feat: add --app flag support to slack create for linking existing apps by srtaalej · Pull Request #565 · slackapi/slack-cli

srtaalej · 2026-05-28T03:42:44Z

Changelog

slack create now accepts the --app flag alongside --template to scaffold a project and automatically link it to an existing app by fetching its manifest from App Settings.

Summary

This PR adds --app [ID] support to slack create. When used with --template, the CLI will:

Resolve an authenticated workspace that has access to the specified app
Fetch the app's manifest from the platform (apps.manifest.export)
Scaffold the project from the template (existing behavior)
Write the remote manifest to the project's manifest.json
Link the app to the project (defaults to local/dev unless the manifest uses slack-hosted runtime)

The --name flag takes precedence over the remote manifest's display name when both are provided.
Using --app without --template returns an error with guidance.

Example:

slack create my-project -t slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-template --app A0123456789

Preview

  📂 Project Create
     Cloning template slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-template
     To path ~/programming/slack-cli/my-project

  📦 Project Dependencies
     Added my-project/.slack
     Added my-project/.slack/.gitignore
     Added my-project/.slack/config.json
     Added my-project/.slack/hooks.json
     Updated app manifest source to "project" (local)
     Added package @slack/cli-hooks@1.3.2
     Installed dependencies using npm install

  📋 Next Steps
     Learn more about the project in the README.md
     Change into your project with cd my-project/
     Start developing and see changes in real-time with slack run

Testing

make test testdir=cmd/project testname=TestCreateCommand_AppFlag  # — 8 integration tests
make test testdir=cmd/project testname=Test_resolveAuthForApp  # — auth resolution unit tests
make test testdir=cmd/project testname=Test_writeManifestToProject  # — manifest write unit test
make test testdir=cmd/project testname=Test_linkAppToProject   # — app linking unit tests

Manual verification:

./bin/slack create my-project -t slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-template --app <real-app-id>
Confirmed .slack/apps.dev.json contains linked app with correct team/app IDs
Confirmed manifest.json matches remote app's manifest
Confirmed --app without --template returns helpful error
Confirmed --name overrides manifest display name when provided

Notes

Follow-up: manifest merging — Currently the remote manifest fully overwrites the template's
manifest.json. A future PR will implement git-style merging where template and remote manifests
are combined.

Requirements

I've read and understood the Contributing Guidelines and have done my best effort to follow them.
I've read and agree to the Code of Conduct.

codecov · 2026-05-28T03:47:43Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 65.88235% with 29 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 71.63%. Comparing base (c693443) to head (0d8bfd3).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on main.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
cmd/project/create_app.go	61.11%	16 Missing and 5 partials ⚠️
cmd/project/create.go	74.19%	4 Missing and 4 partials ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #565      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   71.66%   71.63%   -0.04%     
==========================================
  Files         226      227       +1     
  Lines       19115    19200      +85     
==========================================
+ Hits        13699    13754      +55     
- Misses       4209     4230      +21     
- Partials     1207     1216       +9

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
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zimeg

@srtaalej Awesome changes going on here! 🎁

I'm leaving a handful of comments around refactoring logic into adjacent places. Hoping that we can compose commands overall and avoid adding too much to create for ongoing iteration.

Two notable changes to the experience that I'll call out here include:

Accepting the environment flag alongside a default
Skipping the name prompt when an existing app ID is provided

Quite excited for what this hopes to unlock 🔏

zimeg · 2026-05-28T23:40:40Z

+// fetchRemoteManifest retrieves the app manifest from the platform via apps.manifest.export.
+func fetchRemoteManifest(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory, token string, appID string) (types.SlackYaml, error) {
+	manifest, err := clients.AppClient().Manifest.GetManifestRemote(ctx, token, appID)
+	if err != nil {
+		return types.SlackYaml{}, slackerror.New(slackerror.ErrInvalidManifest).
+			WithMessage("Failed to fetch manifest for app %s", appID)
+	}
+	return manifest, nil
+}


Suggested change

// fetchRemoteManifest retrieves the app manifest from the platform via apps.manifest.export.

func fetchRemoteManifest(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory, token string, appID string) (types.SlackYaml, error) {

manifest, err := clients.AppClient().Manifest.GetManifestRemote(ctx, token, appID)

if err != nil {

return types.SlackYaml{}, slackerror.New(slackerror.ErrInvalidManifest).

