Slack

KhunQuant connects to Slack using Socket Mode, which establishes a persistent WebSocket connection to Slack's servers. No inbound public URL is required — all traffic is initiated outbound from your machine, making this the easiest channel to run behind a firewall or NAT.

Capabilities

• Direct message and channel message send/receive
• Threaded replies (channel messages are automatically threaded)
• Typing indicator
• Processing placeholder message ("Thinking...")
• Emoji acknowledgement reactions (✅)
• File uploads
• Allow-listing by Slack user ID
• Dedicated reasoning output channel

Configuration

Add to ~/.khunquant/config.json:

{
  "channels": {
    "slack": {
      "enabled": true,
      "bot_token": "xoxb-YOUR-BOT-TOKEN",
      "app_token": "xapp-YOUR-APP-TOKEN",
      "allow_from": [],
      "group_trigger": {
        "mention_only": true
      },
      "typing": {
        "enabled": true
      },
      "placeholder": {
        "enabled": true,
        "text": "Thinking..."
      },
      "reasoning_channel_id": ""
    }
  }
}

Store tokens in ~/.khunquant/.security.yml:

channels:
  slack:
    bot_token: "xoxb-..."
    app_token: "xapp-..."

Field	Type	Description
enabled	bool	Enable the Slack channel
bot_token	SecureString	Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-) for sending messages
app_token	SecureString	App-Level Token (xapp-) for Socket Mode connection
allow_from	[]string	Allowlist of Slack user IDs (empty allows all)
group_trigger.mention_only	bool	Only respond in channels when the bot is @mentioned
typing.enabled	bool	Show typing indicator while generating a response
placeholder.enabled	bool	Post a temporary placeholder while processing
placeholder.text	string	Text of the placeholder message
reasoning_channel_id	string	Channel ID for streaming reasoning output separately

Setup steps

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps and click Create New App → From scratch.

2. Under Settings → Socket Mode, enable Socket Mode and generate an App-Level Token with the connections:write scope. Copy the token (xapp-).

3. Under OAuth & Permissions → Bot Token Scopes, add the following scopes:

   Scope	Purpose
   chat:write	Send messages
   im:history	Read DM history
   im:read	Access DM channels
   reactions:write	Add emoji reactions
   files:write	Upload files
   channels:history	Read channel messages
   app_mentions:read	Detect @mentions

4. Click Install to Workspace and copy the Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-).

5. Under Event Subscriptions, enable events and subscribe to: message.im, message.channels, and app_mention.

6. Add both tokens to .security.yml.

7. Start KhunQuant.

Finding your user ID

In Slack, click your profile photo → Profile → the three-dot menu → Copy member ID. Use this value in allow_from.

Long messages

Responses exceeding Slack's character limit are automatically split across multiple messages so no content is truncated.