Serving the web UI

Basic usage

Browse the local cache in a browser:

slackx serve

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8280.

Flag	Default	Description
--host	127.0.0.1	Interface to bind to
--port	8280	Port to bind to

The server only binds to localhost by default, so the cache is not exposed to the network.

What the UI shows

The interface mimics Slack's layout over the cached database:

• A sidebar listing cached channels (with message counts) and people.
• A message pane per channel with day dividers, Slack mrkdwn rendering (bold, italic, code, links, @user and #channel mentions), and "Load older messages" paging.
• A thread panel: click the reply count under a message to read the full thread alongside the channel.
• Every message's timestamp is a link to that message. Clicking it jumps to the message (messages inside a thread open the thread panel); the URL can also be copied or opened in a new tab, e.g. to share an exact spot in the cache.
• A home view with cache counters and recently active channels.

URL routing

Views are routed through Slack-style URLs, so any channel or thread can be bookmarked or shared, and the browser back/forward buttons work:

URL	View
/	Home
/archives/C01234	Channel
/archives/C01234/p1700000000123456	Channel, message highlighted
/archives/C01234/p1700000000123456?thread_ts=1700000000.000001	Thread open

These match Slack's permalink format: the path of a real Slack link (https://workspace.slack.com/archives/C01234/p...?thread_ts=...) can be pasted after the serve host, e.g. open http://127.0.0.1:8280/archives/C01234/p1700000000123456 to jump straight to that message from the cache.

Themes

The palette icon in the sidebar header opens a theme menu with a System option (follows the OS light/dark setting, updating live when it changes) plus every daisyUI theme (light, dark, cupcake, dracula, nord and friends). The choice is remembered per browser via localStorage; the UI defaults to System.

Jumping with Ctrl+P

Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P) anywhere to open the jump palette:

• Type to filter channels and people instantly.
• Keep typing (2+ characters) to also full-text search every cached conversation.
• ArrowUp/ArrowDown to navigate, Enter to open, Esc to close.
• Choosing a message jumps to its channel, opens its thread, and highlights the matched message.

Search uses a SQLite FTS5 index over cached message text, kept in sync automatically as messages are cached. The index is built once on first serve startup for databases created by older versions.

Refreshing from the browser

Refresh buttons in the sidebar and channel header trigger live Slack fetches through the same client and credential resolution as the CLI:

• The ⟳ next to Channels/People re-fetches the workspace lists.
• Refresh from Slack in a channel header fetches that channel's messages (including full threads).
• The ⟳ in a thread header refreshes just that thread.

Without configured credentials (SLACK_TOKEN/SLACK_COOKIE or the config file, see Configuration) the refresh buttons report an error instead of fetching. Browsing the existing cache works without any credentials.

Last-read pointers

The server exposes the read markers described in Tracking last read over JSON, so a browser client can remember how far each reader has read:

Method and path	Purpose
GET /api/read?reader=web&channel=C123	List pointers, optionally filtered.
PUT /api/read	Create or advance a pointer (body: reader, channel, optional thread_ts, optional last_read_ts).
DELETE /api/read/{reader}	Delete all pointers for a reader (optional ?channel=).
DELETE /api/read/{reader}/{channel}	Delete the channel-level pointer.
DELETE /api/read/{reader}/{channel}/{thread_ts}	Delete one thread pointer.

Notes

• The UI is served from static assets bundled in the package; Vue is loaded from a CDN, so the browser needs internet access on first load.
• All data is served from the local SQLite cache; nothing is sent anywhere.
• The JSON API under /api/* (summary, users, channels, messages, threads, search, read) can be used directly, e.g. for scripting.