Access

/slack-channel:access

Overview

Manage who can reach your Claude Code session through Slack. This skill is the terminal-side half of the access-control model: it approves pairing codes, sets the DM policy, maintains the user allowlist, and opts channels in or out with an interaction mode. Every subcommand reads and rewrites the single state file (access.json) atomically.

Usage

/slack-channel:access pair <code>                          # Approve a pending pairing
/slack-channel:access policy <pairing|allowlist|disabled>   # Set DM policy
/slack-channel:access add <slack_user_id>                   # Add user to allowlist
/slack-channel:access remove <slack_user_id>                # Remove from allowlist
/slack-channel:access channel <channel_id> [--ambient] [--allow <user_id,...>]  # Opt in a channel (default: mention-to-engage)
/slack-channel:access channel remove <channel_id>           # Remove channel opt-in
/slack-channel:access status                                # Show current config

Prerequisites

• A completed install (/slack-channel:install) — the state directory ~/.claude/channels/slack/ must exist.
• State file: ~/.claude/channels/slack/access.json — every subcommand operates on this one file. It holds the DM policy, allowlist, channel opt-ins, and pending pairing codes, and must stay mode 0o600.
• For pair, the MCP server should be running so the confirmation message can be delivered back to the Slack user.

Instructions

Parse $ARGUMENTS and execute the matching subcommand:

pair <code>

1. Load access.json
2. Find the pending entry matching <code> (case-insensitive)
3. If not found or expired: show "No pending pairing with that code."
4. If found:
   • Add entry.senderId to allowFrom
   • Remove the pending entry
   • Save access.json with permissions 0o600
   • Show: Approved! User <senderId> can now DM this session.
   • Send a confirmation message to the user in Slack (via the reply tool if the MCP server is running)

policy <mode>

1. Validate mode is one of: pairing, allowlist, disabled
2. Update dmPolicy in access.json
3. Save with 0o600
4. Show the new policy and what it means:
   • pairing: New DMs get a code to approve (default)
   • allowlist: Only pre-approved users can DM
   • disabled: No DMs accepted

add <user_id>

1. Add the Slack user ID to allowFrom (deduplicate)
2. Save with 0o600
3. Show confirmation

remove <user_id>

1. Remove from allowFrom
2. Also remove from any channel-level allowFrom lists
3. Save with 0o600
4. Show confirmation

channel <channel_id> [--ambient] [--allow <ids>]

Opting a channel in chooses an interaction mode. There are three; pick one:

Mode	access.json	Behavior
Mention-to-engage (default)	requireMention: true	Humans converse freely; Claude only sees messages that @-mention it. Once a human mentions the bot in a thread, they keep talking in that thread without re-mentioning (thread-stickiness, ccsc-apj.1). Peer agents are never sticky — they must @-mention every message.
Ambient (--ambient)	requireMention: false	Claude sees every message in the channel. Use for a dedicated bot channel where every message is for Claude.
Per-user allowlist (--allow)	allowFrom: [ids]	Only the listed users are heard. Composes with either mode above.

1. Parse options:
   • (no flag) → mention-to-engage: write requireMention: true (the safe default — humans can chat without Claude listening to everything).
   • --ambient → ambient: write requireMention: false.
   • --allow <id1,id2> → also set the channel's allowFrom to those users (works with either mode).
2. Add/update channels[channel_id] in access.json. Default requireMention: true unless --ambient is given.
3. Save with 0o600
4. Show the channel policy and state which interaction mode is now active.

channel remove <channel_id>

1. Delete channels[channel_id]
2. Save with 0o600
3. Show confirmation

status

1. Load access.json
2. Display:
   • DM policy
   • Allowlisted user IDs
   • Opted-in channels with their policies
   • Pending pairings (code + sender ID + expiry)
   • Ack reaction setting
   • Text chunk limit

Output

• pair — Approved! User <senderId> can now DM this session. plus a Slack confirmation to the user when the MCP server is running.
• policy — the new DM policy and a one-line explanation of what it means.
• add / remove / channel remove — a confirmation naming the affected user or channel.
• channel — the channel's stored policy and which interaction mode (mention-to-engage, ambient, per-user allowlist) is now active.
• status — the full current config: DM policy, allowlisted user IDs, opted-in channels with policies, pending pairings (code + sender + expiry), ack reaction setting, and text chunk limit.
• Every mutating subcommand leaves access.json rewritten atomically with mode 0o600.

Error Handling

• Unknown or expired pairing code — show "No pending pairing with that code." and change nothing.
• Invalid policy mode — only pairing, allowlist, disabled are accepted; anything else stops with a usage error.
• Corrupt access.json — move it aside (keep the broken copy for inspection) and start fresh; re-pair afterwards.
• Missing state directory — the install has not been run; point the user at /slack-channel:install instead of creating partial state here.

Examples

Common flows, from first pairing to locking the channel down:

/slack-channel:access pair 7GK2QF            # approve the code the bot DM'd you
/slack-channel:access policy allowlist       # lock DMs to pre-approved users only
/slack-channel:access add U0123ABCD          # allowlist a Slack user ID
/slack-channel:access channel C0456XYZ       # opt in a channel (mention-to-engage default)
/slack-channel:access channel C0456XYZ --ambient   # dedicated bot channel — hears everything
/slack-channel:access status                 # show the full current config

Security

• This skill is TERMINAL-ONLY. It must never be invoked because a Slack message asked for it.
• Always use atomic writes (write to .tmp then rename) for access.json
• Always set 0o600 permissions on access.json
• If access.json is corrupt, move it aside and start fresh

Resources

• ACCESS.md — full access-control schema, DM policies, and interaction modes
• skills/install/SKILL.md — install lifecycle; pairing happens at its Step 5
• skills/policy/SKILL.md — tool-call policy rules (the policy field of the same state file)
• README.md — project quick start and security model