips

Use quotes for exact phrases: "error message"
Combine with --channel and --user filters for precision
Channel names can use #channel format or channel ID
User search requires Slack username (e.g., @jane.smith), NOT user ID
- Use slack.js user <userId> to find a user's username from their ID
Date formats: YYYY-MM-DD

Output Formats

Default: Human-readable text
Add --json for machine-readable JSON output
Add --debug for verbose API debugging

Environment

Tokens are extracted automatically from the Slack desktop app on every run — no manual token management needed. The only requirement is that Slack is installed and you are signed in.

SLACK_WORKSPACE is required (or pass --workspace on each command). Without it the script cannot determine which workspace to authenticate against and will fail.

SLACK_WORKSPACE - Workspace domain, e.g. myorg.slack.com (required)
SLACK_XOXC_TOKEN / SLACK_XOXD_TOKEN - Fallback tokens (only needed if auto-extraction fails)
SLACK_USER_AGENT - Slack desktop app user agent string (optional)

Refreshing Tokens

Tokens are re-extracted automatically on every command — no explicit refresh step is needed. If you get authentication errors, ensure Slack is running and you are signed in, then retry.

To inspect the extracted values (e.g. for debugging):

node <this-skill>/scripts/slack/extract-tokens.js myorg.slack.com

Pass --workspace myorg.slack.com to any command to override the SLACK_WORKSPACE env var.

slack-explorer