Slack Setup

Slack Bot Setup

Goal

Get the user from zero to a working personal Slack bot. By the end, they have a Slack app installed in their workspace, a bot token in their shell profile, and a verified connection.

What Needs to Happen

1. Choose a bot display name — this becomes the app name and bot username in Slack
2. Create a Slack app from manifest — the template is at skills/slack-setup/assets/slack-app-manifest.json (relative to plugin root). Replace {{BOT_NAME}} with their chosen name. The manifest includes 16 bot scopes covering read/write for messages, channels, users, files, pins, and reactions.
3. Install the app to their workspace — this happens in the Slack admin UI at api.slack.com
4. Store the Bot User OAuth Token — goes in ~/.zshrc as export SLACK_BOT_TOKEN="xoxb-...". This is the only auth method the MCP server supports.
5. Verify the connection — DM the user in Slack (not a public channel). Use post_message to their user's DM channel. This proves the token works and they see the bot come alive.

Constraints

• Never hardcode the token in any committed file
• Check echo $SLACK_BOT_TOKEN first — skip to verify if they're already set up
• The manifest has 16 scopes. Don't add or remove scopes without explaining why.
• Chrome automation is available for co-piloting the Slack admin UI if the user wants help navigating it — offer but don't assume

After Setup

Show them what they can do. The plugin gives them 15 tools across messaging, reactions, channels, users, and files. All messages go through the slack-format agent automatically.