create-slack-app

Create Slack App

Help the developer create a Slack app or agent using Bolt for $0.

This skill walks through the full setup: prerequisites, authentication, sandbox creation, project scaffolding from a template, and running the app locally.

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Step 1: Check Prerequisites

1a. Detect the Slack CLI command

Use the slack-developer:slack-cli skill — Step 1: Detect the Slack CLI — to check whether the public Slack CLI is installed and resolve its command name. The fingerprint check, alias fallback, and install instructions all live there; do not duplicate them here.

Once resolved, use the detected command name for all CLI commands throughout the rest of this skill. We refer to it as SLACK_CMD below — substitute the actual resolved command name everywhere you see SLACK_CMD.

1b. Verify the CLI version

Run SLACK_CMD version and print the version to confirm everything is working before continuing.

1c. Check language runtime

• If $0 is bolt-js: Run node --version to verify Node.js is installed (v18+ required). If not installed, suggest brew install node or point to https://nodejs.org.
• If $0 is bolt-python: Run python3 --version to verify Python is installed (3.6+ required). If not installed, suggest brew install python3 or point to https://python.org.

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Step 2: Authenticate with the Slack CLI

Use the slack-developer:slack-cli skill — Step 5: Authentication (slack auth) — to check the developer's auth status and walk them through SLACK_CMD login if they're not already authenticated.

Wait for confirmation that authentication succeeded before proceeding.

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Step 3: Set Up a Developer Sandbox

Run SLACK_CMD sandbox list --experiment=sandboxes to check if the developer already has a sandbox.

• If a sandbox exists: Show it and confirm they want to use it.
• If no sandbox exists: Tell the developer to create one:

  ! SLACK_CMD sandbox create --experiment=sandboxes
  

  Alternatively, they can create one at https://api.slack.com/developer-program/sandboxes or join the Developer Program at https://api.slack.com/developer-program/join.

Wait for confirmation that a sandbox is available before proceeding.

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Step 4: Create the App from a Template

Ask the developer what kind of app they want to build. Present the available templates based on their chosen framework ($0):

bolt-js templates

Template	Repo	Description
Starter Template	slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-template	Basic Bolt JS app — great starting point
Starter Agent	slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-agent	Minimal AI agent using Claude/OpenAI
Support Agent	slack-samples/bolt-js-support-agent	AI-powered IT helpdesk agent
Getting Started	slack-samples/bolt-js-getting-started-app	Official getting started tutorial app
Examples	slack-samples/bolt-js-examples	Unified showcase of Slack features

bolt-python templates

Template	Repo	Description
Starter Template	slack-samples/bolt-python-starter-template	Basic Bolt Python app — great starting point
Starter Agent	slack-samples/bolt-python-starter-agent	Minimal AI agent using Claude/OpenAI/Pydantic AI
Support Agent	slack-samples/bolt-python-support-agent	AI-powered IT helpdesk agent
Assistant Template	slack-samples/bolt-python-assistant-template	Agents & Assistants template
Examples	slack-samples/bolt-python-examples	Unified showcase of Slack features

Use AskUserQuestion to let the developer pick a template. Recommend the Starter Template for first-timers or the Starter Agent if they want to build an AI agent.

4a. Choose an AI provider (agent templates only)

If the developer picks Starter Agent or Support Agent, these templates contain subdirectories for different AI providers. Ask the developer which provider they want to use via AskUserQuestion:

bolt-js subdirectories:

Subdir	Description
claude-agent-sdk	Uses Anthropic's Claude Agent SDK
openai-agents-sdk	Uses OpenAI's Agents SDK

bolt-python subdirectories:

Subdir	Description
claude-agent-sdk	Uses Anthropic's Claude Agent SDK
openai-agents-sdk	Uses OpenAI's Agents SDK
pydantic-ai	Uses Pydantic AI (supports multiple LLM backends)

Recommend Claude Agent SDK as the default option.

4b. Name and create the project

Ask what they want to name their project (suggest a default like my-slack-app), then run:

For templates WITHOUT subdirectories (Starter Template, Getting Started, Assistant Template, Examples):

SLACK_CMD create <project-name> -t <template-repo>

For agent templates WITH subdirectories (Starter Agent, Support Agent):

SLACK_CMD create <project-name> -t <template-repo> --subdir <chosen-subdir>

For example:

# Non-agent template
SLACK_CMD create my-slack-app -t slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-template

# Agent template with provider subdir
SLACK_CMD create my-slack-agent -t slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-agent --subdir claude-agent-sdk

Confirm the project was created successfully by checking that the directory exists and listing its contents.

4c. Set required environment variables (agent templates only)

If the developer chose an agent template (Starter Agent or Support Agent), they need to set the required API key for their chosen AI provider. Ask for the key value using AskUserQuestion, then set it using the Slack CLI from within the project directory.

Required environment variables by provider:

Provider	Env Variable	Description
claude-agent-sdk	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic API key
openai-agents-sdk	OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key
pydantic-ai	OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key (required). Optionally also ANTHROPIC_API_KEY if using Anthropic as the backend — if both are set, Anthropic is used by default.

Use AskUserQuestion to ask the developer for their API key value(s). Then set each one:

cd <project-name> && SLACK_CMD env set <ENV_VAR_NAME> <value>

For example:

cd my-slack-agent && SLACK_CMD env set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY sk-ant-...

Important: Do NOT store or echo API key values in logs or output. Only pass them directly to SLACK_CMD env set.

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Step 5: Run the App Locally

Use the slack-developer:slack-cli skill — Step 6: Running an App Locally (slack run) — to resolve the app or team target and start the dev server in the background.

Tell the developer their app is now running and installed in their sandbox workspace, and that file changes will auto-reload it.

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Step 6: Next Steps

After the app is running, suggest next steps:

1. Explore the code: Read through the project files together — offer to explain the app structure, manifest, listeners, etc.
2. Make a change: Suggest a small modification (like changing a message response) to see hot-reload in action.
3. Add features: Based on the template, suggest relevant Slack features to add (slash commands, events, modals, AI capabilities, etc.).
4. Check the docs: Point to https://docs.slack.dev for the full Slack Platform documentation.

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Notes

• SLACK_CMD is a placeholder — always substitute the actual command name resolved in Step 1a (typically slack, but may be an alias).
• This skill focuses on Bolt for JavaScript and Bolt for Python only. Do not suggest Deno, workflow apps, or slack deploy (hosted deployment).
• SLACK_CMD sandbox create is an interactive command that requires user input — it does NOT work with the ! command prefix in Claude Code. Instead, tell the developer to run it in a new terminal window.
• If the developer hits issues, suggest SLACK_CMD doctor to diagnose their setup.