slackline

slackline

slackline gives an AI agent its own Slack identity in a single binary, so it can send messages, read channels, and stream real-time events.

New to slackline? Start with the overview.

One binary. One config file. One bot identity.

Install

Private repo — requires gh CLI, authenticated:

bash <(gh api repos/prime-radiant-inc/slackline/contents/install.sh --jq '.content | @base64d')

Installs to ~/.local/bin/slackline. The script verifies the downloaded release asset's GitHub SHA-256 digest before installing and warns if that directory isn't in $PATH.

When the repo goes public, gh is still required for release metadata and digest verification. Fetch the installer with curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prime-radiant-inc/slackline/main/install.sh | bash, then let the script verify the release asset before install.

Supported platforms: darwin/arm64, linux/amd64

Setup

Two paths depending on your role.

Admin: provision a new bot

See Provisioning a new bot for the full agentic recipe. The short version:

# One-time per machine: store App Configuration Tokens
slackline provision bootstrap

# Per bot: create the Slack app (non-interactive, machine-readable JSON output)
slackline provision my-bot-name > /tmp/prov.json

Developer / agent: configure with existing tokens

Tokens must be provisioned by an admin first.

slackline init

Prompts for a bot token (xoxb-) and app token (xapp-), validates against the workspace, writes ~/.config/slackline/config.json.

Interactive token prompts require a terminal so pasted secrets are not echoed. For scripts and CI, set SLACKLINE_BOT_TOKEN and SLACKLINE_APP_TOKEN (and optionally SLACKLINE_WORKSPACE_URL) instead of piping tokens into slackline init.

Verify

slackline auth status
slackline auth whoami

auth status validates the bot token with auth.test and validates the app token by opening a Socket Mode connection URL via apps.connections.open.

Commands

send

slackline send --channel <channel> [--message <text>] [--thread <ts>] [--attach <path>] ... [--format text|json]
echo "text" | slackline send --channel <channel>

--channel accepts name (#ops), ID (C...), or Slack URL. --message or piped stdin. Trailing newline stripped from stdin. --attach may be repeated; message text is optional when at least one file is attached. Combined attachment size is capped at 100 MB; override with SLACKLINE_MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES.

Default output is compact text:

C... 1234567890.123456

Use --format json for the structured shape:

{"ok":true,"channel":"C...","thread_ts":"...","files":[{"id":"F...","title":"file.txt"}]}

thread_ts is included in output only when --thread was passed.

read

slackline read --channel <channel> [--limit 20] [--thread <ts>] [--since <RFC3339>] [--format text|json]

Returns the most recent --limit messages in chronological order (oldest first). For both channel and thread reads, --limit counts back from the newest message, so the latest reply is always included. Default output is compact text:

1234567890.123456 U... hello
1234567890.654321 U... thread=1234567890.123456 reply
  file F... report.pdf 204800 application/pdf Q1 Report

Newlines inside Slack message text are escaped as \n so each message starts on one line. Attached files are shown as indented file continuation lines. Use --format json for the previous JSONL shape.

permalink

slackline permalink --channel <channel> --ts <message-ts>

Prints a Slack permalink for a message:

https://example.slack.com/archives/C.../p1234567890123456

ask

slackline ask --channel <channel> [--message <text>] [--timeout 300] [--poll 10] [--format text|json]
echo "text" | slackline ask --channel <channel>

Sends a message and polls the thread for replies from other users. Outputs replies as compact text when received (<ts> <user> <text>), or JSONL with --format json. Exits 0 on reply, exits 5 on timeout (no stdout output on timeout — error goes to stderr).

listen

slackline listen [--type mention,dm,...] [--threads] [--all-messages] [--include-bot-self] [--format text|json]

Streams real-time events via Socket Mode to stdout. Default output is compact text; use --format json for JSONL. Runs until interrupted. Requires both bot token and app token. Socket Mode connection failures exit non-zero with error: socket_mode_failed: ... on stderr.