Slack Desktop App Control

Connects to the Slack desktop app via CDP. If Slack isn't running with CDP enabled, it's automatically (re)launched. The workspace is auto-detected — no configuration needed.

All scripts share the same Slack desktop app, so run them sequentially from a single process. Use the scripts below instead of manual agent-browser commands. They handle navigation, state recovery, and parsing reliably.

Reference formats

Every script that takes a message or channel accepts any of these:

Channel names must start with #, DM names with @.

scripts/unreads.py — Fetch unread messages

python3 <skill-path>/scripts/unreads.py              # pretty-print
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/unreads.py --json        # structured JSON
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/unreads.py --channel NAME  # filter by channel
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/unreads.py --cdp 9333

scripts/search.py — Search messages

Returns structured results with channel_id, message_id, thread_id.

python3 <skill-path>/scripts/search.py "query"
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/search.py "in:#channel query" --json
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/search.py "from:@user query" --limit 5

Slack search syntax: in:#channel, from:@user, after:YYYY-MM-DD, before:YYYY-MM-DD, has:reaction, has:file

scripts/reply.py — Send a message

Pass a channel/DM ref to post a new message, or a message ref to reply in its thread.

python3 <skill-path>/scripts/reply.py "#general" "hey" --send          # channel message
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/reply.py "@Inanc Gumus" "hello" --send    # DM
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/reply.py C042WNMBYQM/1773432901.662159 "reply" --send  # thread reply

Default is dry-run — add --send to actually send.

scripts/emoji.py — React to a message

python3 <skill-path>/scripts/emoji.py C0123456789/1234567890.123456 thumbsup
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/emoji.py "https://…/archives/C…/p…" fire

scripts/get.py — Get message content

python3 <skill-path>/scripts/get.py C0123456789/1234567890.123456
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/get.py "https://…/archives/C…/p…" --json
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/get.py C0123456789/111.1 C0123456789/222.2  # multiple

scripts/later.py — Fetch "Later" (saved) items

python3 <skill-path>/scripts/later.py                           # all in-progress items
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/later.py --json
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/later.py --tab archived
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/later.py --tab completed
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/later.py --limit 10

scripts/collect.py — Collect message IDs for a date

Navigates the channel directly (not search), so bot and integration messages are included. Returns top-level messages only (not thread replies).

python3 <skill-path>/scripts/collect.py "#general" 2026-03-09
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/collect.py C042WNMBYQM 2026-03-09 --json
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/collect.py "#general" 2026-03-09 --replies --json
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/collect.py "#general" 2026-03-09 --limit 10

Processing multiple messages

# Collect IDs then read each message:
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/collect.py "#channel" 2026-03-09 --json | \
  python3 -c "import json,sys,subprocess; [subprocess.run(['python3','get.py',m['message_id']]) for m in json.load(sys.stdin)]"

# Add emoji to a batch of messages:
for id in C042.../111 C042.../222; do
  python3 <skill-path>/scripts/emoji.py "$id" thumbsup
done

Manual commands

For anything the scripts don't cover, use agent-browser --cdp 9222 directly. Navigate within the app using DOM clicks — do not use agent-browser open URL as it disrupts the Electron app's state.

agent-browser --cdp 9222 snapshot -i                              # list interactive elements (@e1, @e2, ...)
agent-browser --cdp 9222 click @eN                                # click a button, link, or tab
agent-browser --cdp 9222 hover @eN                                # hover to reveal toolbars
agent-browser --cdp 9222 fill @eN "text"                          # type into an input
agent-browser --cdp 9222 press Enter                              # press a key
agent-browser --cdp 9222 scroll up 500                            # scroll up (older messages)
agent-browser --cdp 9222 scroll down 500                          # scroll down (newer messages)

To read message text (snapshots only show interactive elements):

agent-browser --cdp 9222 eval --stdin <<'EVALEOF'
(() => {
    const panel = document.querySelector('.p-flexpane') ||
                  document.querySelector('[data-qa="message_pane"]') ||
                  document.querySelector('.c-virtual_list__scroll_container');
    return panel ? panel.innerText : 'No message content found';
})()
EVALEOF

.p-flexpane is the thread side-panel. The other selectors are the main channel view.