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How to use Slack with VS Code

You want Slack inside VS Code so it can triage a busy Slack workspace, prepare follow-ups from unanswered threads, coordinate the right people, and send a targeted team update — without you copy-pasting between tabs. Here is the whole setup, once.

Create your Slack gateway

The gateway is the thing VS Code connects to, and it is where you decide which Slack tools an agent may use. You create it once and every client reuses it.

  1. Create an Arcade account

    Sign up and open the dashboard. The free tier is enough to follow this through.

  2. Create an MCP Gateway and select your Slack tools

    In the dashboard, create a gateway and pick the Slack tools you want to expose. The gateway is what your client connects to, and it is where tool access is decided.

  3. Copy your gateway URL

    Every client below needs it.

    https://api.arcade.dev/mcp/<YOUR-GATEWAY-SLUG>

Create a Slack gateway Opens the gateway builder in your Arcade dashboard.

Connect the gateway to VS Code

  1. Add the server

    VS Code 1.107.0 or higher. Command Palette → MCP: Add Server… → choose HTTP, paste your gateway URL, and name it something like mcp-arcade.

  2. Start it and authenticate

    Click Start next to the server in mcp.json or under Extensions → MCP Servers - Installed, then approve the Arcade sign-in and consent screens.

  3. Try it out

    Open the chat pane, switch to Agent mode, and ask it to use one of your Slack tools.

Full VS Code guide in the docs steps verified 2026-08-13

Get started with these Slack prompts

VS Code can now act on your Slack account. Click a prompt to copy it.

A mistaken invite or message can reach the wrong people. Pair Slack with Contextual Access policies to require approval before invites or messages, and limit the conversations an agent can access.

Ready to actually ship your agent?

Free to start. Ready for enterprise when you are.

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