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Vocabulary

Domain Terms

Term Definition
thread A Slack conversation thread, identified by a channel id and root message timestamp
permalink A Slack URL in the form https://workspace.slack.com/archives/CHANNEL/pXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
incremental fetch A refresh that passes oldest to the API to only get new/edited messages
upsert INSERT OR REPLACE SQLite operation that inserts new rows or replaces existing ones
fake server Local HTTP server (fake_slack.py) that mimics the Slack Web API for testing
workspace A Slack workspace containing users, channels, and messages
channel A Slack conversation (public channel, private channel, MPIM, or DM)
conversation Slack's unified term for channels, DMs, and group messages (used in API endpoint names)

Technical Terms

Term Definition
ts Slack timestamp string in epoch seconds with microseconds, e.g. "1700000000.123456"
ThreadRef Internal dataclass holding a channel id and thread_ts pair
CachedMessage Dataclass representing a stored message with ts, user, text, and payload fields
CachedUser Dataclass representing a stored user with id, name, real_name, and payload fields
CachedChannel Dataclass representing a stored channel with id, name, is_private, and payload fields
ThreadState Dataclass tracking the fetch state of a thread (latest_reply, last_fetched)
Credentials Frozen dataclass holding a Slack token and optional d cookie
FetchResult Frozen dataclass holding fetch statistics (channel, thread_ts, total, fetched, is_incremental)
ChannelFetchResult Frozen dataclass holding channel fetch statistics (channel, fetched_messages, total_messages, threads_with_replies_fetched)
xoxb token A Slack bot token starting with "xoxb-", requiring only an Authorization header
xoxc token A Slack browser/web-client token starting with "xoxc-", also requiring its matching xoxd d cookie
d cookie The xoxd- cookie value paired with an xoxc- token for browser-style authentication
conversations.history Slack API endpoint that returns top-level messages in a channel
conversations.replies Slack API endpoint that returns all replies in a thread
conversations.list Slack API endpoint that returns all visible conversations/channels
users.list Slack API endpoint that returns all workspace members
chat.postMessage Slack API endpoint that sends a message to a channel or thread
cursor Opaque pagination token returned by Slack APIs for fetching the next page of results
XDG base directory freedesktop.org specification for config, cache, and data file locations

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Abbreviation Expansion
MPIM Multi-Party Instant Message (Slack group DM)
DM Direct Message (Slack 1:1 conversation)
NFR Non-Functional Requirement
FR Functional Requirement
RNG Random Number Generator