Slack credentials

You can use these credentials to authenticate the following nodes:

• Slack
• Slack Trigger

Supported authentication methods

• API access token:
• Required for the Slack Trigger node.
• Works with the Slack node, but not recommended.
• OAuth2:
• Recommended method for the Slack node.
• Doesn't work with the Slack Trigger node.

Related resources

Refer to Slack's API documentation for more information about the service.

Using API access token

To configure this credential, you'll need a Slack account and:

• An Access Token

To generate an access token, create a Slack app. n8n recommends creating the app from a manifest, which configures all the scopes in one step:

{
	"display_information": {
		"name": "n8n integration"
	},
	"features": {
		"bot_user": {
			"display_name": "n8n integration"
		}
	},
	"oauth_config": {
		"scopes": {
			"bot": [
				"channels:read",
				"channels:history",
				"chat:write",
				"files:read",
				"files:write",
				"groups:read",
				"groups:history",
				"im:read",
				"im:history",
				"mpim:read",
				"mpim:history",
				"reactions:read",
				"reactions:write",
				"usergroups:read",
				"usergroups:write",
				"users.profile:read",
				"users:read"
			]
		}
	},
	"settings": {
		"org_deploy_enabled": false,
		"socket_mode_enabled": false,
		"token_rotation_enabled": false
	}
}

Then install the app and copy the token:

1. In the left menu under Features, select OAuth & Permissions.
2. In the OAuth Tokens section, select Install to Workspace. You must be a Slack workspace admin to complete this action.
3. Select Allow.
4. Copy the Bot User OAuth Token and enter it as the Access Token in your n8n credential.
5. If you're using this credential for the Slack Trigger, follow the steps in Slack Trigger configuration to finish setting up your app.

Refer to the Slack API Quickstart for more information.

Slack Trigger configuration

To use your Slack app with the Slack Trigger node:

1. Go to Your Apps in Slack and select the app you want to use.
2. Go to Features > Event Subscriptions.
3. Turn on the Enable Events control.
4. In n8n, copy the Webhook URL and enter it as the Request URL in your Slack app.

Request URLSlack only allows one request URL per app. If you want to test your workflow, you'll need to do one of the following:Test with your Test URL first, then change your Slack app to use the Production URL once you've verified everything's workingUse the Production URL with execution logging.

1. Once verified, select the bot events to subscribe to. Use the Trigger on field in n8n to filter these requests.

• To use an event not in the list, add it as a bot event and select Any Event in the n8n node.

Refer to Quickstart | Configuring the app for event listening for more information.

n8n recommends enabling request signature verification for your Slack Trigger for additional security:

1. Go to Your Apps in Slack and select the app you want to use.
2. Go to Settings > Basic Information.
3. Copy the value of Signing Secret.
4. In n8n, Paste this value into the Signature Secret field for the credential.

The Signature Secret field is also required for Approvals in Slack.

Using OAuth2

If you're self-hosting n8n and need to configure OAuth2 from scratch, you'll need a Slack account and:

• A Client ID
• A Client Secret

To get both, create a Slack app. n8n recommends creating the app from a manifest, which configures the scopes and redirect URL in one step:

{
	"display_information": {
		"name": "n8n integration"
	},
	"features": {
		"bot_user": {
			"display_name": "n8n integration"
		}
	},
	"oauth_config": {
		"redirect_urls": [
			"<your-oauth-callback-url>"
		],
		"scopes": {
			"bot": [
				"channels:read",
				"channels:history",
				"chat:write",
				"files:read",
				"files:write",
				"groups:read",
				"groups:history",
				"im:read",
				"im:history",
				"mpim:read",
				"mpim:history",
				"reactions:read",
				"reactions:write",
				"usergroups:read",
				"usergroups:write",
				"users.profile:read",
				"users:read"
			],
			"user": [
				"channels:write",
				"search:read",
				"stars:read",
				"stars:write",
				"users.profile:write"
			]
		}
	},
	"settings": {
		"org_deploy_enabled": false,
		"socket_mode_enabled": false,
		"token_rotation_enabled": false
	}
}

{
	"display_information": {
		"name": "n8n integration"
	},
	"oauth_config": {
		"redirect_urls": [
			"<your-oauth-callback-url>"
		],
		"scopes": {
			"user": [
				"channels:read",
				"channels:write",
				"channels:history",
				"chat:write",
				"files:read",
				"files:write",
				"groups:read",
				"groups:history",
				"im:read",
				"im:history",
				"mpim:read",
				"mpim:history",
				"reactions:read",
				"reactions:write",
				"stars:read",
				"stars:write",
				"usergroups:read",
				"usergroups:write",
				"users.profile:read",
				"users.profile:write",
				"users:read",
				"search:read"
			]
		}
	},
	"settings": {
		"org_deploy_enabled": false,
		"socket_mode_enabled": false,
		"token_rotation_enabled": false
	}
}

Then finish connecting the app to n8n:

1. In Settings > Basic Information, open the App Credentials section.
2. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret. Paste these into the corresponding fields in n8n.
3. In the left menu under Features, select OAuth & Permissions.
4. In the OAuth Tokens section, select Install to Workspace. You must be a Slack workspace admin to complete this action.
5. Select Allow.
6. At this point, you should be able to select the OAuth button in your n8n credential to connect.

Refer to the Slack API Quickstart for more information. Refer to the Slack Installing with OAuth documentation for more details on the OAuth flow itself.

Scopes

Scopes determine what permissions an app has.

• If you want your app to act on behalf of users who authorize the app, add the required scopes under the User Token Scopes section.
• If you're building a bot, add the required scopes under the Bot Token Scopes section.

Here's the list of scopes the OAuth credential requires, which are a good starting point. The app manifests above already include these scopes:

Common issues

Token expired

Slack offers token rotation that you can turn on for bot and user tokens. This makes every tokens expire after 12 hours. While this may be useful for testing, n8n credentials using tokens with this enabled will fail after expiry. If you want to use your Slack credentials in production, this feature must be off.

To check if your Slack app has token rotation turned on, refer to the Slack API Documentation | Token Rotation.