What this does

Turns a Slack export ZIP into an offline, tamper-evident HTML archive that legal, compliance, and security teams can review without relying on Slack's UI.

What you get from Slack is:

• thousands of JSON files
• no search
• no context
• no guarantee you didn't miss something

What people actually need is:

• offline
• searchable
• deterministic
• audit-grade

This tool converts a Slack export ZIP into a self-contained HTML archive that you can open in any browser — with full-text search and zero runtime dependencies.

No servers. No JavaScript. No cloud.

What you get

• Offline HTML archive
  Open index.html locally. Works on air-gapped machines.
• Full-text search (SQLite FTS5)
  Search messages by keyword across all channels.
• Deterministic output
  Same input ZIP → same database → same HTML output.
  Results are ordered predictably and reproducibly.
• Stable message links
  Every message has a permanent anchor. Search results deep-link directly to the exact message.
• SQLite-first
  The database is the source of truth. HTML is a render artifact.
• Zero JavaScript required
  Browsing and search results are static HTML. No client-side logic. No hidden behavior.

Who this is for

This tool is built for people who cannot rely on Slack's UI:

• Legal & compliance teams
• Security and incident response
• Internal audits and investigations
• Enterprise IT / eDiscovery
• Founders exporting Slack before shutdown
• Anyone who needs an offline, reviewable record

If you need a pretty chat app, this is not it.
If you need something you can defend in an audit, this is.

Quick start

# 1. Build the archive
npx slack-export-archive build <slack-export.zip> --out ./archive

# 2. Generate search results
npx slack-export-archive search ./archive/archive.sqlite --q "invoice feb" --out ./search-results/

Open:

• archive/index.html — browse conversations
• search-results/<query>.html — view search results

Everything works offline.

Guarantees (intentional constraints)

This tool intentionally does NOT:

• run a web server
• phone home
• execute client-side JavaScript
• mutate or "interpret" your data
• reorder results unpredictably
• depend on Slack APIs

These constraints are what make it safe to use in regulated environments.

Release smoke checks

Before tagging a release, run these manual checks:

1. Validate — npx slack-export-archive validate <real-export.zip> — exits 0, prints conversation counts.
2. Build — npx slack-export-archive build <real-export.zip> --out ./out — produces out/archive.sqlite, out/index.html, out/conversations/*.html, out/report.json.
3. Search — npx slack-export-archive search ./out/archive.sqlite --q "foo" --out ./search-results — produces search-results/foo.html and search-results/search_report.json.
4. Anchor links — Open a search result HTML, click a result link — browser jumps to the correct message in the conversation page.
5. Missing input — npx slack-export-archive build missing.zip --out ./x — exits non-zero with clear "Failed to open ZIP" or "not found" message.
6. Empty query — npx slack-export-archive search ./out/archive.sqlite --q "" --out ./x — exits non-zero with "Search query is required".

Packaging binaries (Windows/macOS/Linux)

Packaging requires Node 18.x because pkg targets node18-*. If you build under Node 22+, better-sqlite3 will be compiled for the wrong ABI and the packaged binary will fail at runtime.

Steps:

1. Switch to Node 18 (e.g. nvm use 18 or volta pin node@18).
2. Delete node_modules and package-lock.json.
3. Run npm install.
4. Run npm run pkg:build.

Binaries are written to dist/pkg/.

Status

v0.1.3 — current release

Phase 3A complete:

• SHA-256 tamper-evident manifest
• SQLite FTS5 full-text search
• Deterministic output
• Investigation Summary Report
• Offline HTML archive

The surface area is intentionally small.

License / Commercial use

This tool is available for purchase at slackexportarchive.com.

Commercial use requires a license. See LICENSE for terms.

If you need:

• a packaged binary
• enterprise support
• guaranteed long-term maintenance
• custom export handling

Contact: [email protected]