WithMessage("Failed to fetch manifest for app %s", appID)

}

return manifest, nil

}

🪓 suggestion: Let's inline this! I think the error returned might sometimes be different from invalid manifest that we might want to surface

zimeg · 2026-05-28T23:46:10Z

+// writeManifestToProject writes the fetched manifest JSON to the project directory.
+func writeManifestToProject(fs afero.Fs, projectPath string, manifest types.SlackYaml) error {
+	manifestData, err := json.MarshalIndent(manifest.AppManifest, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrProjectFileUpdate).
+			WithMessage("Failed to serialize app manifest")
+	}
+
+	manifestPath := filepath.Join(projectPath, "manifest.json")
+	if err := afero.WriteFile(fs, manifestPath, append(manifestData, '\n'), 0644); err != nil {
+		return slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrProjectFileUpdate).
+			WithMessage("Failed to write manifest to project")
+	}
+	return nil
+}


🛻 suggestion: Let's move this logic to internal/app/manifest for adjacent changes of #543

zimeg · 2026-05-28T23:56:57Z

+	if appFlagProvided {
+		absProjectPath, err := filepath.Abs(appDirPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrAppDirectoryAccess)
+		}
+		if nameFlagProvided {
+			remoteManifest.DisplayInformation.Name = displayName
+		}
+		if err := writeManifestToProject(clients.Fs, absProjectPath, remoteManifest); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		// linkAppToProject requires the working directory to be the project
+		// because SaveDeployed/SaveLocal use os.Getwd() to find .slack/
+		originalDir, _ := clients.Os.Getwd()
+		if err := os.Chdir(absProjectPath); err != nil {
+			return slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrAppDirectoryAccess)
+		}
+		linkErr := linkAppToProject(ctx, clients, appAuth, clients.Config.AppFlag, remoteManifest)
+		_ = os.Chdir(originalDir)
+		if linkErr != nil {
+			return linkErr
+		}
+	}


🧊 suggestion: We might want to instead share existing logic of internal package here and add an AppID to the "CreateArgs" above? I'd keep the cmd portion limited to input and output perhaps-

slack-cli/internal/pkg/create/create.go

Lines 149 to 161 in 9a8cbee

// Change into the project directory to configure defaults and dependencies

// then return to the starting directory

if err = os.Chdir(projectDirPath); err != nil {

return "", slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrAppDirectoryAccess)

}

defer func() {

_ = os.Chdir(workingDirPath)

}()

// Update default project files' app name, bot name, etc

if err := app.UpdateDefaultProjectFiles(clients.Fs, projectDirPath, appDirName, displayName); err != nil {

return "", slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrProjectFileUpdate)

}

you're right, this should def go in internal!

zimeg · 2026-05-29T00:03:21Z

+// linkAppToProject saves the app to the project's apps JSON file.
+// Defaults to local/dev unless the manifest explicitly uses a hosted runtime.
+func linkAppToProject(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory, auth types.SlackAuth, appID string, manifest types.SlackYaml) error {
+	app := types.App{
+		AppID:        appID,
+		TeamID:       auth.TeamID,
+		TeamDomain:   auth.TeamDomain,
+		EnterpriseID: auth.EnterpriseID,
+	}
+
+	if manifest.IsFunctionRuntimeSlackHosted() {
+		return clients.AppClient().SaveDeployed(ctx, app)
+	}
+	app.IsDev = true
+	app.UserID = auth.UserID
+	return clients.AppClient().SaveLocal(ctx, app)
+}


🔭 question: Can we reuse logic of the app link command? We perhaps might change outputs but I'm hoping we move toward focused and atomic commands that perhaps compose!

👾 issue: I'm concerned of the forced default local app here. The same CI example I share earlier is for a production app and I don't have immediate option to "deploy" the right app after using this:

$ slack create --app A0582JYKGB1 --template zimeg/slacks --branch snaek --name snaek --force

🌠 suggestion: We might want to use the --environment flag to decide this? I still think a default "local" makes sense - CI should be explicit!

zimeg · 2026-05-29T00:08:52Z

+			WithMessage("The --app flag requires the --template flag when used with create")
+	}
+
+	// Fail fast: resolve auth and fetch manifest before creating the project


🪬 thought: Related to comments of logic moved to internal I'm curious if we can move this check too? I understand a mismatched app ID will cause error but I don't think we should prompt for name when the --app flag is used...

🐮 ramble: For example a minimal example seems excessive for CI use case:

$ slack create --app A0582JYKGB1 --template zimeg/slacks --branch snaek --name snaek --force

feat: add --app flag support to slack create for linking existing apps

0d8bfd3

srtaalej self-assigned this May 28, 2026

srtaalej added enhancement M-T: A feature request for new functionality semver:minor Use on pull requests to describe the release version increment labels May 28, 2026

srtaalej marked this pull request as ready for review May 28, 2026 15:26

srtaalej requested a review from a team as a code owner May 28, 2026 15:26

zimeg reviewed May 29, 2026

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feat: add --app flag support to slack create for linking existing apps#565

feat: add --app flag support to slack create for linking existing apps#565
srtaalej wants to merge 1 commit into
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ale-app-id-flag

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	// Change into the project directory to configure defaults and dependencies
	// then return to the starting directory
	if err = os.Chdir(projectDirPath); err != nil {
	return "", slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrAppDirectoryAccess)
	}
	defer func() {
	_ = os.Chdir(workingDirPath)
	}()

	// Update default project files' app name, bot name, etc
	if err := app.UpdateDefaultProjectFiles(clients.Fs, projectDirPath, appDirName, displayName); err != nil {
	return "", slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrProjectFileUpdate)
	}

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srtaalej commented May 28, 2026

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Preview

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Notes

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