Slack Channel Context - Technical Documentation

For quick start: See README.md

Overview

This skill automatically loads channel context files from slack-channel-contexts/ into your session context whenever you're interacting in a Slack channel or thread. This ensures you have the right context for each channel without manual intervention.

In my Openclaw workflow, I use Slack with diffrent channels for different purposes. As a developer, I have dedicated Slack channels for each project. I needed a way to ensure that the Openclaw Agent knew which project I meant when I said something like; run all unit tests. Or if I wanted to discuss a new feature, I wanted to simply be able to start discussing in the appropriate channel and have the Agent know which project I meant. This Skill is the artifact that solved for my case.

Key Design Decision: Context files are named simply as <CHANNEL_ID>.md or <CHANNEL_NAME>.md (e.g., bebops.md, C0AK8SDFS4W.md). There is NO default fallback file - channels without context files return None.

How It Works

Context Loading Process

1. 1. Detection: Skill detects when you're in a Slack channel or thread
2. Thread Check: If the message is in a thread (has thread_id or thread_ts), checks SLACK_CONTEXT_LOAD_ON_THREADS setting

- If SLACK_CONTEXT_LOAD_ON_THREADS=false, skips context loading in threads - If SLACK_CONTEXT_LOAD_ON_THREADS=true (default), loads context in threads

1. 3. File Discovery: Looks for context files in slack-channel-contexts/ folder in priority order:

- slack-channel-contexts/<CHANNEL_ID>.md (e.g., C0AK8SDFS4W.md) - highest priority - slack-channel-contexts/<CHANNEL_NAME>.md (e.g., bebops.md) - medium priority - No default fallback - returns None if no file exists

1. 4. Context Injection: Loads the found file into session context
2. Caching: Caches the loaded context for 1 hour (3600 seconds) to avoid repeated file reads

Tools

load_channel_context()

Load Slack channel context into the current session.

This tool automatically loads the appropriate channel context file based on the current Slack channel. Call this at session startup to ensure you have full channel awareness.

Signature:
CODEBLOCK0

Parameters:

• - channel_id (str, required): Slack channel ID (e.g., "C0AK8SDFS4W")
• INLINECODE19 (str, required): Slack channel name (e.g., "bebops")
• INLINECODE20 (str, optional): Custom workspace directory (defaults to ~/.openclaw/workspace)
• INLINECODE22 (bool, optional): If True, bypass cache and read file fresh (use after editing context files)
• INLINECODE23 (bool, optional): If True, checks SLACK_CONTEXT_LOAD_ON_THREADS setting (default: False)

Returns:
CODEBLOCK1

Or if no context file exists:
CODEBLOCK2

Example:
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Behavior:

• - Looks for context files in priority order:

1. slack-channel-contexts/<CHANNEL_ID>.md
2. slack-channel-contexts/<CHANNEL_NAME>.md
3. No default - returns None if no file exists

• - Caches results for 1 hour (3600 seconds) by default
• Use force_reload=True after editing context files to bypass cache

Implementation Files

scripts/skill.py

Location: INLINECODE30

Main implementation file containing the SlackContextLoader class and load_channel_context() function.

scripts/load_context.py

Location: INLINECODE34

Legacy module for backward compatibility. Contains the core SlackContextLoader class.

scripts/reload_all_contexts.py

Location: INLINECODE37

Utility script to reload all channel context files, bypassing cache.

Usage:
CODEBLOCK4

scripts/example.py

Location: INLINECODE39

Demo script showing how the context loader works with different channels.

Usage:
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Environment Variables

Set these in ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env (preferred method):

Variable	Default	Description
INLINECODE41	INLINECODE42	Enable/disable the skill
INLINECODE43

true | Load context in threaded messages |
| SLACK_CONTEXT_LOAD_ON_THREAD_START | true | Load context on thread/session start |
| SLACK_CONTEXT_CACHE_TTL | 7200 | Cache duration in seconds (120 min) |
| SLACK_CONTEXT_CONTEXTS_DIR | ~/.openclaw/workspace/slack-channel-contexts/ | Custom contexts directory |

Note: Do not use export - just set the variables directly in ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env.

Context File Structure

Context files follow this structure:

CODEBLOCK6

See examples/EXAMPLE_CHANNEL_CONTEXT.md for a complete working example.

Important Notes

Force Reload After Editing

After editing a context file, you MUST use force_reload=True to bypass the cache:

CODEBLOCK7

No Default Fallback

There is NO default SLACK_CHANNEL_CONTEXT.md file. If a channel doesn't have a context file, the skill returns success: false with an empty context. This is intentional - channels without context simply have no context.

Simple File Names

Context files are named simply as <CHANNEL_ID>.md or <CHANNEL_NAME>.md. The SLACK_CHANNEL_CONTEXT_ prefix has been removed to make file names shorter and more readable.

Troubleshooting

See TROUBLESHOOTING.md for detailed troubleshooting steps.

Files

File	Purpose
INLINECODE61	Main implementation
INLINECODE62

Legacy module | | scripts/example.py | Demo script | | scripts/reload_all_contexts.py | Utility script | | examples/EXAMPLE_CHANNEL_CONTEXT.md | Complete working example | | _meta.json | ClawHub publishing metadata |

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For quick start: README.md For troubleshooting: TROUBLESHOOTING.md