Slack Bot Setup: PocketPaw with Socket Mode

PocketPaw integrates with Slack via slack-bolt using Socket Mode. No public URL or ngrok tunnel needed — the connection is initiated from your machine.

Setup

Create a Slack app

  1. Go to api.slack.com/apps and create a new app
  2. Enable Socket Mode under Settings
  3. Generate an App-Level Token with connections:write scope

Configure bot permissions

Under OAuth & Permissions, add these Bot Token Scopes:

  • app_mentions:read
  • chat:write
  • im:history
  • im:read
  • im:write

Enable events

Under Event Subscriptions, subscribe to:

  • app_mention
  • message.im

Install to workspace

Install the app to your workspace and copy the Bot User OAuth Token.

Configure PocketPaw

Terminal window
export POCKETPAW_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN="xoxb-..."
export POCKETPAW_SLACK_APP_TOKEN="xapp-..."

Start

Terminal window
pocketpaw --slack

Configuration

SettingEnv VariableDescription
Bot tokenPOCKETPAW_SLACK_BOT_TOKENBot User OAuth Token (xoxb-)
App tokenPOCKETPAW_SLACK_APP_TOKENApp-Level Token (xapp-)
Allowed channelsPOCKETPAW_SLACK_ALLOWED_CHANNEL_IDSComma-separated channel IDs

Features

Socket Mode

Socket Mode means:

  • No public URL needed — Works behind firewalls and NAT
  • No webhook server — Connection is outbound from your machine
  • Low latency — WebSocket-based real-time events

Thread Support

Responses are sent as thread replies using thread_ts metadata. This keeps conversations organized in Slack channels.

Interaction Types

  • @mention — Mention the bot in any channel: @PocketPaw what time is it?
  • Direct message — Send a DM to the bot for private conversations

Streaming

Slack responses are buffered and the thread message is updated as tokens arrive.

Installation

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://pocketpaw.xyz/install.sh | sh


# Or add the Slack extra manually
pip install pocketpaw[slack]

This installs slack-bolt as an optional dependency.

Microsoft Teams Setup

Bot Framework SDK integration for enterprise collaboration.

Discord Bot Setup

Slash commands, DMs, and streaming responses for Discord servers.

Security Overview

Learn how PocketPaw protects your agent with 7-layer security.

All Channels

Compare all 9+ supported messaging platforms.

Last updated: April 29, 2026
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