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javascriptnode.jsslack

Slack SDK `client.conversations.open()` returning User Not Found error

I'm using the Slack node SDK to try to send private messages from a bot based on a user ID:

const client = new WebClient(process.env.SLACK_TOKEN);

const privateMessage = async (userId) => {
  try {
    await client.conversations.open({
      users: [userId],
      text: 'Hi there.....',
    });
  } catch (error) {
    console.log(error);
  }
};

privateMessage('USERIDXXXXXX');

When I do so, I get the following error:

Error: An API error occurred: user_not_found
    at platformErrorFromResult (/Users/mej/Documents/test_repo/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@slack/web-api/dist/errors.js:62:33)
    at WebClient.apiCall (/Users/mej/Documents/test_repo/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@slack/web-api/dist/WebClient.js:181:56)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async privateMessage (/Users/mej/Documents/test_repo/apps/reports/bot/test_bot.ts:22:5) {
  code: 'slack_webapi_platform_error',
  data: {
    ok: false,
    error: 'user_not_found',
    response_metadata: { scopes: [Array], acceptedScopes: [Array] }
  }
}

This error is confusing because the user IDs I've tried were all returned by another call to the API (client.users.list()) with the same client / Bot User OAuth token. I know those users exist. I can see my own user ID in my Slack account settings, as well, and it also returns the user_not_found error.

The Slack app has the following permissions: channels:manage, channels:read, chat:write, groups:write, im:write, mpim:write, users:read, users:read.email.

Solution

  • The users parameter for the conversations.open method is actually supposed to be a comma-separated string and not an array, which is why you're getting the user_not_found error! You can see the full specifications of the conversations.open method here: https://api.slack.com/methods/conversations.open#arg_users.

    Also, just in case, the method to send messages into Slack is chat.postMessage not conversations.open: https://api.slack.com/methods/chat.postMessage