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emacs-slack/emacs-slack

slack client for emacs
Source code at GitHub https://github.com/emacs-slack/emacs-slack
emacs-slack/emacs-slack.json
{
  "createdAt": "2015-10-23T16:13:08Z",
  "defaultBranch": "master",
  "description": "slack client for emacs",
  "fullName": "emacs-slack/emacs-slack",
  "homepage": "",
  "language": "Emacs Lisp",
  "name": "emacs-slack",
  "pushedAt": "2025-11-20T23:53:36Z",
  "stargazersCount": 1193,
  "topics": [
    "emacs",
    "slack"
  ],
  "updatedAt": "2025-11-21T19:44:36Z",
  "url": "https://github.com/emacs-slack/emacs-slack"
}

MELPA

Emacs Slack

GNU Emacs client for Slack.

Preview

Section titled “Preview”

You can see some gifs on the wiki.

Configuration

Section titled “Configuration”

How to get token and cookie

If your token expires, you can use slack-refresh-token for a way to refresh interactively.

(use-package slack
  :bind (("C-c S K" . slack-stop)
         ("C-c S c" . slack-select-rooms)
         ("C-c S u" . slack-select-unread-rooms)
         ("C-c S U" . slack-user-select)
         ("C-c S s" . slack-search-from-messages)
         ("C-c S J" . slack-jump-to-browser)
         ("C-c S j" . slack-jump-to-app)
         ("C-c S e" . slack-insert-emoji)
         ("C-c S E" . slack-message-edit)
         ("C-c S r" . slack-message-add-reaction)
         ("C-c S t" . slack-thread-show-or-create)
         ("C-c S g" . slack-message-redisplay)
         ("C-c S G" . slack-conversations-list-update-quick)
         ("C-c S q" . slack-quote-and-reply)
         ("C-c S Q" . slack-quote-and-reply-with-link)
         (:map slack-mode-map
               (("@" . slack-message-embed-mention)
                ("#" . slack-message-embed-channel)))
         (:map slack-thread-message-buffer-mode-map
               (("C-c '" . slack-message-write-another-buffer)
                ("@" . slack-message-embed-mention)
                ("#" . slack-message-embed-channel)))
         (:map slack-message-buffer-mode-map
               (("C-c '" . slack-message-write-another-buffer)))
         (:map slack-message-compose-buffer-mode-map
               (("C-c '" . slack-message-send-from-buffer)))
         )
  :custom
  (slack-extra-subscribed-channels (mapcar 'intern (list "some-channel")))
  :config
  (slack-register-team
     :name "clojurians"
     :token "xoxc-sssssssssss-88888888888-hhhhhhhhhhh-jjjjjjjjjj"
     :cookie "xoxd-sssssssssss-88888888888-hhhhhhhhhhh-jjjjjjjjjj; d-s=888888888888; lc=888888888888"
     :full-and-display-names t
     :default t
     :subscribed-channels nil ;; using slack-extra-subscribed-channels because I can change it dynamically
     ))


(use-package alert
  :commands (alert)
  :init
  (setq alert-default-style 'notifier))
Section titled “How to get token and cookie”

Use the interactive command slack-refresh-token because it has the most complete instructions to get token and cookies required for emacs-slack to work.

For further explanation, see the documentation for the emojme project: (github.com/jackellenberger/emojme)

Note that it is only possible to obtain the cookie manually, not through client-side javascript, due to it being set as HttpOnly and Secure. See OWASP HttpOnly.

How to secure your token

Section titled “How to secure your token”

If someone steals your token they can use the token to impersonate you, reading and posting to Slack as if they were you. It’s important to take reasonable precautions to secure your token.

One way to do this is by using the Emacs auth-source library. Read the auth-source documentation to learn how to use it to store login information for remote services.

Then configure the auth-sources variable to select a “backend” store. The default backend is ~/.authinfo file, which is simple but also un-encrypted. A more complex option is to encrypt that .~/authinfo file with gnupg and configure auth-sources to use ~/.authinfo.gpg as the source for all passwords and secrets. Other backends exist beyond these; read the documentation for details.

How to store your slack tokens in your auth-source backend will vary depending which backend you chose. See documentation for details. The “host” and “user” fields can be whatever you like as long as they are unique; as a suggestion use “myslackteam.slack.com” for host, and use your email address for user. The “secret” or “password” field should contain the token you obtained earlier (How to get token and cookie).

Do the same for the cookie, however for the “user” field append ^cookie, so if for the token you picked user@email.com then for the cookie use user@email.com^cookie.

Then finally, in your Emacs init read the token from your auth-source:

(slack-register-team
 :name "myslackteam"
 :token (auth-source-pick-first-password
         :host "myslackteam.slack.com"
         :user "me@example.com")
 :subscribed-channels '((channel1 channel2)))

If your token starts with xoxc you’ll also need to manually obtain the cookie as described in How to get token and cookie and make sure the “user” has ^cookie in it as described above in How to secure your token:

(slack-register-team
 :name "myslackteam"
 :token (auth-source-pick-first-password
         :host "myslackteam.slack.com"
         :user "me@example.com")
 :cookie (auth-source-pick-first-password
         :host "myslackteam.slack.com"
         :user "me@example.com^cookie")
 :subscribed-channels '((channel1 channel2)))

If you do not specify :cookie then you’ll automatically be prompted for one if you are using an xoxc token.

How to use

Section titled “How to use”

I recommend to chat with slackbot for tutorial using slack-im-select.

Some terminology in the slack- functions:

  • im: An IM (instant message) is a direct message between you and exactly one other Slack user.

  • channel: A channel is a Slack channel which you are a member of

  • group. Any chat (direct message or channel) which isn’t an IM is a group.

  • slack-register-team

    • set team configuration and create team.
    • :name and :token are required

  • slack-change-current-team

    • change slack-current-team var

  • slack-start

    • do authorize and initialize

  • slack-ws-close

    • turn off websocket connection

  • slack-group-select

    • select group from list

  • slack-im-select

    • select direct message from list

  • slack-channel-select

    • select channel from list

  • slack-group-list-update

    • update group list

  • slack-im-list-update

    • update direct message list

  • slack-channel-list-update

    • update channel list

  • slack-message-embed-mention

    • use to mention to user

  • slack-message-embed-channel

    • use to mention to channel

  • slack-file-upload

    • uploads a file
    • the command allows to choose many channels via select loop. In order to finish the loop input an empty string. For helm that’s C+RET or M+TET. In case of Ivy it’s C+M+j.

Tip

Section titled “Tip”

If your Slack team has a huge number of public channels, you may find you hit your token rate limit. If that happens, set (setq slack-quick-update t): it will avoid the hit of rate limiting at expense of functionality (like you will not have all public channel available and search will not display room names when it doesn’t know about them).

Notification

Section titled “Notification”

See alert.

Extensions

Section titled “Extensions”

How to debug

Section titled “How to debug”

Please set (setq slack-log-level 'debug) to see useful messages that may help pin point your issue. If you plan to add that to an issue, make sure to edit out credentials.

You can also use (setq slack-log-level 'trace), but that only if you need it because it will overwhelm your minibuffer with messages.

Contributing

Section titled “Contributing”

Please open an issue or better pull request for things that trouble you.

Dependencies

Section titled “Dependencies”

Similar projects

Section titled “Similar projects”