Tracking last read

slackx can remember how far each consumer has read in a channel or a thread. This is useful when several programs share one cache: a web UI, a poll watcher, and an ad-hoc script can each keep their own position without overwriting each other.

Each position is a read marker: a pointer from a reader to a timestamp for one channel or thread. Every reader has its own independent set of markers.

Concepts

• Reader names the consumer that owns a set of markers (for example web or poll). Readers are free-form strings, so you can use one per tool, per user, or per device.
• Channel marker records that the reader has read a whole channel up to a timestamp.
• Thread marker records that the reader has read one thread up to a timestamp. A channel marker and a thread marker for the same channel are separate rows.

The marker's timestamp is the newest message the reader has seen. When you do not pass an explicit value, slackx uses the newest cached message in scope: the newest message of the thread for a thread marker, or the newest message anywhere in the channel for a channel marker.

Marking read

slackx conversations read mark C0123ABCDEF --reader web
slackx conversations read mark C0123ABCDEF --ts 1700000000.123456 --reader web
slackx conversations read mark C0123ABCDEF --reader poll --last-read 1700000000.000050

Argument	Description
TARGET	Slack permalink, channel id (C001), bare name (general), #-prefixed name (#general), or DM target (user id or @handle). A permalink or --ts selects a thread.
--ts TS	Thread root timestamp. When given, the thread marker is advanced instead of the channel marker.
--reader ID	Reader owning the marker (default: default).
--last-read TS	Explicit timestamp to store. Defaults to the newest cached message in scope.

Marking a target with no cached messages fails unless you pass --last-read. Showing a channel or thread with conversations show does not need a separate call: it advances the same pointer for the chosen --reader (default default) after printing.

Showing pointers

slackx conversations read show
slackx conversations read show --reader web
slackx conversations read show --channel C0123ABCDEF --json

With no --reader, every reader's pointers are listed. --channel limits output to one channel. Human-readable output is the default; --json and --jsonl emit structured output.

Clearing pointers

slackx conversations read clear --reader web --channel C0123ABCDEF
slackx conversations read clear --reader web --channel C0123ABCDEF --ts 1700000000.123456
slackx conversations read clear --reader web

Deleting is scoped: --channel (without --ts) removes every pointer for that channel, --channel with --ts removes just that thread's pointer, and neither removes every pointer owned by the reader. To drop markers for every reader at once, use slackx cache clear read.

HTTP API

The serve web server exposes the same pointers over JSON, so browser-based consumers can read and write their own markers:

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", "thread_ts"?, "last_read_ts"?}; last_read_ts defaults to the newest cached message.
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.

Read markers are stored in the cache database, so they survive restarts and are per workspace like the rest of the cache.