Provision and manage user accounts and groups with the Slack SCIM API. SCIM is used by Single Sign-On (SSO) services and identity providers to manage people across a variety of tools, including Slack. It's also possible to write your own apps and scripts using the SCIM API to programatically manage the members of your workspace.
Please note that the SCIM API is only available to Slack workspaces on the Plus plan and Slack Enterprise Grid.
SCIM is an API for managing the people on your team and the groups they belong to.
SCIM is an open standard supported by myriad services. It behaves slightly differently than other Slack APIs. For example, most of Slack's APIs can be described as "REST-like" but are, more accurately, actually RPC-style methods that use HTTP GET and POST interchangeably but no other verbs (such as PATCH or DELETE). SCIM, being a more proper REST API, expects HTTP verbs to be used in a specific manner.
While other APIs are for interacting with a Slack workspace directly, the SCIM APIs allow teams on the Plus and Enterprise Grid plans to administer the users on a workspace (or in an organization, in the case of Grid). If you've found yourself wishing for a set of users.admin.* endpoints, SCIM might be right for you.
Slack's SCIM implementation targets version 1.1 of the protocol.
Slack supports member provisioning via helper apps with supported identity providers. This document covers custom SCIM operations.
Be aware that it's possible to deprovision an entire workspace or Enterpise Grid organization with SCIM. Please test your scripts thoroughly before executing them. Of course, our support team is ready to assist you should you run into any trouble.
Like other Slack API's, the SCIM methods are accessed over that old standby protocol, HTTP.
Being a REST API, the HTTP verb (e.g. GET or POST or PATCH or even DELETE) used for each API method is important. Typically you will use GET to retrieve information, POST to create new objects, PUT and PATCH to modify objects, and DELETE to remove. (Alas, we seem to have lost our HEAD.)
The base URL for all calls to the SCIM API is https://api.slack.com/scim/v1/. All SCIM methods are branches of this base URL.
An OAuth token with the admin scope is required to access the SCIM API. The simplest way to acquire this token is for an admin on a Workspace to create a new Slack app, add the admin OAuth scope, install the app, and use the generated token. If you intend to build a Slack app for other teams to install, your app will need to properly handle the OAuth flow to generate the proper token.
The API token must be included via an Authorization header with a type of Bearer when calling any of the SCIM methods.
Provide a JSON request body for POST, PUT, and PATCH write operations, and set your HTTP Content-type header to application/json.
An example SCIM call might look like this:
GET /scim/v1/Users HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
On Plus, Slack Owners and Admins can generate a token to use the SCIM API. On Enterprise Grid, only Org Owners and Admins can use SCIM to modify users.
The token-generating account must remain an Admin or Owner in order to make SCIM updates.
One more note: the token generator can only action on accounts with the same or fewer permissions. For example, if an Admin account generates a SCIM token, they can take action on other Admins or members. They cannot take action on Owners.
On Enterprise Grid, SCIM operations work across the entire organization, not individual workspaces. A SCIM app can provision, de-provision, and update team members in just one place rather than having to do so across every workspace in an organization.
For this reason, the OAuth token used for calling SCIM API methods must be obtained from installing the app on the organization, not just a workspace within the organization. To get a SCIM app working on a grid organization, do the following:
admin scope and click the green Save Changes button.When installing the SCIM app, be sure to install it on your Grid organization, not a workspace within the organization.
Usergroups on Enterprise Grid work a bit differently as well. Creating SCIM groups will create an IDP group, which may or may not be the correct behavior depending on what you hope to accomplish.
The SCIM API is RESTful and the endpoint URLs are different than other Slack API endpoints.
GET /ServiceProviderConfigs Returns Slack's configuration details for our SCIM API, including which operations are supported.
Slack currently supports schemas for users and groups. Querying the schemas will provide the most up-to-date rendering of the supported SCIM attributes.
GET /Schemas/Users Returns Slack's configuration details for how users are formatted.
GET /Schemas/Groups Returns Slack's configuration details for how groups are formatted.
