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

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ale-app-id-flag
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feat: add --app flag support to slack create for linking existing apps#565
srtaalej wants to merge 4 commits into
mainfrom
ale-app-id-flag

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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:

  1. Resolve an authenticated workspace that has access to the specified app
  2. Fetch the app's manifest from the platform (apps.manifest.export)
  3. Scaffold the project from the template (existing behavior)
  4. Write the remote manifest to the project's manifest.json
  5. 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:

  1. ./bin/slack create my-project -t slack-samples/bolt-js-starter-template --app <real-app-id>
  2. Confirmed .slack/apps.dev.json contains linked app with correct team/app IDs
  3. Confirmed manifest.json matches remote app's manifest
  4. Confirmed --app without --template returns helpful error
  5. 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

@srtaalej srtaalej self-assigned this May 28, 2026
@srtaalej 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
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codecov Bot commented May 28, 2026

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 68.85246% with 38 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 71.63%. Comparing base (ae61a10) to head (aceb7a4).

Files with missing lines Patch % Lines
internal/pkg/apps/link.go 69.13% 18 Missing and 7 partials ⚠️
cmd/project/create.go 68.29% 8 Missing and 5 partials ⚠️
Additional details and impacted files
@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #565      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   71.68%   71.63%   -0.06%     
==========================================
  Files         226      227       +1     
  Lines       19140    19261     +121     
==========================================
+ Hits        13721    13797      +76     
- Misses       4214     4245      +31     
- Partials     1205     1219      +14     

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

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@srtaalej srtaalej marked this pull request as ready for review May 28, 2026 15:26
@srtaalej srtaalej requested a review from a team as a code owner May 28, 2026 15:26
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@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 🔏

Comment thread cmd/project/create_app.go Outdated
Comment on lines +74 to +82
// 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
}
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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

Comment thread cmd/project/create_app.go Outdated
Comment on lines +84 to +98
// 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
}
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🛻 suggestion: Let's move this logic to internal/app/manifest for adjacent changes of #543

Comment thread cmd/project/create.go
Comment on lines +213 to +235
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
}
}
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🧊 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-

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

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🐌 question: Was this still something to move into internal? I'm hoping we might preferred the deferred chdir existing!

Comment thread cmd/project/create_app.go Outdated
Comment on lines +100 to +116
// 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)
}
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🔭 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!

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👾 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!

Comment thread cmd/project/create.go
WithMessage("The --app flag requires the --template flag when used with create")
}

// Fail fast: resolve auth and fetch manifest before creating the project
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🪬 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

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true! 🫡

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🧂 ramble: Similar comment as below I wonder if this is logic can be passed as createArgs or perhaps afterwards to the link command?

@srtaalej srtaalej requested a review from zimeg June 2, 2026 04:54
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@srtaalej Leaving a few more comments around logic that we might want to separate between project create and app link command 🔭

To me it's seeming more that these commands should be sequenced so the --app and --environment flags are passed through the "link" command after the "create" command clones the template. I'm unsure of right scope for this but notice a few improvements happening:

  • Finding saved authentication for a provided link app 🎁
  • Copying the existing app manifest from upstream app settings ⚙️
  • Saving the provided app ID from create flags 🏁

Am requesting approval to hope we can reuse more command logic and think these enhancements might be alright to break into multiple changesets if the notes above seem right?

Comment thread cmd/project/create.go
WithMessage("The --subdir flag requires the --template flag")
}

// --app requires --template (Mode 2 deferred)
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👁️‍🗨️question: Which mode 2 in this case?

Comment thread cmd/project/create.go
Comment on lines +213 to +235
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
}
}
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🐌 question: Was this still something to move into internal? I'm hoping we might preferred the deferred chdir existing!

Comment thread internal/pkg/apps/link.go
Comment on lines +107 to +115
// 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.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrInvalidManifest).
WithMessage("Failed to fetch manifest for app %s", appID)
}
return manifest, nil
}
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🪓 suggestion: Let's inline this! I think the error returned might sometimes be different from invalid manifest that we might want to surface

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.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrInvalidManifest).
WithMessage("Failed to fetch manifest for app %s", appID)
}
return manifest, nil
}

Comment thread internal/pkg/apps/link.go
Comment on lines +133 to +157
// SaveAppToProject writes the linked app to the project's apps JSON file,
// checking for conflicts before saving unless --force is set.
func SaveAppToProject(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory, app types.App) error {
deploy, err := clients.AppClient().GetDeployed(ctx, app.TeamID)
if err != nil {
return err
}
local, err := clients.AppClient().GetLocal(ctx, app.TeamID)
if err != nil {
return err
}
switch app.IsDev {
case true:
if clients.Config.ForceFlag || (local.IsNew() && deploy.AppID != app.AppID) {
return clients.AppClient().SaveLocal(ctx, app)
}
case false:
if clients.Config.ForceFlag || (deploy.IsNew() && local.AppID != app.AppID) {
return clients.AppClient().SaveDeployed(ctx, app)
}
}
return slackerror.New(slackerror.ErrAppFound).
WithMessage("A saved app was found and cannot be overwritten").
WithRemediation("Remove the app from this project or try again with %s", style.Bold("--force"))
}
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🦠 suggestion: This is duplicate to app link implementation we might not want to duplicate this?

