How do I read Slack without Nova sending anything?

Goal

Search and read Slack in Nova. Nova never writes to Slack.

Before you start

• Expert view. The switch is in How do I switch between Simple and Expert?
• Your own Slack app in your workspace with a user token (xoxp). A bot token is not enough.

Steps

1. Create your own app in Slack. Add the user scopes search:read, channels:read, channels:history, and users:read. chat:write is not needed.
2. Private channels also need groups:read and groups:history. Direct messages also need im:read, im:history, mpim:read, and mpim:history. Install the app in the workspace and copy the user token. It starts with xoxp.
3. Settings, Apps & services. Type Slack in Search for a service… and tap the Slack row.
4. Enter the token in the Slack token (optional) field. Nova stores it encrypted. The field then reads Slack token (set).
5. Include private channels and Include direct messages are off by default. Without these boxes Nova sees only public channels.
6. Do not send Slack content to cloud AI keeps Slack away from cloud providers.
7. Ask the avatar. Nova searches Slack, lists channels, or reads the latest messages in a channel. There is no card, because Nova sends nothing.

Example

“What was said in Slack about the release?” — “What’s the latest in #project?”

Common problems

• Slack needs a user token (xoxp). With a bot token Nova cannot search.
• If Nova says the token is missing a scope, add the scope in the Slack app, reinstall the app, and enter the new token.
• A search returns at most 20 hits, a channel the latest 50 messages.
• With Do not send Slack content to cloud AI, Nova answers about Slack only when Ollama is the provider. Otherwise an error comes back.
• With Privacy Lock on, Nova does not query Slack. See How do I turn on Privacy Lock?