Slack Thread Reader

This skill reads all messages from a Slack thread and outputs them as structured JSON.

Usage

Option 1: Using Slack URL

prbot slack read-thread -u "<SLACK_MESSAGE_URL>" [-l <NUMBER>]

Option 2: Using Channel ID and Timestamp

prbot slack read-thread -c <CHANNEL_ID> -t <THREAD_TS> [-l <NUMBER>]

Parameters

URL Format

• -u, --url (required if not using channel+ts): Slack message URL
• -l, --limit (optional): Maximum number of messages to retrieve (default: 100)

Channel/Timestamp Format

• -c, --channel (required if not using url): Slack channel ID (e.g., C123456789)
• -t, --ts (required if not using url): Thread timestamp (parent message timestamp)
• -l, --limit (optional): Maximum number of messages to retrieve (default: 100)

Note: You must use either --url OR --channel + --ts, not both.

Output Format

Returns JSON array with each message containing:

• username: Display name of the message author
• text: Original Slack-formatted text
• markdown: Converted markdown text (with user mentions, formatting, etc.)

Examples

# Read thread using Slack URL (easiest)
prbot slack read-thread -u "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1234567890"

# Read thread using Slack URL with thread_ts parameter
prbot slack read-thread -u "https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C123/p1234567890?thread_ts=1234567890.123456"

# Read thread using channel ID and timestamp
prbot slack read-thread -c C07V123ABC -t 1234567890.123456

# Read first 20 messages only
prbot slack read-thread -c C07V123ABC -t 1234567890.123456 -l 20

Supported URL Formats

The tool automatically parses various Slack URL formats:

• https://WORKSPACE.slack.com/archives/CHANNEL/pTIMESTAMP
• https://WORKSPACE.slack.com/archives/CHANNEL/pTIMESTAMP?threadts=THREADTS
• https://app.slack.com/client/TEAM/CHANNEL/TIMESTAMP

Notes

• Requires channels:history or groups:history Slack OAuth scope
• Automatically converts Slack formatting to markdown
• Handles user mentions, channel links, URLs, and text formatting