Mattermost CLI

Fetch and display Mattermost messages using the mm command. Output is automatically redacted for safe LLM processing.

When to Invoke Immediately

Trigger this skill when the user explicitly:

Asks to check/read/fetch their Mattermost messages or DMs
Wants to see what someone said ("what did alice say about X")
Needs to find tasks or action items from chat
References a conversation they had on Mattermost

When to Suggest (Don't Auto-Invoke)

Offer to use this skill when:

User mentions a task "from chat" without specifying Mattermost
User is looking for context that might be in messages
You need message history to understand a task better

Say: "want me to check your Mattermost messages for context?" - don't auto-invoke.

Prerequisites

The mm CLI must be installed and configured:

# Test if working
mm channels

If it fails, configure credentials using one of:

Config file: mm config --init then edit ~/.config/mattermost-cli/config.toml
Environment variables: MM_URL and MM_TOKEN
CLI flags: --url and --token

Commands

List DM Channels

mm channels              # Pretty output - who have I chatted with?
mm channels --json       # Structured output

Fetch Messages

mm dms                        # All DMs, last 7 days
mm dms -u <username>          # From specific user
mm dms -u alice -u bob        # Multiple users
mm dms --since 24h            # Last 24 hours
mm dms --since 30d --limit 100  # More history
mm dms --json                 # For parsing

Manage Configuration

mm config                # Show config status
mm config --init         # Create config file with template
mm config --path         # Print config file path

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Recent messages	`mm dms --since 24h`
From specific person	`mm dms -u alice`
All channels list	`mm channels`
JSON for processing	`mm dms --json`
Extended history	`mm dms --since 30d --limit 200`
Setup config	`mm config --init`

Output Formats

Context	Format	Use Case
Terminal (TTY)	Pretty	Reading directly
Piped/non-TTY	Markdown	Passing to tools
`--json` flag	JSON	Parsing, analysis

Date/Time Display

Dates use European format (DD Mon YYYY) and 24-hour time.

Under AI agents, relative time is enabled by default ("2 days ago" instead of "29 Jan 2026"). Override with --no-relative if needed.

mm channels              # "2 days ago" (under agent)
mm channels --no-relative  # "29 Jan 2026"
mm channels --relative   # Force relative time

Security

All secrets are automatically redacted:

API keys, tokens, passwords, JWTs
Connection strings
Credentials in config snippets

Example: ghp_abc123xyz789secret → ghp_...cret

Output is safe to include in context or pass to other LLMs.

Configuration Priority

Credentials are resolved in this order:

CLI flags (--url, --token)
Environment variables (MM_URL, MM_TOKEN)
Config file (~/.config/mattermost-cli/config.toml)

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
"Mattermost URL required"	Not configured	Run `mm config --init` or set `MM_URL`
"Mattermost token required"	Not configured	Edit config file or set `MM_TOKEN`
"Could not find DM channel"	User doesn't exist or no DM history	Check username spelling
Connection errors	Network/server issues	Verify URL is correct and accessible

When NOT to Use

User is asking about Slack, Discord, or other chat platforms
User wants to send messages (this is read-only)
User needs real-time notifications (this is one-shot fetch)

Example Workflows

"What did Alice say about the deployment?"

mm dms -u alice --since 7d

Then grep or scan output for deployment-related content.

"Check my recent messages for any tasks"

mm dms --since 24h

Review output for action items, requests, or TODOs.

"Get context from a specific conversation"

mm dms -u bob --limit 50 --json > /tmp/bob-chat.json

Parse JSON for relevant context to include in your response.

mattermost-cli