Work with one — or many — Slack workspaces, straight from your terminal.

Read channels, send messages, search history, and catch up on what you missed. Built to be AI-agent friendly, so your scripts and assistants can use Slack too. No Slack app to build, no admin approval to wait for.

Quickstart · What it does · Commands · Docs · Contributing

⭐ Like the idea? Star the repo.

It takes two seconds, and it is how the next person finds SlackCLI.

🎬 See it in action

Sign in, browse conversations, search the workspace, read a thread from a permalink, reply, react, read a canvas as Markdown, and pipe --json into jq — all from the terminal.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/90cf1c89-2859-4b84-a731-b0ff3e1172f3

[!IMPORTANT] Unofficial project. SlackCLI is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Slack Technologies. Slack ships an official CLI for building Slack apps — this is a different tool, for driving a workspace you already belong to.

⚡ Quickstart

Three steps, about a minute.

brew tap shaharia-lab/tap
brew install slackcli

# x86_64
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-linux -o slackcli

# arm64
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-linux-arm64 -o slackcli

chmod +x slackcli && mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && mv slackcli ~/.local/bin/

# Intel
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-macos -o slackcli

# Apple Silicon
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-macos-arm64 -o slackcli

chmod +x slackcli && mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && mv slackcli ~/.local/bin/

git clone https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli.git
cd slackcli
bun install
bun run build        # -> ./dist/slackcli

slackcli auth login-auto

slackcli conversations unread                       # what did I miss?
slackcli search messages "deploy failed" --in=engineering
slackcli messages send --permalink="$LINK" --message="On it 👀"

[!TIP] Anywhere SlackCLI wants a channel ID or a timestamp, you can paste a Slack link instead. Copy a permalink out of the Slack app and hand it straight to the CLI — see links & timestamps.

🧭 What do you want to do?

🤖 Built to be scripted

Every command that returns data speaks --json, so SlackCLI drops straight into shell pipelines, cron jobs, CI steps, and AI agent toolchains.

# Who is talking about the outage, and when?
slackcli search messages "outage" --in=incidents --json \
  | jq -r '.matches[] | "\(.username)\t\(.text)"'

# Turn today's unreads into a digest
slackcli conversations unread --json | jq '[.unread_channels[] | {name, unread_count}]'

# Read a thread, summarise it elsewhere, reply with the result
slackcli conversations read --permalink="$LINK" --json | jq '.messages[].text'

No Slack app, no OAuth dance, no webhook server — just a binary and a token. Patterns, exit codes, and pagination are in scripting & JSON output.

🔐 Authentication: two kinds of credentials

SlackCLI talks to Slack either as a Slack app (xoxb-* / xoxp-*) or as a signed-in browser session (xoxd-* + xoxc-*). One SlackClient abstracts both.

flowchart LR
    A["Any slackcli command"] --> B{"Workspace<br/>auth type"}
    B -->|standard| C["@slack/web-api<br/>xoxb / xoxp"]
    B -->|browser| D["fetch + session headers<br/>xoxd + xoxc"]
    C --> E(("Slack API"))
    D --> E

📖 Command reference

Seven command groups. slackcli <group> --help always prints the authoritative options for the version you have installed.

slackcli conversations list --types=public_channel
slackcli conversations read C1234567890 --limit=50
slackcli conversations read --permalink="$LINK"          # reads that message's thread
slackcli conversations get C1234567890 1234567890.123456
slackcli conversations unread

slackcli messages send --recipient-id=C1234567890 --message="Hello team!"
slackcli messages send --permalink="$LINK" --message="On it"      # replies in-thread
slackcli messages send --recipient-id=C123 --file=./report.pdf --message="Latest numbers"
slackcli messages send --recipient-id=C123 --blocks=@blocks.json
slackcli messages react --permalink="$LINK" --emoji=+1
slackcli messages edit --channel-id=C123 --timestamp=1234567890.123456 --message="Corrected"
slackcli messages draft --recipient-id=C123 --message="Draft for later"

slackcli search messages "deploy failed" --in=engineering --from=ada --limit=50
slackcli search channels "incident"
slackcli search people "ada@example.com"

slackcli saved list --state=to_do            # saved | to_do | completed
slackcli canvas list --channel=C1234567890
slackcli canvas read F1234567890             # Canvas -> Markdown
slackcli update check                        # is there a newer version?
slackcli update                              # install it

⭐ Spread the word

Made it this far? Then SlackCLI is probably useful to you — and the fastest way to keep it alive is to make it easier for the next person to find.

In rough order of usefulness:

• ⭐ Star the repo — the single highest-leverage thing.
• 🐛 Open an issue when something breaks or a command feels wrong.
• 💬 Tell one person who lives in Slack and in a terminal.
• ✍️ Write about it — a blog post, a work Slack message, a comment on HN or Reddit.
• 🛠️ Send a PR — see Contributing below.

Star history

📚 Documentation

Everything lives in docs/.

bun install
pre-commit install     # same checks CI runs
bun run dev --help     # run from source
bun test               # 400+ tests
bun run type-check
bun run build          # -> ./dist/slackcli

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are very welcome — and the process here is a little stricter than most repos, on purpose.

[!IMPORTANT] Open an issue first, and wait for the ready-for-pr label. That label is how the maintainer decides which features belong in the CLI, and it locks the feature to your PR so nobody duplicates your work. A workflow enforces the issue link.

1. Open an issue describing WHAT the change is, WHY it is needed, and optionally HOW.
2. Wait for triage and the ready-for-pr label.
3. Fork, branch, and open a PR that links the issue (Closes #123).
4. Make sure type-check, tests, and pre-commit hooks pass, and that your commits are signed.

Looking for a place to start? Try good first issue or help wanted.

The full policy is in CONTRIBUTING.md and CLAUDE.md. Security issues go through SECURITY.md — never a public issue.

Contributors

💬 Support

• 🐛 Report a bug or request a feature
• 💬 Discussions
• 🔒 Security policy
• 📧 support@shaharia.com

📄 License

MIT — do what you like, no warranty.

Built with Bun · powered by @slack/web-api · inspired by gscli