App collaborators for shared app ownership
When and how to give a Slack app more than one owner: what collaborator access covers (app settings, not code), how an owner recovers an app whose collaborators were all deactivated, the Slack CLI collaborator commands and shared apps.json, and rotating secrets after someone is removed.
Identify when to set up a team to collaborate on a Slack app.
~7 min read · 5 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Identify when an app needs a team of collaborators: a business-critical app with a single installer, or several developers who must manage settings and deploy updates.
- Explain what collaborator access covers (the app's settings in Slack) and what it does not (source code, hosting platforms).
- Recover an internal app whose collaborators were all deactivated: an owner adds themselves as a collaborator, then reinstalls.
- Set up collaboration on a Slack CLI app with
slack collaborator addand a committed.slack/apps.json, and rotate secrets and tokens after removing a collaborator.
Key terms: app collaborator (a member of your organization who can manage an app's settings); internal app (an app a member of your organization built for your own workspace or org); apps.json (the Slack CLI file that records deployed app details and is shared through version control); apps.dev.json (the per-developer local file that is never committed).
Key facts
- Detail
- The app's settings and its Slack Marketplace listings
- Detail
- Not included; grant it through the hosting platform
- Detail
- Owners or members who manage apps add themselves, then reinstall
- Detail
- Organization settings > Integrations > Installed apps > Add myself as a collaborator
- Detail
- Adding yourself requires an approved request to export data from all channels and conversations
- Detail
- Must have a collaborator, in case the creator leaves
- Detail
slack collaborator add [email or user_id]; teammate must be in the same workspace
- Detail
--permission-typeownerorreader, defaultowner
- Detail
- Commit
.slack/apps.json; never commitapps.dev.json
- Detail
- Rotate secrets and tokens; the person may still hold OAuth or app-level tokens
- When should an Org Owner add themselves as a collaborator on an internal app?
- Why must `apps.json` be committed for a shared CLI app?
- Why rotate secrets after removing a collaborator?
- What does the default `--permission-type` of `slack collaborator add` grant?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the Slack Developer pack
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