Slack Cleanup Skill

Safe detection and removal of duplicate Slack messages with mandatory user confirmation.

⚠️ CRITICAL SAFETY RULE

NEVER delete any messages without explicit user confirmation. This is a hard requirement from memory.md:

NEVER delete messages, files, or make code modifications without explicit permission Always aggregate data first and show the user Ask for explicit "yes delete" or "yes modify" before taking destructive actions

Workflow

1. Find Duplicates

Use scripts/find-duplicates.sh to scan a channel for duplicate messages:

scripts/find-duplicates.sh <channel-id> [time-window-seconds] [min-duplicates]

Parameters:

• channel-id: Slack channel ID (required)
• time-window-seconds: Max time between duplicates (default: 300 = 5 minutes)
• min-duplicates: Minimum duplicate count to report (default: 2)

Output format:

{
  "text": "Message content",
  "instances": [
    {
      "ts": "1234567890.123456",
      "user": "U0LGU88M8",
      "thread_ts": "1234567890.123456",
      "reply_count": 3,
      "permalink": "https://..."
    }
  ]
}

2. Present to User

MANDATORY STEP - DO NOT SKIP

Show the user:

• Full message text for each duplicate group
• Number of duplicates found
• Timestamps and permalinks
• Thread information (if in thread or has replies)
• Clear indication of deletion order (replies first, then parents)

Format the presentation clearly with emojis and proper structure:

🔍 Found 3 duplicate groups:

📝 Group 1: "This is a duplicate message"
   • 3 instances found
   • Posted between 10:00:00 and 10:02:30
   
   Deletion order:
   1. Reply at 10:02:00 (2 replies to this) - Delete replies first
   2. Original at 10:00:00 - Delete parent last
   3. Duplicate at 10:01:00
   
   [Permalinks]

Would you like me to delete these duplicates? Reply "yes delete" to confirm.

3. Get Explicit Confirmation

Wait for user response. Only proceed if user says:

• "yes delete"
• "delete them"
• "go ahead and delete"
• Similar explicit confirmation

DO NOT proceed if user says:

• "ok" / "sure" / "sounds good" (too vague)
• Anything ambiguous
• No response

When in doubt, ask for clarification.

4. Delete Messages

Use scripts/delete-message.sh for each message:

scripts/delete-message.sh <channel-id> <message-ts>

Deletion order rules:

1. Check for replies - If message has replies, delete ALL replies first
2. Delete in reverse chronological order - Newest replies first, then oldest
3. Delete parent last - Only delete parent message after all replies are gone
4. Rate limit handling - Wait 1 second between deletions, increase on rate limit errors

5. Handle Rate Limits

If you encounter rate limiting:

• Script automatically waits and retries with exponential backoff
• Initial retry: 5 seconds
• Max retry: 60 seconds
• After 3 failures, report to user and pause

Token Requirements

User token required - Message deletion requires user token permissions. The user token should be loaded from:

~/clawd/secrets/slack-super-ada.json

Format:

{
  "user_token": "xoxp-..."
}

Common Patterns

Find duplicates in last hour

scripts/find-duplicates.sh C1234567890 3600

Find only groups with 3+ duplicates

scripts/find-duplicates.sh C1234567890 300 3

Check specific time range

Use Slack API with oldest and latest parameters in the script.

Error Handling

The scripts handle:

• Invalid channel IDs
• Missing tokens
• Rate limiting (429 responses)
• Network errors
• Permission errors
• Thread reply dependencies

All errors are reported clearly to the user with actionable guidance.

References

• Slack Web API: https://api.slack.com/methods
• chat.delete: https://api.slack.com/methods/chat.delete
• conversations.history: https://api.slack.com/methods/conversations.history
• conversations.replies: https://api.slack.com/methods/conversations.replies

Notes

• Duplicates are matched by exact text content only
• Timestamps must be within the specified time window
• Bot messages and system messages are excluded
• Deleted messages cannot be recovered
• Always maintain audit log of deletions in memory files