feat: add skill command and flag to print agent skill file by mwbrooks · Pull Request #732 · slackapi/slack-cli

mwbrooks · 2026-10-28T17:00:43Z

Changelog

Coding agents can now read the Slack CLI skill straight from the CLI with slack skill or slack --skill. The output is the same slack-cli skill as in the Slack Skills Plugin, matched to the installed CLI version, with no plugin install needed.

Summary

This pull request bundles the slack-cli agent skill into the Slack CLI, so any coding agent that has the CLI can learn to drive it, even before the developer installs the Slack Skills Plugin.

slack skill > SKILL.md
slack --skill

💡 This is a quick review: only 74 lines are code once the license header is left out. The rest is tests, generated reference docs, and cmd/skill/SKILL.md, which is copied byte-for-byte from slackapi/slack-skills-plugin@bc8345a and can be skipped.

Testing

Run slack skill | diff - cmd/skill/SKILL.md and confirm the diff is empty, then repeat with slack skills and slack --skill.
Run slack skill inside Claude Code and confirm stdout is the skill only, with just the existing plugin hint on stderr.
Run slack app --skill and confirm it fails with unknown flag: --skill, since the flag lives on the root command only.

Notes

The command and flag skip the update check, so an update notice can't end up in a saved skill file.
The plugin repo stays the source of truth for the skill. A follow-up adds make skill and a workflow that opens a PR when the skill changes.
The plugin is MIT licensed and this repo is Apache 2.0. Both are Slack projects, but a maintainer may want to confirm before merging.

Requirements

I've read and understood the Contributing Guidelines and have done my best effort to follow them.
I've read and agree to the Code of Conduct.

Bundle the slack-cli skill from the Slack Skills Plugin into the CLI so any coding agent with the CLI installed can read it with `slack skill` or `slack --skill`, without installing the plugin first.

An update notice printed after the skill would end up in the skill when the output is saved to a file.

codecov · 2026-10-28T17:04:25Z

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 78.16%. Comparing base (6f2fa68) to head (d2d00fe).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #732      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   78.13%   78.16%   +0.02%     
==========================================
  Files         238      239       +1     
  Lines       18115    18148      +33     
==========================================
+ Hits        14154    14185      +31     
- Misses       3961     3963       +2

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mwbrooks · 2026-10-28T17:05:39Z

+// skillFile is the "slack-cli" agent skill from the Slack Skills Plugin. The
+// copy here ships with each release so the skill matches the commands of the
+// installed version.
+//
+// https://github.com/slackapi/slack-skills-plugin/blob/main/skills/slack-cli/SKILL.md
+//
+//go:embed SKILL.md
+var skillFile string


note: embed the skill file. In a follow-up PR we'll add sync from slackapi/slack-skills-plugin through a GitHub Action.

mwbrooks · 2026-10-28T17:05:51Z

+func NewCommand(clients *shared.ClientFactory) *cobra.Command {
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:     "skill",
+		Aliases: []string{"skills"},


note: alias as skills

mwbrooks · 2026-10-28T17:12:57Z

 	// Commands that skip update checks only when used alone or with flags
 	// "manifest" is included because it's an alias that runs "manifest info"
-	ignoredCommands := []string{"_fingerprint", "manifest", "manifest info", "version"}
+	ignoredCommands := []string{"--skill", "_fingerprint", "manifest", "manifest info", "skill", "skills", "version"}


note: We will disable updates on the skill command and flag so that slack skill > SKILL.md doesn't print the update notification.

Keeps the root command constructor as it was, apart from the check in its run function.

zimeg

@mwbrooks Clever approach in a fantastic pattern! I'm approving now but want to start with a smaller surface when landing this because I find odd issue with some combination. Otherwise this is so amazing 🌠

$ slack skill --skill

zimeg · 2026-10-28T17:34:33Z

  -f, --force                ignore warnings and continue executing command
  -h, --help                 help for slack
      --no-color             remove styles and formatting from outputs
+      --skill                print the agent skill for the Slack CLI


🤖 thought: I'd favor the command over a global flag option to start? Unless we're finding standard toward both of course!

Suggested change

--skill print the agent skill for the Slack CLI

Thanks @zimeg! I'd like to keep the flag.

Most of the CLIs we found that print their own skill use a flag: herdr --skill, tuios --skill, and mcpc help --skill. It also pairs with our slack version and slack --version.

Good catch on the combinations! slack skill --skill and slack --skill skill now print the skill in 12fb1cb.

An agent that doesn't have the skill yet is the one most likely to mix them up, so we should help it succeed.

Agents that combine the command and flag, as in `slack skill --skill` or `slack --skill skill`, now get the skill instead of an unknown flag error.

mwbrooks added 2 commits October 27, 2026 22:08

feat: print the agent skill with the skill command and flag

bdbf159

Bundle the slack-cli skill from the Slack Skills Plugin into the CLI so any coding agent with the CLI installed can read it with `slack skill` or `slack --skill`, without installing the plugin first.

fix: skip the update check for the skill command and flag

57bdc43

An update notice printed after the skill would end up in the skill when the output is saved to a file.

mwbrooks added this to the Next Release milestone Oct 28, 2026

mwbrooks added enhancement M-T: A feature request for new functionality semver:minor Use on pull requests to describe the release version increment labels Oct 28, 2026

mwbrooks self-assigned this Oct 28, 2026

mwbrooks requested review from lukegalbraithrussell and zimeg October 28, 2026 17:00

mwbrooks changed the title ~~feat: print the agent skill with the skill command and flag~~ feat: add skill command and flag to print agent skill file Oct 28, 2026

mwbrooks commented Oct 28, 2026

View reviewed changes

refactor: define the skill flag beside the version flag in init

781ba2c

Keeps the root command constructor as it was, apart from the check in its run function.

mwbrooks marked this pull request as ready for review October 28, 2026 17:27

mwbrooks requested review from a team as code owners October 28, 2026 17:27

zimeg approved these changes Oct 28, 2026

View reviewed changes

zimeg added the changelog Use on updates to be included in the release notes label Oct 28, 2026

mwbrooks added 2 commits October 28, 2026 10:43

fix: print the skill when the skill command also gets the skill flag

12fb1cb

Agents that combine the command and flag, as in `slack skill --skill` or `slack --skill skill`, now get the skill instead of an unknown flag error.

Merge branch 'main' into mwbrooks-skill-command

d2d00fe

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feat: add skill command and flag to print agent skill file - #732

feat: add skill command and flag to print agent skill file#732
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