Slack Browser Automation

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Checking which Slack channels have unread messages
• Searching Slack for who said something
• Extracting channel names or message text from the web app
• Documenting what a Slack channel shows with annotated screenshots

Example prompts

• “Check my Slack and tell me which channels have unreads.”
• “Search Slack for the thread about the pricing change and summarize who said what.”
• “Open the releases channel and list its pinned messages.”

Requirements

• The agent-browser CLI
• Slack open in a browser the CLI can connect to, such as on port 9222
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash(agent-browser:*), Bash(npx agent-browser:*)

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Connect/Navigate: Open or connect to Slack
2. 2Snapshot: Get interactive elements with refs (@e1, @e2, etc.)
3. 3Navigate: Click tabs, expand sections, or navigate to specific channels
4. 4Extract/Interact: Read data or perform actions
5. 5Screenshot: Capture evidence of findings

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 0207911. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Bash(agent-browser:*)
  • Bash(npx agent-browser:*)

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are bash).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • slack.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Slack Browser Automation loads about 2.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~4.3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 106 tokens; SKILL.md has 410 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~106

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.1k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~4.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from vercel-labs/agent-browser at commit 0207911, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© vercel-labs). 410 words, ~2,107 tokens.

name

slack

description

Interact with Slack workspaces using browser automation. Use when the user needs to check unread channels, navigate Slack, send messages, extract data, find information, search conversations, or automate any Slack task. Triggers include "check my Slack", "what channels have unreads", "send a message to", "search Slack for", "extract from Slack", "find who said", or any task requiring programmatic Slack interaction.

allowed-tools

Bash(agent-browser:*), Bash(npx agent-browser:*)

# Connect to existing session on port 9222 (typical for already-open Slack)
agent-browser connect 9222

# Or open Slack if not already running
agent-browser open https://app.slack.com

agent-browser snapshot -i

# Example: Check unread channels
agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser snapshot -i
# Look for "More unreads" button
agent-browser click @e21  # Ref for "More unreads" button
agent-browser screenshot slack-unreads.png

# Connect to Slack
agent-browser connect 9222

# Take snapshot to locate unreads button
agent-browser snapshot -i

# Look for:
# - "More unreads" button (usually near top of sidebar)
# - "Unreads" toggle in Activity tab (shows unread count)
# - Channel names with badges/bold text indicating unreads

# Navigate to Activity tab to see all unreads in one view
agent-browser click @e14  # Activity tab (ref may vary)
agent-browser wait 1000
agent-browser screenshot activity-unreads.png

# Or check DMs tab
agent-browser click @e13  # DMs tab
agent-browser screenshot dms.png

# Or expand "More unreads" in sidebar
agent-browser click @e21  # More unreads button
agent-browser wait 500
agent-browser screenshot expanded-unreads.png

# Search for channel in sidebar or by name
agent-browser snapshot -i

# Look for channel name in the list (e.g., "engineering", "product-design")
# Click on the channel treeitem ref
agent-browser click @e94  # Example: engineering channel ref
# Replace `engineering` with the clicked channel's name so the old channel
# header cannot satisfy the wait while the new channel is still rendering.
agent-browser wait --fn "document.querySelector('[data-qa=\"channel_header\"]')?.innerText.includes('engineering')"
agent-browser screenshot channel.png

# Use Slack search
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser click @e5  # Search button (typical ref)
agent-browser fill @e_search "keyword"
agent-browser press Enter
# Match the submitted query so a repeated search cannot reuse the old route.
agent-browser wait --fn "location.pathname.includes('/search') && new URL(location.href).searchParams.get('q') === 'keyword'"
agent-browser screenshot search-results.png

# Get list of all visible channels
agent-browser snapshot --json > slack-snapshot.json

# Parse for channel names and metadata
# Look for treeitem elements with level=2 (sub-channels under sections)

# Open a channel
agent-browser click @e_channel_ref
agent-browser wait 1000

# Get channel info (members, description, etc.)
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser screenshot channel-details.png

# Scroll through messages
agent-browser scroll down 500
agent-browser screenshot channel-messages.png

# Take annotated screenshot (shows element numbers)
agent-browser screenshot --annotate slack-state.png

# Take full-page screenshot
agent-browser screenshot --full slack-full.png

# Get current URL for reference
agent-browser get url

# Get page title
agent-browser get title

- Threads
- Huddles
- Drafts & sent
- Directories
- [Section Headers - External connections, Starred, Channels, etc.]
  - [Channels listed as treeitems]
- Direct Messages
  - [DMs listed]
- Apps
  - [App shortcuts]
- [More unreads] button (toggles unread channels list)

# Get a message or element's text
agent-browser get text @e_message_ref

# Full snapshot as JSON for programmatic parsing
agent-browser snapshot --json > output.json

# Look for:
# - Channel names (name field in treeitem)
# - Message content (in listitem/document elements)
# - User names (button elements with user info)
# - Timestamps (link elements with time info)

# After expanding unreads section:
agent-browser snapshot -i | grep -c "treeitem"
# Each treeitem with a channel name in the unreads section is one unread

agent-browser console
agent-browser errors

agent-browser get url
agent-browser get title
agent-browser screenshot page-state.png

#!/bin/bash

# Connect to Slack
agent-browser connect 9222

# Take initial snapshot
echo "=== Checking Slack unreads ==="
agent-browser snapshot -i > snapshot.txt

# Check Activity tab for unreads
agent-browser click @e14  # Activity tab
agent-browser wait 1000
agent-browser screenshot activity.png
ACTIVITY_RESULT=$(agent-browser get text @e_main_area)
echo "Activity: $ACTIVITY_RESULT"

# Check DMs
agent-browser click @e13  # DMs tab
agent-browser wait 1000
agent-browser screenshot dms.png

# Check unread channels in sidebar
agent-browser click @e21  # More unreads button
agent-browser wait 500
agent-browser snapshot -i > unreads-expanded.txt
agent-browser screenshot unreads.png

# Summary
echo "=== Summary ==="
echo "See activity.png, dms.png, and unreads.png for full details"

© vercel-labs, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in skill-data/slack of vercel-labs/agent-browser.

• SKILL.md
• references/slack-tasks.md
• templates/slack-report-template.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 0207911

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in vercel-labs/agent-browser, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• aiskillstore/marketplaceskills/vercel-labs/slack