As you might expect, users map to the individuals of your team across a workspace or Grid organization. Each user contains properties called attributes, like userName and title. You can list users, filter by attribute, add new users, update a user's profile information, or remove a user entirely.
Attributes are the details associated with a user's account. These are the details that someone would typically set in their profile (for example, by clicking the Edit Profile button in the Slack application).
The following tables map SCIM attributes to the profile fields that Slack uses. Most of these profile fields are exposed directly in a person's profile in the Slack UI. Sometimes, mulitple SCIM attributes map to a single Slack profile field --- for example, Slack's Display name field will populate from either the displayName or the userName SCIM attribute, depending on which is set. If both are set, it will use displayName.
Attribute values will vary by identity provider. For example, some may use a single field for a user's full name, others may provide sub-attributes such as givenName and familyName, still others may provide both. Either is acceptable, but they should only describe the same name (i.e. sub-attributes should not contain additional or optional information, such as a nickname).
Not every attribute will be displayed in a user's profile --- for example, active does not appear as a field but can be used to determine if a user's account is active.
The password attribute is never returned but can be used to set the initial password for a user if the team is not using an identity manager.
| Slack Profile Field | SCIM Attribute | Attribute Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Username | userName |
Singular | True |
| Full Name | name, { givenName, familyName } |
Singular | False |
| Nickname | nickName |
Singular | False |
| Display Name | displayName, userName |
Singular | False |
emails[0]['value'] |
Multi-Valued | True | |
| Profile URL | profileUrl |
Singular | False |
| Profile Photo | photos[0]['values'] |
Multi-Valued | False |
| Groups | groups |
Multi-Valued | False |
| What I Do | title |
Singular | False |
| Timezone | timezone |
Singular | False |
| Active | active |
Singular | False |
| Password | password |
Singular | False |
Slack will also create profile fields if the following SCIM attributes are present:
| Custom Profile Field | SCIM Attribute | Attribute Type |
|---|---|---|
| Addresses | addresses |
Multi-Valued |
| Roles | roles |
Multi-Valued |
| Phone | phoneNumbers[0]['values'] |
Multi-Valued |
| UserType | userType |
Singular |
| Title | title |
Singular |
| Cost Center | enterprise.costCenter |
Singular |
| Country | addresses[primary]['country'] |
Singular |
| Department | enterprise.department |
Singular |
| Division | enterprise.division |
Singular |
| Employee ID | enterprise.employeeNumber |
Singular |
| Honorific Prefix | name.honorificPrefix |
Singular |
| Locale | locale |
Singular |
| City | addresses[primary]['locality'] |
Singular |
| Manager | enterprise.manager.managerId |
Singular |
| Organization | enterprise.organization |
Singular |
| Zip Code | addresses[primary]['postalCode'] |
Singular |
| Preferred Language | preferredLanguage |
Singular |
GET /Users
Returns a paginated list of users, ten users per page by default. When querying larger Slack instances, reduce the count parameter to 20,000 or less, and use the startIndex parameter to paginate through users.
It's possible to return a list of specific types of users with the filter parameter.
GET /scim/v1/Users?startIndex=4&count=500 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
GET /Users/{id}
Retrieves a single user resource. The value of the {id} should be the user's corresponding Slack ID, beginning with either U or W.
GET /scim/v1/Users/U1A23BC4D HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
POST /Users
Creates a user. Must include the userName attribute and at least one email address. You may provide an email address in the userName field, but it will be automatically converted to a Slack-appropriate username.
This example request body provides a detailed example of which attributes Slack uses, especially for the multi-valued attributes.
{
"schemas": ["urn:scim:schemas:core:1.0",
"urn:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:1.0"],
"userName": "other_username",
"nickName": "slack_username",
"name": {
"familyName": "Last",
"givenName": "First",
"honorificPrefix": "Ms."
