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Slack MCP

Your entire Slack workspace — available to any AI.

A Model Context Protocol server that gives LLMs full access to Slack.<br> Messages, channels, files, canvases, lists, search, reactions — all of it.

220 tools · 36 API families · Every Slack feature

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Quick Start

1. Create a Slack App

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps > Create New App > From a manifest
2. Paste the contents of manifest.json
3. Install to your workspace
4. Copy the User OAuth Token (xoxp-...) from OAuth & Permissions

2. Add to your AI client

<details> <summary><strong>Claude Code</strong></summary>

claude mcp add slack -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/karbassi/slack-mcp.git slack-mcp

Then set SLACK_XOXP_TOKEN in your shell environment.

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>Claude Desktop</strong></summary>

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slack": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/karbassi/slack-mcp.git", "slack-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SLACK_XOXP_TOKEN": "xoxp-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>Cursor</strong></summary>

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slack": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/karbassi/slack-mcp.git", "slack-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SLACK_XOXP_TOKEN": "xoxp-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>Windsurf</strong></summary>

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slack": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/karbassi/slack-mcp.git", "slack-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SLACK_XOXP_TOKEN": "xoxp-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>VS Code / GitHub Copilot</strong></summary>

Add to your VS Code settings.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "slack": {
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/karbassi/slack-mcp.git", "slack-mcp"],
        "env": {
          "SLACK_XOXP_TOKEN": "xoxp-..."
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>Local clone</strong></summary>

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slack": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/slack-mcp", "slack-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

</details>

What Can It Do?

"Catch me up on #engineering from today" "Reply to Sarah's thread saying we'll ship it Monday" "Search for anything about the Q3 roadmap" "Create a channel called #project-atlas and invite the design team"

Domain	Tools	Highlights
Conversations	28	History, threads, replies, create, archive, invite, mark read
Undocumented	28	Drafts, saved items, emoji management, granular search, sidebar, threads
Files	16	Upload, share, edit, list, remote files
Chat	14	Send, reply, schedule, update, delete, ephemeral
Users	12	Profile, presence, lookup, list
Lists	12	Create, edit items, manage access
Legacy	11	Slash commands, file editing, bot listing
Team	9	Info, preferences, access logs, billing
Apps	8	Manifests, connections, authorizations
Usergroups	7	Create, update, manage members
Workflows	7	Featured workflows, step completion
Canvases	6	Create, edit, sections, access control
Calls	6	Start, end, manage participants
+ 23 more		DND, reminders, bookmarks, reactions, pins, stars, views, search, auth, bots, emoji, ...

Plus resolve_names (bulk ID→name resolution) and cache_clear (bust the response cache on demand) utility tools.

Beyond the Official API

39 undocumented and legacy endpoints — the same internal APIs that Slack's own apps use. Requires session tokens (xoxc+xoxd).

<details> <summary><strong>Session endpoints</strong> — workspace state the official API doesn't expose</summary>

Endpoint	What it provides
client.boot	Full workspace bootstrap — channels, users, prefs, feature flags
client.counts	Unread counts per channel/DM/thread plus mention counts
client.userBoot	User-specific bootstrap data scoped to the authenticated user
threads.getView	Thread inbox — the list of threads with read/unread state
subscriptions.thread.mark	Mark individual threads as read or unread
drafts.list	List all unsent message drafts
drafts.create	Create a message draft with Block Kit text
drafts.update	Edit an existing draft
drafts.delete	Delete a draft
saved.list	List saved-for-later items
saved.add	Save a message for later with optional due date
saved.delete	Remove a saved-for-later item
emoji.add	Add a custom emoji from a URL
emoji.remove	Remove a custom emoji
emoji.adminList	Emoji with rich metadata — uploader, date, usage stats
search.modules.messages	Granular message search
search.modules.files	File-specific search
search.modules.channels	Server-side channel search by name or topic
search.modules.people	Fuzzy people search by name, title, department
search.modules.dms	Search within DMs only
conversations.view	Channel view with read state and personal config
conversations.listPrefs	Per-channel notification and mute preferences
users.channelSections.list	Sidebar organization — custom sections, favorites
users.priority.list	Contacts ranked by interaction frequency
experiments.getByUser	A/B test experiment assignments
api.features	Workspace feature flags
aiApps.list	AI applications configured in the workspace

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>Legacy endpoints</strong> — functionality missing from the official API</summary>

Endpoint	What it provides
chat.command	Execute slash commands programmatically
commands.list	List all slash commands including custom ones
files.edit	Edit a file's title, content, or filetype in-place
files.share	Share a file to a channel
bots.list	List all bot users in the workspace
team.prefs.get	Team-level preferences — retention, permissions, domains
users.prefs.get	All user preferences — notifications, sidebar, theme
users.prefs.set	Set any individual user preference
users.admin.invite	Invite users by email (Enterprise Grid)
users.admin.setInactive	Deactivate a user account (Enterprise Grid)
channels.delete	Dead method — included for completeness

[!WARNING] Undocumented endpoints can break without notice. They use session tokens (xoxc+xoxd) which expire and must be re-grabbed from browser cookies.

</details>

Authentication

Variable	Required	Description
SLACK_XOXP_TOKEN	Yes	User OAuth token from your Slack app
SLACK_XOXC_TOKEN	No	Browser session token for undocumented endpoints
SLACK_XOXD_TOKEN	No	Browser session cookie (paired with xoxc)

[!TIP] The xoxp token covers all Slack Web API tools. Utility tools like resolve_names and cache_clear work without additional auth. For undocumented endpoints (unread counts, workspace boot, file editing), you also need xoxc+xoxd — grab them from your browser cookies while logged into slack.com.

Caching

Responses are cached automatically to reduce API calls:

• Stable data (users, teams, bots, emoji) — 1 hour TTL
• Dynamic data (channel lists, members, bookmarks) — 5 minute TTL
• Old threads (conversations_replies with ts > 1 hour old) — 1 hour TTL
• Bounded history (conversations_history with old date range) — 1 hour TTL
• Resolved names (user/bot → 1 hour, channel → 5 minutes)

Cache is stored at the platform-native location (~/Library/Caches/slack-mcp on macOS, ~/.cache/slack-mcp on Linux). Set XDG_CACHE_HOME to override.

Use the cache_clear tool to bust the cache when you need fresh data.

Name Resolution

All tool responses automatically resolve user, channel, DM, and bot IDs to display names via a resolved_names field — no extra tool calls needed. Resolved names are disk-cached to avoid redundant API lookups.

Response Compaction

15 high-volume tools automatically strip bloat from Slack API responses — blocks (duplicates text), attachments (link unfurls), thumbnails (22 per file), and metadata noise. Measured reductions:

Endpoint	Before	After	Reduction
conversations.history	465 KB	113 KB	76%
files.list	127 KB	26 KB	80%
conversations.list	59 KB	17 KB	71%
reactions.list	353 KB	167 KB	53%

Compaction is on by default. Pass detailed=True to any compactable tool to get the full Slack API response.

Development

git clone https://github.com/karbassi/slack-mcp.git
cd slack-mcp
uv sync
mise run check                       # test + lint + security scan
mise run test:integration            # requires tokens in .env

[!NOTE] ~68 integration tests are skipped because they require a bot token (xoxb), Slack Connect, interactive triggers (e.g. views.open), or would be destructive (e.g. auth.revoke). Adding bot token support is a future goal.

License

MIT