slick lookup¶

Look up channels and users, and search messages. lookup messages requires a user token with search:read; bot-token profiles cannot use it.

slick lookup channel   Look up Slack channels and conversations
slick lookup user      Look up Slack users
slick lookup messages  Search Slack messages

lookup channel¶

Find channel and conversation metadata. With --channel, fetch one conversation; without, list conversations of the requested types.

slick lookup channel --max-items 20
slick lookup channel --types im,mpim                  # only DMs / group DMs
slick lookup channel --types all                      # all types
slick lookup channel --channel C1234567890            # single channel info
slick lookup channel --filter deploy                  # client-side ID/name filter

Flags¶

-c, --channel <CHANNEL>  Channel or conversation ID, name, or alias
-M, --max-items <N>      Maximum conversations to return
-C, --cursor <CURSOR>    Pagination cursor
-f, --filter <TEXT>      Filter by ID or name
-t, --types <TYPE>       Conversation types: public_channel, private_channel, im, mpim, dm, or all

Output¶

Human (list) renders a primer table:

CHANNEL      NAME            TYPE             USER  MEMBER  ARCHIVED  MEMBERS  TOPIC
C1234567890  deploy-bots     channel                true    false     42       Deploy automation
C7N2Q8L4P    incidents       private_channel        true    false     8        Incident response
C0228L1B726  direct          im               U123…  true    false     1

Columns: CHANNEL, NAME, TYPE, USER, MEMBER, ARCHIVED, MEMBERS, TOPIC. TYPE is Slack's conversation kind — channel for public, private_channel for private, im/mpim for DMs. USER is populated only for im rows (the DM counterparty). CHANNEL stays the raw conversation ID for copy/paste and may be an OSC 8 terminal hyperlink in human mode. Channel IDs hash-colour; TYPE colours by hash. MEMBER uses dim-on-true (being a member is the routine state); ARCHIVED uses red-on-true.

Human (single channel via --channel):

Channel resolved channel=C1234567890 name=deploy-bots type=channel is_member=true num_members=42

A topic field appears at the end when the channel has one set.

JSON envelope (list). Slack's conversation type is channel for public channels and private_channel for private; is_im distinguishes DM conversations even when other types coexist in the list. hr and url are best-effort display metadata; id remains the raw Slack conversation ID:

{
  "data": {
    "channels": [
      {
        "id": "C7N2Q8L4P",
        "name": "deploy-bots",
        "hr": "#deploy-bots",
        "url": "https://app.slack.com/client/T8KQ42P9D/C7N2Q8L4P",
        "type": "channel",
        "is_member": true,
        "is_im": false,
        "num_members": 42,
        "is_archived": false
      }
    ]
  }
}

lookup user¶

Find user metadata. With --user, fetch one; without, list active users.

slick lookup user --max-items 50
slick lookup user --include-deleted          # full users.list
slick lookup user --user U1234567890         # single user info
slick lookup user --presence                 # fetch presence flag too
slick lookup user --filter mcraven           # client-side filter

Flags¶

-u, --user <USER>      Slack user ID
-M, --max-items <N>    Maximum users to return
-C, --cursor <CURSOR>  Pagination cursor
-f, --filter <TEXT>    Filter by ID or name
-p, --presence         Fetch presence
-d, --include-deleted  Include deleted or deactivated users

List mode excludes deleted and deactivated users by default. Add --include-deleted when you need the full users.list result.

Output¶

Human (list) renders a primer table:

USER       NAME      TZ                   STATUS
USLACKBOT  slackbot  America/Los_Angeles
U123ABC    mcraven   America/Toronto      Working remotely
U2A8B0DCA  ansible   America/Los_Angeles

Human (single user):

User resolved user=U123ABC name=mcraven timezone=America/Toronto status_text="Working remotely"

With --presence, a presence=active|away field joins the event:

User resolved user=U123ABC name=mcraven timezone=America/Toronto presence=active status_text="Working remotely"

timezone renders Region/City with the region dim and the city bold.

JSON:

{
  "data": {
    "user": {"id": "U123ABC", "name": "mcraven", "deleted": false, "tz": "America/Toronto", "status_text": "Working remotely", "presence": "active"}
  }
}

status_text is present when the user has a status set. presence is populated only when --presence is passed (otherwise the field is absent).

lookup messages¶

Search Slack workspace messages with the Web API search.messages method. Requires a user token with search:read.

slick lookup messages --query "deploy failed" --max-items 10
slick lookup messages --query "in:#alerts after:2026-05-01" --max-items 50
slick lookup messages --query "deploy" --cursor <meta.pagination.next_cursor>

# Full text in human mode (default truncates long matches)
slick lookup messages --query "release" --full

Flags¶

-q, --query <QUERY>    Search query
-M, --max-items <N>    Maximum matches to return
-C, --cursor <CURSOR>  Pagination cursor
-F, --full             Show full text in human mode

Query syntax follows Slack's search modifiers (from:, in:, before:, after:, etc.). When there are no matches:

Messages searched query="deploy failed" count=0

count is forced to render even at zero (it would otherwise be stripped by clog's OmitZero).

With matches, human mode renders a TS / CHANNEL / USER / TEXT table:

TS                 CHANNEL      USER       TEXT
1746284582.123456  #deploy-bot  U123ABC    Deploy v0.4.0 complete — rollback window closes 18:00 UTC.
:robot_face: _Sent via slick (agent mode)_

The attribution context block (when present) renders on its own line below the body, joined by a newline. That's how Slack's search.messages returns Block Kit messages — the body lives in blocks[], not in the top-level text field, and slick reconstructs the readable text by flattening section / header / context / rich_text blocks.

JSON envelope. For Block Kit messages (which is every message slick sends — attribution adds a context block), Slack returns text="" in the raw response and the body lives inside blocks[]. slick flattens section / context / rich_text blocks back into the text field so consumers get something readable; the attribution context line appears on its own line after the body:

{
  "data": {
    "matches": [
      {
        "channel": {
          "id": "C1234567890",
          "name": "deploy",
          "hr": "#deploy",
          "url": "https://app.slack.com/client/T8KQ42P9D/C1234567890"
        },
        "user": "U123ABC",
        "text": "Deploy v0.4.0 complete — rollback window closes 18:00 UTC.\n:robot_face: _Sent via slick (agent mode)_",
        "ts": "1746284582.123456",
        "permalink": "https://example.slack.com/archives/C1234567890/p1746284582123456"
      }
    ],
    "query": "deploy"
  }
}

Common errors¶

Error	Cause	Fix
`not_allowed_token_type` (validation, exit 4)	`lookup messages` invoked under a bot-token profile.	Use a user-token profile; `search:read` is user-scope only.
`missing_scope` (`auth_failure`, exit 1)	Token lacks `users:read`, `channels:read`, or `search:read`.	Update the manifest, regenerate, re-auth.
Empty list with `--filter`	Filter is client-side; Slack list API returned nothing first.	Drop the filter or widen `--max-items`.

slick lookup¶

lookup channel¶

Flags¶

Output¶

lookup user¶

Flags¶

Output¶

lookup messages¶

Flags¶

Common errors¶

See also¶