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slack-rs - Slack Web API CLI (Rust)

Use slack-rs to interact with Slack workspaces using your own OAuth credentials. It supports multiple profiles (workspaces/apps), stores credentials in file-based storage under ~/.config/slack-rs/, and can call any Slack Web API method.

Install

Install from crates.io (recommended):

cargo install slack-rs

Build from source:

git clone https://github.com/tumf/slack-rs.git
cd slack-rs
cargo build --release
./target/release/slack-rs --help

Or install from a local checkout:

cargo install --path .

OAuth Setup (One-time per Slack App)

Create a Slack app and configure OAuth.

Recommended login flow (especially for remote/SSH environments): use --cloudflared. In this mode, slack-rs auth login generates a Slack App Manifest YAML for you (and copies it to clipboard, best effort).

1. Go to https://api.slack.com/apps and create an app.

2. Copy your Client ID and Client Secret from "Basic Information" -> "App Credentials".

3. Either:

   • Use the manifest flow (--cloudflared) and paste the generated YAML into Slack, or

   • Configure OAuth manually (alternative):

     • Under "OAuth & Permissions", add redirect URL: http://127.0.0.1:8765/callback
     • Add required "User Token Scopes" for your use case

Recommended: store OAuth config per profile (client secret is stored securely in file storage).

slack-rs config oauth set my-workspace \
  --client-id 123456789012.1234567890123 \
  --redirect-uri http://127.0.0.1:8765/callback \
  --scopes "chat:write,users:read,channels:read"

You can use --scopes "all" for a broad preset, or customize with --bot-scopes and --user-scopes flags.

Common scopes:

• chat:write - post messages
• users:read - view users
• channels:read - list public channels
• search:read - search workspace content
• reactions:write - add/remove reactions

Full list: https://api.slack.com/scopes

Authenticate (Per profile)

slack-rs auth login my-workspace
slack-rs auth status my-workspace
slack-rs auth list

Remote/SSH environments (recommended):

slack-rs auth login my-workspace --client-id 123456789012.1234567890123 --cloudflared

Note: Check slack-rs auth login --help for current tunnel support (e.g., --cloudflared, --ngrok).

During login, the CLI opens a browser for OAuth authorization and stores:

• Profile metadata in ~/.config/slack-rs/profiles.json
• OAuth config and tokens in files under ~/.config/slack-rs/ (treat as secrets)

Security note: ~/.config/slack-rs/ contains OAuth credentials (client secrets and access tokens). Treat it as sensitive.

Make API Calls

Use generic API calls for anything supported by Slack Web API:

slack-rs api call users.info user=U123456
slack-rs api call conversations.list limit=200
slack-rs api call conversations.history channel=C123456 limit=50
slack-rs api call chat.postMessage channel=C123456 text="Hello from slack-rs"

Unified Output Envelope

By default, commands output a unified structure:

{
  "meta": {
    "profile_name": "default",
    "method": "conversations.list",
    "command": "api call",
    "token_type": "user"
  },
  "response": {
    "ok": true,
    "channels": []
  }
}

To get the raw Slack Web API response (without the envelope), use --raw:

slack-rs api call conversations.list --raw

Choose Bot vs User Token

If your Slack app has both a bot token and a user token, set the default token type per profile:

slack-rs config set my-workspace --token-type user
slack-rs config set my-workspace --token-type bot

Confirm with:

slack-rs auth status my-workspace

For more copy/pasteable recipes, see slack-rs/references/recipes.md.

Introspection (Commands / Help / Schemas)

Use these commands to discover what the CLI can do and how to call it (machine-readable):

slack-rs commands --json

slack-rs conv list --help --json
slack-rs msg post --help --json

slack-rs schema --command msg.post --output json-schema
slack-rs schema --command conv.list --output json-schema
slack-rs schema --command api.call --output json-schema

Conversation Helpers

Use the convenience commands instead of api call for common tasks:

slack-rs conv list
slack-rs conv search <pattern>
slack-rs conv history <channel_id>
slack-rs thread get <channel_id> <thread_ts>

Notes:

• Command names accept both dot and space formats (e.g. conv.list == conv list, msg.post == msg post).
• schema describes the default enveloped JSON output; it does not describe --raw output.
• meta is a baseline envelope and not exhaustive; additional fields may be added over time.
• conv list supports --filter, --format, and --sort (see slack-rs conv list --help).
• conv select and conv history --interactive require an interactive terminal (TTY).

Example output (slack-rs schema --command msg.post --output json-schema):

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "type": "schema",
  "ok": true,
  "command": "msg.post",
  "schema": {
    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "schemaVersion": {
        "type": "integer",
        "description": "Schema version number"
      },
      "type": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Response type identifier"
      },
      "ok": {
        "type": "boolean",
        "description": "Indicates if the operation was successful"
      },
      "response": {
        "type": "object",
        "description": "Slack API response data"
      },
      "meta": {
        "type": "object",
        "description": "Metadata about the request and profile",
        "properties": {
          "profile": {"type": "string"},
          "team_id": {"type": "string"},
          "user_id": {"type": "string"},
          "method": {"type": "string"},
          "command": {"type": "string"}
        }
      }
    },
    "required": ["schemaVersion", "type", "ok"]
  }
}

Safe Defaults for Write Operations

Many Slack methods are write operations (posting, updating, deleting, reactions). Use the guard in environments where writes are risky:

export SLACKCLI_ALLOW_WRITE=false

Re-enable explicitly when you intend to write:

export SLACKCLI_ALLOW_WRITE=true

Profile Backup / Migration

Export/import profiles using encrypted files (treat as secrets):

# Prompt for passphrase (recommended)
slack-rs auth export --all --out all-profiles.enc --passphrase-prompt
slack-rs auth import --all --in all-profiles.enc --passphrase-prompt

For non-interactive automation options, refer to slack-rs auth export --help and slack-rs auth import --help.

Configuration

Common environment variables:

• SLACKCLI_ALLOW_WRITE: allow/deny write operations (default: allowed)
• SLACK_OAUTH_BASE_URL: custom OAuth base URL (testing/enterprise Slack)

For export/import passphrase options, use --passphrase-prompt or see slack-rs auth export --help.

Troubleshooting

• Remote environments: use a tunnel (ngrok/cloudflared) and set your profile redirect URI accordingly.

Private channels are missing

Private channels typically require a user token. Ensure:

1. slack-rs config set <profile> --token-type user
2. Your Slack app has user scopes (groups:read, groups:history / conversations:read, etc.)

Useful Commands

Profile management:

slack-rs auth list
slack-rs auth status <profile>
slack-rs auth rename <old> <new>
slack-rs auth logout <profile>

OAuth config management:

slack-rs config oauth show <profile>
slack-rs config oauth delete <profile>

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