Slack Lists

You have a production-ready MCP server that lets AI assistants interact with Slack Lists. It exposes powerful tools to create, retrieve, filter, and export Slack List items, enabling seamless task and data management through an MCP client.

How to use

Connect your MCP client to the Slack Lists server to start using the tools. Once connected, you can create single items, bulk-create items with rate limiting, fetch and filter items, and export data for analysis or backup. Each tool validates inputs against the Slack List schema and provides clear feedback on failures.

Typical usage patterns include creating a task with a title, adding multiple tasks in a batch for a project, filtering items by status or assignee, and exporting completed tasks to JSON or CSV for reporting. Use the dedicated tool prompts to perform these actions, and rely on the server’s error messages to correct any issues with IDs, permissions, or field formats.

How to install

Prerequisites: Python 3.10+ and a Slack workspace with permissions to install apps. You also need a Slack Bot Token with lists:read and lists:write scopes.

1. Create a Slack App for the MCP server. 2. Install the app to your workspace and copy the Bot User OAuth Token (starts with xoxb-). This token is required for authentication.

Clone the project and set up a virtual environment, then install dependencies.

git clone https://github.com/your-org/slack-lists-mcp-server.git
cd slack-lists-mcp-server

# Create and activate a virtual environment
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run the MCP server locally

Start the MCP server so it can receive requests from your MCP client. The server runs as a local process and listens for MCP requests over STDIO.

python src/slack_lists_server.py

Configure your MCP host to connect to the Slack Lists server

Add the local server configuration to your MCP host so your AI assistant can reach the Slack Lists tools. Use the following example as a guide, replacing placeholders with your actual paths and token.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slack_lists": {
      "command": "/path/to/your/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/slack-lists-mcp-server/src/slack_lists_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "SLACK_BOT_TOKEN": "xoxb-your-bot-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Security and maintenance notes

Keep your Slack Bot Token secure. Do not share the token or commit it to code repositories. Rotate tokens if you suspect compromise. Regularly update dependencies and monitor logs for errors or rate-limit issues.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter authentication errors, verify the SLACK_BOT_TOKEN and ensure the token has the necessary scopes (lists:read and lists:write). If you see missing_scope errors, recheck the token’s scopes in your Slack app settings.

If the server doesn’t respond, confirm the server process is running and that your MCP host points to the correct Python executable and script path. Check the server logs for stack traces or configuration mistakes.

For JSON parsing issues, validate the JSON strings used for field data and bulk creation with a JSON validator.

List and column IDs

The List ID is found in Slack by opening the list and locating the ID in the URL. Column IDs can be discovered by inspecting network requests while interacting with the list or by inspecting the output of the list items fetch.

Notes

This server provides a complete toolset for Slack Lists, including single-item creation, bulk creation with rate limiting, retrieval, filtering, and export capabilities. It is designed to be production-ready with logging and environment-based configuration.

Available tools

create_list_item

Creates a single new item in a Slack List. Requires list_id and title; supports additional fields and optional parent item for subtasks.

create_multiple_list_items

Bulk creates multiple list items with rate limiting to respect Slack API limits. Requires list_id and items_data as a JSON string.

get_list_items

Retrieves items from a Slack List with optional limit and metadata inclusion.

filter_list_items

Filters and retrieves items based on a specified field, operator, and value to support targeted searches.

export_list_items

Exports list items to JSON or CSV with optional filtering for backup or analysis.