Install SlackCLI on macOS, Linux and Windows

SlackCLI ships as a single self-contained binary. There is no runtime to install — you do not need Bun or Node.js to run it.

Homebrew (macOS and Linux)

brew tap shaharia-lab/tap
brew install slackcli

Upgrade with brew upgrade slackcli.

Pre-built binaries

Download the binary for your platform, make it executable, and put it on your PATH.

# Linux x86_64
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-linux -o slackcli

# Linux arm64
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-linux-arm64 -o slackcli

# macOS Intel
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-macos -o slackcli

# macOS Apple Silicon
curl -L https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli/releases/latest/download/slackcli-macos-arm64 -o slackcli

chmod +x slackcli
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && mv slackcli ~/.local/bin/

On Windows, download slackcli-windows.exe from the latest release and add it to your PATH.

Every release publishes a checksums.txt alongside the binaries if you want to verify a manual download.

From source

Requires Bun 1.4.1 or newer; bun run build stops with a clear message on an older Bun (see why Bun is pinned).

git clone https://github.com/shaharia-lab/slackcli.git
cd slackcli
bun install
bun run build          # produces ./dist/slackcli

See development setup for the full contributor toolchain.

Verifying the install

slackcli --version
slackcli --help

Updating

slackcli update check   # report the latest release without changing anything
slackcli update         # download and replace the running binary in place

slackcli update downloads the release asset for your platform, verifies its SHA-256 digest against the digest GitHub publishes for that asset, and only then replaces the binary. A missing or mismatched digest aborts the update rather than installing an unverified file.

Two cases where slackcli update deliberately does nothing:

• Installed via Homebrew. Use brew upgrade slackcli; the self-updater detects a Homebrew path, prints that hint and exits without downloading or touching the binary, so it does not fight the package manager.
• Running from source (bun run dev). There is no binary to replace — use git pull.

If the binary sits in a folder you cannot write to, such as /usr/local/bin, slackcli update stops before downloading anything and tells you to run sudo slackcli update instead (on Windows: run slackcli update from an Administrator terminal). The update notice and update check suggest the same command. slackcli never elevates itself. Installing to ~/.local/bin avoids the need for sudo altogether.

SlackCLI also checks for new releases in the background at most once every 24 hours and prints a one-line notice after your command’s output when a newer version exists. The result is cached in ~/.config/slackcli/update-check.json. The notice is never shown during slackcli update or slackcli update check, and a successful slackcli update refreshes the cache with the version it just installed.

The background check never holds up your command: it gives GitHub 1.5 seconds to answer and then gives up quietly, and after a failed check (offline, proxy, rate limit) it waits an hour before trying again instead of retrying on every command. When a check does finish, the notice at the end of that same run already shows the version it found. slackcli update and update check, which you run on purpose, wait up to 10 seconds for GitHub.

To turn the background check off, set SLACKCLI_NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=1 (any value other than empty, 0 or false). SlackCLI then reads no cache, sends no request to GitHub and prints no notice. The same happens automatically when the CI environment variable is set to a value other than empty, 0 or false, as GitHub Actions, GitLab CI and most CI systems do. If you set CI yourself outside a CI job, you will stop seeing the notice too. slackcli update check and slackcli update are explicit requests and work the same either way.

Uninstalling

brew uninstall slackcli          # Homebrew
rm ~/.local/bin/slackcli         # manual install

slackcli auth logout             # remove stored credentials first
rm -rf ~/.config/slackcli        # or wipe the config directory entirely