Slack Terminal

A VS Code extension that relays terminal commands between Slack and VS Code's integrated terminal. Control your development machine from your phone via Slack.

Features

• Full terminal control from Slack - Send any command, receive output
• Thread-based sessions - Each Slack thread gets its own terminal
• Smart output handling - Long outputs sent as file attachments
• Interactive prompt detection - Handles [y/n] prompts, password inputs
• Claude Code compatible - Run Claude Code sessions from your phone
• ANSI rendering - Terminal output cleaned for readable Slack messages

Quick Start

1. Install the extension
2. Create a Slack App with Socket Mode enabled (see detailed setup guide)
3. Configure your tokens in VS Code settings
4. Send a message in your configured channel

Example Usage

Here's a typical workflow using Slack Terminal from your phone:

1. Start a terminal session

You (in #dev-terminal channel): git status

The bot creates a new terminal and replies in a thread with the output:

Bot: On branch main
     Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.
     nothing to commit, working tree clean

2. Continue in the thread

All replies in the thread go to the same terminal:

You (in thread): npm run build
Bot: > myapp@1.0.0 build
     > tsc && vite build
     ✓ built in 1.24s

3. Handle long output

If output exceeds 2000 characters, it's sent as a file attachment. Use /more to get the full untruncated output:

You: cat package.json
Bot: [output truncated, 847 chars hidden]
     {...partial output...}

You: /more
Bot: 📎 full-output.txt

4. Run interactive commands

You: claude
Bot: > claude
     ╭─────────────────────────────────────╮
     │ Welcome to Claude Code!             │
     ╰─────────────────────────────────────╯
     > What would you like to do?

You: help me refactor the auth module
Bot: I'll help you refactor...

5. Control the session

You: /kill          # Send Ctrl+C to stop current process
You: /clear         # Clear the terminal screen
You: /close         # Close this terminal session

6. Manage multiple sessions

Start a new terminal by sending a message outside any thread:

You (in channel): docker logs -f myapp    # Creates new terminal + thread
You (in channel): top                      # Creates another terminal + thread
You: /list                                 # Shows all active sessions

Slack Commands

Command	Action
/list	Show all active terminal sessions
/close	Close the terminal for this thread
/closeall	Close all terminals
/clear	Clear terminal screen
/more	Get full output of last truncated response
/kill	Send SIGINT (Ctrl+C) to current process
/status	Check if extension is connected

Messages without / prefix are sent directly to the terminal as input.

Configuration

Add to your VS Code settings:

{
  "slackTerminal.appToken": "xapp-...",
  "slackTerminal.botToken": "xoxb-...",
  "slackTerminal.allowedUserId": "U12345",
  "slackTerminal.channelId": "C0ABCD...",
  "slackTerminal.truncateAt": 2000,
  "slackTerminal.batchDelayMs": 500,
  "slackTerminal.autoConnect": false
}

Setting	Description
appToken	Socket Mode token (starts with xapp-)
botToken	Bot OAuth token (starts with xoxb-)
allowedUserId	Your Slack user ID (whitelist)
channelId	Channel to listen in
truncateAt	Character limit before sending as file (default: 2000)
batchDelayMs	Output batching interval in ms (default: 500)
autoConnect	Connect automatically on VS Code startup

Slack App Setup

See docs/SETUP.md for detailed instructions.

Quick version:

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps
2. Create a new app
3. Enable Socket Mode (Settings > Socket Mode)
4. Add Bot Token Scopes: chat:write, files:write, channels:history
5. Subscribe to Events: message.channels
6. Install to workspace
7. Copy App Token and Bot Token to VS Code settings
8. Invite the bot to your channel (/invite @botname)

Architecture

Slack (Phone) ──WebSocket──> SlackClient ──> MessageHandler ──> TerminalManager
                                                                      │
Slack (Phone) <──messages─── SlackClient <── OutputCapture <──────────┘

• SlackClient: Socket Mode connection, message sending
• MessageHandler: Routes messages, handles /commands
• TerminalManager: Maps threads to VS Code terminals
• OutputCapture: Batches and truncates terminal output

Development

npm install        # Install dependencies
npm run compile    # Build TypeScript
npm run watch      # Watch mode for development
npm test           # Run tests

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host with the test workspace.

Security

• Only messages from your configured user ID are processed
• Unknown users are silently ignored
• Tokens are stored in VS Code settings (consider using a secrets manager for production)

Status Bar

The extension shows connection status in the VS Code status bar:

• 🟢 Connected
• 🟡 Reconnecting
• 🔴 Disconnected

License

MIT