Slackoscope

Slack messages in your code editor, hover or inline or inserted as comments, for those with no short term memory and a dislike for alt-tabbing.

𒂷 Now with Linear 𒀱 shoehorned in! 𒉓

What it does

• Hover a Slack message URL to view the message, thread, and files
• Show inline previews next to URLs (toggle on/off)
• Insert a message as a language-appropriate comment
• Optional: post the current file to a Linear issue referenced in the thread (“Post to Linear”)

Linear (optional)

It was kinda purpose built for lazy ass tech-support work, so I got Linear integration in here. It works by spotting the Linear Asks msg and pulling the ticket ref from it. Your milage may vary, but feel free to dig in (The detection lives in src/linear/detector.ts - look for extractLinearIssueFromMessage) and PR if this can help your day-to-day trudgery.

Setup

You need a Slack API token.

Option 1: User token (personal use)

1. Go to https://api.slack.com/apps
2. Create a new app (From scratch) in your workspace
3. OAuth & Permissions → User Token Scopes:
   • channels:history
   • groups:history
4. Install to Workspace and copy the User OAuth Token (xoxp-)

Option 2: Bot token (team use)

1. Same steps as above
2. OAuth & Permissions → Bot Token Scopes:
   • channels:history
   • groups:history
   • im:history (optional, DMs)
   • mpim:history (optional, group DMs)
3. Install to Workspace and copy the Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-)
4. Invite the bot to each channel: /invite @YourBotName

Configure in VS Code

1. Settings → search “slackoscope”
2. Set slackoscope.token
3. Optional: set slackoscope.linearToken
4. Optional: use 1Password refs like op://vault/item/field

Usage

1. Paste a Slack message link into your code
2. Hover to preview
3. Use Command Palette → “Slackoscope: Insert Commented Message” (or Cmd+. on the URL)
4. If a Linear issue is detected, use “Slackoscope: Post Current File to Linear Issue” to post your file as a comment

Configuration (optional)

Setting	Type	Values	What it does
slackoscope.inline.enabled	boolean	true / false	Show inline previews next to Slack URLs
slackoscope.inline.showChannelName	boolean	true / false	Replace channel IDs with names (e.g., C123 → #general)
slackoscope.inline.showUser	boolean	true / false	Show message author in inline preview
slackoscope.inline.showTime	boolean	true / false	Show message timestamp in inline preview
slackoscope.inline.useRelativeTime	boolean	true / false	Use relative timestamps (e.g., “5m ago”)
slackoscope.inline.fontSize	number	10–24	Inline preview font size (px)
slackoscope.inline.fontStyle	string	normal / italic	Inline preview font style
slackoscope.inline.color	string	CSS color	Inline preview text color
slackoscope.hover.showChannel	boolean	true / false	Show channel name in hover tooltip
slackoscope.hover.showFiles	boolean	true / false	Show attachments in hover tooltip
slackoscope.hover.showFileInfo	boolean	true / false	Show file type/size in hover tooltip
slackoscope.highlighting.enabled	boolean	true / false	Color-code Slack URLs by message age
slackoscope.highlighting.todayColor	string	CSS color	Background for messages from today
slackoscope.highlighting.oldDays	number	days	Age threshold for “old” messages
slackoscope.highlighting.oldColor	string	CSS color	Background for “old” messages