5-Minute Quickstart

Goal: Post your first message to a Slack channel using the SDK in your preferred language. By the end of this guide you'll have a working app, a bot token, and a successful API response.

Step 1 — Create Your Slack AppCopy Anchor Link

1. Go to api.slack.com/apps and click Create New App.
2. Choose From scratch.
3. Name your app (e.g., My First App), pick a workspace, and click Create App.

You'll land on the Basic Information page for your new app.

Step 2 — Add Bot Scopes and InstallCopy Anchor Link

Your app needs scopes that describe what it can do.

1. In the left sidebar, click OAuth & Permissions.
2. Scroll to Scopes → Bot Token Scopes and add:
   • chat:write — post messages
   • channels:read — list public channels
3. Scroll to the top and click Install to Workspace → Allow.
4. Copy the Bot User OAuth Token (starts with xoxb-). Keep it secret.

Step 3 — Invite Your Bot to a ChannelCopy Anchor Link

In Slack, open the channel you want to post to (e.g., #general) and run:

/invite @My First App

Replace My First App with whatever you named the bot. Your app can only post to channels it's been invited to.

Step 4 — Install the SDK and Send Your First MessageCopy Anchor Link

Pick your language and copy the snippet. Set SLACK_BOT_TOKEN in your environment first:

export SLACK_BOT_TOKEN="xoxb-your-token-here"

npm install slack-apimatic-sdk

import { Client } from 'slack-apimatic-sdk';

const client = new Client({
  token: process.env.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN!,
});

const response = await client.chatController.postMessage({
  channel: '#general',
  text: 'Hello from my first Slack app! :wave:',
});

console.log(response.result);

What Success Looks LikeCopy Anchor Link

Every Slack API response includes an ok boolean. A successful post returns:

{
  "ok": true,
  "channel": "C0123456789",
  "ts": "1735689600.000100",
  "message": {
    "text": "Hello from my first Slack app! :wave:",
    "user": "U0123456789",
    "bot_id": "B0123456789",
    "type": "message"
  }
}

Check Slack — your message is in the channel.

Common First-Call ErrorsCopy Anchor Link

What's NextCopy Anchor Link