correct the slack message people already have

fix the announcement people already bookmarked. paste its slack link and ask the bot to read the original, then show replacement wording.

by the dusk bot team · checked 12 november 2026 · how we made this

it can update that message instead of creating a competing announcement. edits count as writes, so sending approvals do not pause them. tell the bot to wait for your agreement before replacing the text.

pixel art: an indigo pixel bot and a blue pixel bot beside the Slack mark on a white tile, two chat bubbles and a notebook, on a lemon field in front of green terraced fields, one saying "correct the posted time"

where it helps

keep bookmarks useful. correct the check-in address in an existing event announcement.
show the current promise. replace a status message’s old delivery time with the confirmed one.
keep a correction in its thread. update a reply without broadcasting it to the channel.

the short version

fix the old announcement before posting a competing one. point the bot at the message with the wrong address or deadline. have it read that text before drafting a correction.

ordinary wording uses markdown. slack’s layout blocks are another option for more complex content. choose one approach for the visible message.

attachments must already be in slack. uploading a fresh local file is a separate job.

step by step

limit the editor. connect slack with read and write for reading and updating messages.
give the message link. ask the bot to confirm its channel and original text.
require your review. say “ask me before updating”. sending’s ask-every-time setting does not cover this edit.
open the original link. read the saved correction there. pause recurring maintenance when the announcements stop.

send this to your bot

paste this into a chat with your bot

every friday at 08:50, read this week’s depot collection times in the operations tracker in google sheets. find the corresponding weekly announcements in slack’s depot collections channel. compare their times with the tracker. show each mismatch with the original message link and proposed replacement here. ask me before you change anything. update only messages i choose, using ordinary markdown with thread broadcast off. never post a second announcement or edit unrelated messages.

when: fridays at 08:50
needs: google sheets read only for the operations tracker; slack read and write for finding and updating messages

what comes back looks like this (an example)

brackley depot announcement
original: collection at 15:00, east entrance.
tracker: collection at 16:00.
proposed: collection at 16:00, east entrance.
waiting before replacing the original wording.

what can go wrong

a channel has many messages. read the linked original before replacing anything.
thread broadcasts are optional. keep that choice off when the correction belongs only in the thread.

permissions and asking first

dusk bot counts Update a Slack message as a change: it alters something in Slack, and the sending setting does not cover it. a bot you allow only to read can never call it.

the permissions Slack asks for to run it: chat:write.

inputs

input	required	what it is
`ts`	yes	Timestamp of the message to update (string, Unix time with microseconds, e.g., `'1234567890.123456'`).
`channel`	yes	ID or name of the channel, private group, or IM channel containing the message to update.
`blocks`	no	Use this instead of `markdown_text` only when updating to Slack Block Kit capabilities that Markdown cannot express: buttons, approval/reject actions, select menus, checkboxes, radio buttons, date/time pickers, overflow menus, interactive workflow payloads, section accessories, image/video blocks, c
`as_user`	no	Pass `true` to update the message as the authenticated user; applicable to bot users as well.
`file_ids`	no	Array of file IDs to attach to the updated message.
`metadata`	no	JSON object containing `event_type` (string) and `event_payload` (dict) fields for adding custom metadata to the message.

from composio's catalog for Slack (action SLACK_UPDATES_A_SLACK_MESSAGE, read 12 november 2026⁴). your bot fills these in from what you tell it.

try it in 2 minutes

paste the message link
ask the bot to read the original
preview the replacement with broadcast off
allow the edit and open the same message

mistakes people make

giving only a channel name

paste the exact message link and compare its original text.

trusting sending settings to pause an edit

put an ask-before-updating rule in the request.

questions

will editing show a sending approval card?

no automatic sending checkpoint applies. this is a write. tell the bot to ask before updating if you need review.

can it attach a new local file during the edit?

only files already in slack can join the edit. upload a new file separately first.

sources

dusk bot docs: files and apps
dusk bot docs: routines
dusk bot docs: computer permissions
composio, Slack toolkit (catalog version 20261101_00), checked 12 november 2026

drafted with ai help from the dusk bot docs and the sources listed on this page, then checked against them. if something here is wrong or out of date, write to [email protected].