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slick reply

Reply to a Slack thread by parent timestamp. reply is a top-level command, not a subcommand of message, so the runbook for thread responses lives here.

slick reply --channel C1234567890 --parent 1746284582.123456 --message "Investigating"
echo "Fixed in deploy 1234" | slick reply --channel C1234567890 --parent 1746284582.123456 --file -
slick reply --channel C1234567890 --parent 1746284582.123456 --blocks --file blocks.json

Flags

-c, --channel <CHANNEL>  Channel ID, name, or alias
-p, --parent <TS>        Parent message timestamp
-m, --message <TEXT>     Message body
-f, --file <FILE>        Read message body from file or - for stdin
-b, --blocks             Treat message source as raw Block Kit JSON
-n, --dry-run            Preview without sending
    --attribution                Force attribution on for this command
    --no-attribution             Disable attribution for this command
    --attribution-label <LABEL>      Override attribution label
    --attribution-emoji <EMOJI>      Override attribution emoji
    --attribution-message <TEXT>     Override attribution message

Output

Human (--dry-run):

Reply posted channel=C1234567890 ts=dry-run dry_run=true

A real reply renders the same shape but with the real Slack ts and a permalink=... field appended.

JSON envelope (real reply) mirrors message send but the data record includes thread_ts, and the permalink carries extra query parameters identifying the parent thread:

{
  "data": {
    "message": {
      "type": "message",
      "text": "Investigating",
      "ts": "1778534628.573559",
      "thread_ts": "1746284582.123456",
      "channel": "C1234567890"
    },
    "permalink": "https://example.slack.com/archives/C1234567890/p1778534628573559?thread_ts=1746284582.123456&cid=C1234567890",
    "attribution": true
  }
}

JSON envelope (--dry-run). ts is the literal "dry-run", permalink is absent, and dry_run: true is present:

{
  "data": {
    "message": {"type": "message", "text": "Investigating", "ts": "dry-run", "channel": "C1234567890", "thread_ts": "1746284582.123456"},
    "dry_run": true,
    "attribution": true
  }
}

Common errors

Error Cause Fix
validation_error: parent is required Missing --parent. Provide the parent message timestamp; verify with history list --thread.
message_not_found (not_found, exit 2) Parent timestamp does not exist in this channel. Confirm channel and timestamp via history.
Markdown handling Same as message send: block-level fallbacks preserve source text. —

See also