slack-cli/cmd/app/link.go

Lines 283 to 307 in dc30dc3

// saveAppToJSON writes the linked app to file for later use while not writing
// app IDs that exist
func saveAppToJSON(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory, app types.App) error {
deploy, err := clients.AppClient().GetDeployed(ctx, app.TeamID)
if err != nil {
return err
}
local, err := clients.AppClient().GetLocal(ctx, app.TeamID)
if err != nil {
return err
}
switch app.IsDev {
case true:
if clients.Config.ForceFlag || (local.IsNew() && deploy.AppID != app.AppID) {
return clients.AppClient().SaveLocal(ctx, app)
}
case false:
if clients.Config.ForceFlag || (deploy.IsNew() && local.AppID != app.AppID) {
return clients.AppClient().SaveDeployed(ctx, app)
}
}
return slackerror.New(slackerror.ErrAppFound).
WithMessage("A saved app was found and cannot be overwritten").
WithRemediation("Remove the app from this project or try again with %s", style.Bold("--force"))
}

Comment thread internal/pkg/apps/link.go
Comment on lines +117 to +131
// 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
}
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🗳️ suggestion: We might want to make this internal/app/manifest.go I think we want to move away from internal/pkg/....... ongoing

Comment thread internal/pkg/apps/link.go
Comment on lines +30 to +73
// ResolveAuthForApp finds an authenticated workspace that has access to the given app ID.
func ResolveAuthForApp(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory, appID string) (types.SlackAuth, error) {
if clients.Config.TokenFlag != "" {
auth, err := clients.Auth().AuthWithToken(ctx, clients.Config.TokenFlag)
if err != nil {
return types.SlackAuth{}, slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrNotAuthed)
}
return auth, nil
}

allAuths, err := clients.Auth().Auths(ctx)
if err != nil {
return types.SlackAuth{}, slackerror.Wrap(err, slackerror.ErrNotAuthed)
}

if len(allAuths) == 0 {
return types.SlackAuth{}, slackerror.New(slackerror.ErrNotAuthed).
WithMessage("No workspaces connected").
WithRemediation("Run %s to sign in to a workspace that has access to app %s", style.Commandf("login", false), appID)
}

if clients.Config.TeamFlag != "" {
for i := range allAuths {
if allAuths[i].TeamID == clients.Config.TeamFlag || allAuths[i].TeamDomain == clients.Config.TeamFlag {
if _, err := clients.API().GetAppStatus(ctx, allAuths[i].Token, []string{appID}, allAuths[i].TeamID); err == nil {
return allAuths[i], nil
}
}
}
return types.SlackAuth{}, slackerror.New(slackerror.ErrTeamNotFound).
WithMessage("The specified team does not have access to app %s", appID).
WithRemediation("Run %s to sign in to the workspace that owns this app", style.Commandf("login", false))
}

for i := range allAuths {
if _, err := clients.API().GetAppStatus(ctx, allAuths[i].Token, []string{appID}, allAuths[i].TeamID); err == nil {
return allAuths[i], nil
}
}

return types.SlackAuth{}, slackerror.New(slackerror.ErrAppNotFound).
WithMessage("No authenticated workspace has access to app %s", appID).
WithRemediation("Run %s to sign in to the workspace that owns this app", style.Commandf("login", false))
}
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💾 thought: This might be something we use to replace the following:

slack-cli/cmd/app/link.go

Lines 211 to 240 in aceb7a4

// promptExistingApp gathers details to represent app information
func promptExistingApp(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory) (types.App, *types.SlackAuth, error) {
slackAuth, err := prompts.PromptTeamSlackAuth(ctx, clients, "Select the existing app team", nil)
if err != nil {
return types.App{}, &types.SlackAuth{}, err
}
appID, err := promptAppID(ctx, clients)
if err != nil {
return types.App{}, &types.SlackAuth{}, err
}
isProduction, err := promptIsProduction(ctx, clients)
if err != nil {
return types.App{}, &types.SlackAuth{}, err
}
app := types.App{
AppID: appID,
EnterpriseID: slackAuth.EnterpriseID,
TeamDomain: slackAuth.TeamDomain,
TeamID: slackAuth.TeamID,
}
if !isProduction {
app.IsDev = true
app.UserID = slackAuth.UserID
}
apps, err := apps.FetchAppInstallStates(ctx, clients, []types.App{app})
if err != nil {
return app, slackAuth, nil
}
return apps[0], slackAuth, nil
}

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👾 ramble: Am leaving comments in hopes that these additions can be reused more as:

  • Run the create command
    • If "--app" flag then run the link command
    • No "--app" flag continues without change

Comment thread cmd/project/create.go
WithMessage("The --app flag requires the --template flag when used with create")
}

// Fail fast: resolve auth and fetch manifest before creating the project
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🧂 ramble: Similar comment as below I wonder if this is logic can be passed as createArgs or perhaps afterwards to the link command?

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