Slack GUI

Standalone Slack desktop client built with Go and Fyne.

Project Layout

• api - Slack API client (channels, history, threads, media)
• gui - Fyne UI (pane layout, message rendering, realtime updates)

Requirements

• Go 1.24+
• Slack token with scopes for conversations, history, posting, and users

Recommended Slack scopes:

• channels:history
• channels:read
• groups:history
• groups:read
• im:history
• im:read
• mpim:history
• mpim:read
• chat:write
• users:read
• users:read.email (optional)
• emoji:read (optional, enables workspace emoji/reaction mapping)

Configuration

Credential priority:

1. SLACK_BOT_TOKEN
2. SLACK_TOKEN
3. .slack_config.json in project root

Optional environment variables:

export SLACK_BOT_TOKEN="xoxb-..."
export SLACK_APP_TOKEN="xapp-..." # optional, enables Socket Mode
export SLACK_API_BASE_URL="https://slack.com/api" # optional
export SLACK_CONFIG_PATH="/path/to/.slack_config.json" # optional override

Auto-discovered config locations:

• ./.slack_config.json

Build and Run

go mod tidy
go build -o slack-gui ./cmd/slack-gui
./slack-gui

Logs are written to ~/.slack-gui.log.

Release Checklist

go fmt ./...
go test ./...
go build -o slack-gui ./cmd/slack-gui

Optional packaging build:

./packaging/linux/build.sh --version 0.1.0

Linux Packaging

Packaging assets and scripts are in packaging/linux.

Build release artifacts:

./packaging/linux/build.sh --version 0.1.0

This can produce:

• tar.gz bundle
• AppImage (if appimagetool is installed)
• .deb and .rpm (if nfpm is installed)

Key Features

• Channel list with search and unread indicators
• Multi-pane layout (horizontal/vertical split)
• Threads and inline replies
• Media/file links and image previews
• Realtime updates (Socket Mode with RTM fallback)
• Persistent UI state (window size, layout, view preferences)

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl+H split focused pane horizontally
• Ctrl+J split focused pane vertically
• Ctrl+W close focused pane
• Ctrl+S toggle channel list
• Ctrl+N open new window
• Ctrl+K open quick switcher