The official Slack consumer for Linux is fairly good. It really works effectively, has a clear consumer interface, and is simple to arrange. That mentioned, for those who primarily spend time on your Linux PC in the terminal, it’s possible you’ll be wishing that they had an official command-line app.
Sadly, there isn’t any speak of an official Slack app for the terminal on Linux. Nonetheless, there’s a wonderful, unofficial terminal consumer for Slack often called Slack-term. Right here’s how to set it up on your system.
Set up Slack-term
Utilizing Slack from the command-line requires the Slack-term utility. To put in this program, open up a terminal window on your Linux PC by urgent Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T. Then, as soon as the terminal window is prepared to use, comply with the command-line directions that correspond with the Linux distribution you use.
Arch Linux AUR
For those who use Arch Linux, you’ll be comfortable to know that there’s a Slack-term AUR package deal out there. To start out the set up means of the Slack-term AUR package deal, set up “Base-devel” and “Git” with the Pacman command under.
sudo pacman -S base-devel git
After putting in each “Base-devel” and “Git,” it’s time to obtain the newest Slack-term AUR package deal from the web utilizing the git clone command.
git clone
When the recordsdata are finished downloading to your Arch Linux PC, use the CD command to transfer into the “slack-term” listing.
cd slack-term
Construct and set up Slack-term on your Arch Linux PC by executing the makepkg command. Remember that this construct could fail. For those who need assistance troubleshooting, refer to the comment section of the package.
makepkg -sri
Snap package deal
Maybe the most user-friendly means to set up the Slack-term utility on Linux is thru the Snap package deal retailer. Why? It’s straightforward to replace, and it solely takes one command to set up the app!
To put in Slack-term from the Snap retailer, just be sure you have Snap assist arrange on your Linux PC. After that, run the snap set up command under to arrange Slack-term.
sudo snap set up slack-term
Generic Linux Binary
The developer of Slack-term has a generic Linux binary launch of the program that works on practically each Linux working system. This model of the app is ideal for those who’re not utilizing Arch Linux and might’t use Snap packages.
To start out the set up course of for Slack-term, use the wget command to obtain the newest binary launch.
wget
After the Slack-term file is completed downloading to your Linux PC, use the chmod command to replace its permissions.
sudo chmod +x slack-term-linux-amd64
With the permissions to Slack-term up to date, comply with the steps in the subsequent part to find out how to configure the app.
Configure Slack-term
Slack-term requires some configuration earlier than it’s going to run appropriately. The very first thing you need to do is create a brand new Slack-term configuration file. Utilizing the contact command, create the file “.slack-term”.
contact ~/.slack-term
After creating the new config file, open it up in the Nano textual content editor.
nano -w ~/.slack-term
Paste the following code into the configuration file. You possibly can paste objects into Nano by urgent the Ctrl + Shift + V on the keyboard.
{
"slack_token": "yourslacktokenhere"
}
Head over to the Slack API website and log into your account. As soon as logged in, create a brand new legacy token. Paste the token code into Nano the place “yourslacktokenhere” is. Don’t take away the ” “ marks!
When the token is in the configuration file in Nano, save the edits by urgent Ctrl + O on the keyboard. Then, exit the Nano textual content editor by urgent Ctrl + X.
Use Slack from the command-line
Utilizing Slack-term from the command-line is surprisingly straightforward, though it’s finished in the Linux terminal. To entry your Slack messages, sort in the slack-term command.
slack-term
Did you obtain the generic binary? If that’s the case, you need to execute Slack-term with the command under as a substitute, as the one above won’t work appropriately.
./slack-term
Slack-term, when launched, will carry you to your Slack workspace, in the default channel, full with message historical past, and so forth. To start out chatting with individuals on the default channel, begin typing. Ship messages by urgent Enter.
Hotkeys
Slack-term has a number of completely different keyboard shortcuts. So many who it may be difficult to determine them out on your individual. Listed here are all of the hotkeys and what they do.
Notice: all hotkeys are case-sensitive.
- i – insert mode.
- / – search mode.
- okay – transfer channel cursor up.
- j – transfer channel cursor down.
- g – transfer channel cursor high.
- G – transfer channel cursor backside.
- pg-up – scroll chat pane up.
- ctrl-b – scroll chat pane up.
- ctrl-u – scroll chat pane up.
- pg-down – scroll chat pane down.
- ctrl-f – scroll chat pane down.
- ctrl-d – scroll chat pane down.
- n – subsequent search match.
- N – earlier search match.
- q – stop.
- f1 – assist.
- insert left – transfer enter cursor left.
- insert proper – transfer enter cursor proper.
- insert enter – ship a message.
- insert esc – command mode.
- search esc – command mode.
- search enter – command mode.
