slack-msg

Claude Code skill for reading and responding to Slack messages as yourself.

How It Works

slack-api is a shell script that calls the Slack Web API with curl using a personal user token (xoxp-). Messages appear as coming from you, not a bot.

Setup (~2 minutes)

Requires curl and jq (both likely already installed).

1. Create a Slack App

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps
2. Click Create New App → From an app manifest
3. Select your workspace → paste the contents of manifest.yml
4. Click through → Create → Install to Workspace → Allow
5. Copy the User OAuth Token (starts with xoxp-)

2. Store Your Token

mkdir -p ~/.local/dotfiles
echo 'export SLACK_USER_TOKEN="xoxp-your-token-here"' > ~/.local/dotfiles/slack.local

If your shell sources ~/.local/dotfiles/*.local, the token will be available automatically. Otherwise add to your shell profile:

echo 'source ~/.local/dotfiles/slack.local' >> ~/.zshrc

3. Install

./install.sh

This symlinks slack-api to /usr/local/bin and the skill to ~/.claude/skills/slack-msg.

4. Verify

slack-api channels

You should see a JSON array of your Slack channels.

Usage

# List channels
slack-api channels

# Read last 10 messages from a channel
slack-api history C028N1ZCPR9 10

# Read a thread
slack-api thread C028N1ZCPR9 1234567890.123456

# Send a message
slack-api send C028N1ZCPR9 "Hello from the CLI!"

# Reply to a thread
slack-api reply C028N1ZCPR9 1234567890.123456 "Thread reply here"

# Search messages
slack-api search "deployment issue" 5

# List users
slack-api users

# Get user profile
slack-api userinfo U028N2BH1V1

# Open a DM
slack-api dm-open U028N2BH1V1

With Claude Code

Invoke the skill: /slack-msg

Claude will be able to read your Slack channels, understand conversation context, and draft replies for your approval before sending.

Security Notes

• The xoxp- token acts as you — treat it like a password
• Store it in ~/.local/dotfiles/slack.local (gitignored, never committed)
• The token does not expire unless you revoke it or uninstall the app
• Claude will always ask for approval before sending messages