},
"displayName": "First Last",
"profileUrl": "https://login.example.com/slack_username",
"emails": [
{
"value": "some@email.com",
"type": "work",
"primary": true
},
{
"value": "some_other@email.com",
"type": "home"
}
],
"addresses": [
{
"streetAddress": "1060 W Addison St",
"locality": "Chicago",
"region": "IL",
"postalCode": "60613",
"country": "USA",
"primary": true
},
],
"phoneNumbers": [
{
"value": "555-555-5555",
"type": "work"
},
{
"value": "555-555-4444",
"type": "mobile"
}
],
"photos": [
{
"value": "https://photos.example.com/profilephoto.jpg",
"type": "photo"
},
],
"roles": [
{
"value": "Tech Lead",
"primary": "true"
}
],
"userType": "Employee",
"title": "Tour Guide",
"preferredLanguage":"en_US",
"locale": "en_US",
"timezone": "America/Chicago",
"active":true,
"password":"Cub$winCub$win!!",
"urn:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:1.0": {
"employeeNumber": "701984",
"costCenter": "4130",
"organization": "Chicago Cubs",
"division": "Wrigley Field",
"department": "Tour Operations",
"manager": {
"managerId": "U0XE15NHQ"
}
}
}
PATCH /Users/{id} Updates an existing user resource, overwriting values for specified attributes. Attributes that are not provided will remain unchanged.
Disabled users can be re-enabled by sending active attribute equal to true. The value of the {id} should be the user's corresponding Slack ID, beginning with either U or W.
{
"schemas": [
"urn:scim:schemas:core:1.0"
],
"id": "U0XE15NH0",
"active": true,
"emails": [
{
"value": "some@new.email.com",
"primary": true
}
]
}
Updates an existing user resource, overwriting all values for a user even if an attribute is empty or not provided. If an attribute that had been set previously is left blank during a PUT operation, the new value will be blank in accordance with the data type of the attribute and the storage provider.
Deactivated users can be re-enabled by setting the active attribute to true. The value of the {id} should be the user's corresponding Slack ID, beginning with either U or W.
{
"schemas": [
"urn:scim:schemas:core:1.0"
],
"id": "U0XE15NH0",
"active": false,
"userName": "other_username",
"nickName": "slack_username",
"name": {
"givenName": "First",
"familyName": "Last"
},
"title": "Ms.",
"emails": [
{
"value": "some@email.com",
"primary": true
}
],
"photos": [
{
"value": "https://some.image/url",
"type": "photo"
}
]
}
DELETE /Users/{id}
Sets a Slack user to deactivated and hides this user from all future requests. The value of the {id} should be the user's corresponding Slack ID, beginning with either U or W.
DELETE /scim/v1/Users/42 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
Groups are for organizing users in logical divisions across a workspace, such as by team or affinity.
| Slack Group Field | SCIM Attribute | Attribute Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | displayName |
String | True |
| Members | members |
Multi-valued | True |
Attributes are the details associated with a group.
GET /Groups
Returns a paginated list of groups, ten groups per page by default. Use the startIndex and count query parameters to paginate long lists of groups.
It's possible to return a list of specific types of groups, using the filter parameter.
GET /scim/v1/Groups?startIndex=4&count=500 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
GET /Groups/{id} Retrieves a single group resource.
GET /scim/v1/Groups/42 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
POST /Groups
Creates a new group. Must include the displayName attribute (as defined in the schema specification). Users can be added to the group during creation by supplying the Slack user ID values in the members array attribute.
{
"schemas": [
"urn:scim:schemas:core:1.0"
],
"id": "external_id",
"displayName": "Group Name",
"members": [
{
"value": "U0W0NQFFC"
},
{
"value": "U0W0C30RE"
}
]
}
PATCH /Groups/{id} Updates an existing group resource, allowing individual (or groups of) users to be added or removed from the group with a single operation.
Setting the operation attribute of a member object to delete will remove members from a group; add is the default operation for PATCH. More details on editing a resource with PATCH.
