Slack Skill

Purpose

Interact with your Slack workspace using natural language from Claude Code.

Prerequisites

You need a SLACK_USER_TOKEN in your ClaudeClaw .env file. If you haven't set this up yet, follow these steps:

Getting your Slack User OAuth Token

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps and click Create New App

2. Choose From scratch (not "From an app manifest")

3. Name it (e.g. ClaudeClaw), select your workspace, click Create App

4. In the left sidebar, click OAuth & Permissions

5. Scroll down to the Scopes section. You'll see Bot Token Scopes and User Token Scopes

6. Ignore Bot Token Scopes. Under User Token Scopes, click Add an OAuth Scope and add all of these:

   • channels:history — View messages in public channels
   • channels:read — View basic info about public channels
   • chat:write — Send messages on your behalf
   • groups:history — View messages in private channels
   • groups:read — View basic info about private channels
   • im:history — View direct messages
   • im:read — View basic info about DMs
   • mpim:history — View group direct messages
   • mpim:read — View basic info about group DMs
   • search:read — Search workspace content
   • users:read — View people in the workspace

7. Scroll back up, click Install to Workspace, then click Allow

8. Copy the User OAuth Token (starts with xoxp-)

9. Add to your .env: SLACK_USER_TOKEN=xoxp-your-token-here

Setup

The CLI lives at the ClaudeClaw project root. All commands must run from the project directory (the CLI reads .env from cwd):

cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js <command>

Commands

List conversations (with unread counts)

cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js list
cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js list --limit 10

Returns JSON array of conversations sorted by unread count then recency. Each object has: id, name, isIm, unreadCount, lastMessage, lastMessageTs.

Read messages from a conversation

cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js read <channel_id>
cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js read <channel_id> --limit 30

Returns JSON array of messages (oldest first). Each object has: text, userName, fromMe, ts, threadTs.

Send a message

cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js send <channel_id> "message text"
cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js send <channel_id> "reply text" --thread-ts 1234567890.123456

Search conversations by name

cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js search "jane"
cd /path/to/claudeclaw && node dist/slack-cli.js search "general"

Fuzzy matches against conversation names. Use this to find channel IDs when you need to message someone or read a channel.

Workflow

1. "Check my slack" -> Run list to show conversations with unread counts
2. "Read my DMs with Jane" -> Run search "jane" to find the channel ID, then read <id>
3. "Message Jane on Slack saying hey" -> Run search "jane" to find the channel ID, draft the message, show the user for confirmation, then send <id> "hey"
4. "What's new in #general" -> Run search "general" to find the channel ID, then read <id>

Drafting Rules

• ALWAYS draft the message and show it to the user before sending
• Never send without confirmation
• If the user gives exact phrasing, use it verbatim