{
"schemas": [
"urn:scim:schemas:core:1.0"
],
"members": [
{
"value": "U0W0NQFFC"
},
{
"value": "U0W0QCPK4",
"operation": "delete"
},
{
"value": "U0W0C30RE"
}
]
}
PUT /Groups/{id}
Updates an existing group resource, overwriting all values for a group even if an attribute is empty or not provided. PUT will replace all members of a group with those members provided via the members attribute. If an attribute that had been set previously is left blank during a PUT operation, the new value will be blank in accordance with the data type of the attribute and the storage provider.
{
"schemas": [
"urn:scim:schemas:core:1.0"
],
"displayName": "New Group Name",
"members": [
{
"value": "U0W0NQFFC"
}
]
}
DELETE /Groups/{id} Permanently removes a group (members are not deleted, only the group).
DELETE /scim/v1/Groups/42 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
For methods that return a list --- GET /Users and GET /Groups --- it's possible to filter the list by the username, email, restricted, and ultra_restricted attributes, and return only the values matching that filter. The following rules apply:
The following is a list of valid operators:
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| eq | equal |
| co | contains |
| sw | starts with |
| pr | prevent value |
| gt | greater than |
| ge | greater than or equal |
| lt | less than |
| le | less than or equal |
| and | logical And |
| or | logical Or |
Attribute name and attribute operator are case insensitive. For example, the following two expressions will evaluate to the same logical value:
filter=userName Eq "Carly"
filter=username eq "carly"
Filters may be applied to the username and email user attributes, with the addition of two membership filters:
| Attribute Name | SCIM Attribute | Attribute Type |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Channel-Guest | restricted |
Singular |
| Single-Channel-Guest | ultra_restricted |
Singular |
The following would return a list of all multi-channel guests of a workspace:
GET /scim/v1/Users?filter=restricted eq '1' HTTP/1.1
Host: api.slack.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer xoxp-4956040672-4956040692-6476208902-xxxxxx
Occasionally, interacting with our APIs will result in an error instead of the result you're expecting. Slack will make every attempt to respond with a descriptive error message that will help you figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
| Error | Description |
|---|---|
bad_email_address |
The email address provided does not exist or was poorly formatted |
bad_endpoint |
The endpoint URL does not exist. |
cannot_modify_owner |
A Workspace's ownership can not be modified via SCIM, please use the Slack admin. |
cannot_modify_gdpr |
Users who have had their personal information forgotten under GDPR can not be modified. |
cannot_disable_bot_user_with_scim |
The SCIM API can not be used to deactive a bot user, this must be done via the bot admin. |
cannot_disable_primary_owner |
The primary owner of a Workspace can not be disabled. If this user needs to be disabled, please make another team member the primary owner first. |
invalid_authentication |
There's a problem with the OAuth token. It may not have been granted the proper admin scope or may not have been installed by an administrator. The token may also be malformed or not properly sent via an Authorization header with a type of Bearer. |
invalid_display_name |
The provided display name is not allowed. |
invalid_name_specials |
The provided display name is not allowed becuase it is using invalid special characters such as @. |
invalid_query |
There's a problem with the filter parameter. Please check that the entities and operators are valid. |
no_such_group |
The group provided does not exist. |
no_such_user |
The user provided does not exist. |
non_org_teams_only |
When using SCIM on an Enterprise Grid organization, the app must be installed on the organization, not individual workspaces. SCIM methods are called against the entire Grid organization. |
plus_teams_only |
The SCIM APIs are only available for Plus and Enterprise Grid plans. SCIM access is not available for Free and Standard plans. |
too_many_requests |
The app is making too many requests over a short perid of time. Please make fewer requests to stay within Slack's rate limits. |
username_required |
This method requires a username parameter. |
username_taken |
When provisioning a new user via SCIM, usernames must be unique. |
username_too_long |
The specified username is too long (max length is 21 characters). |
Team Admins, can not be updated via the SCIM API.HTTP: 429 error will be returned.type for addresses. The type field will be used to determine which address is the "primary address" if the request does not specify one, however the type is not stored.