channel/archive

Archives a Slack channel, hiding it from all members' channel lists and preventing new messages from being posted. The channel and all its history are preserved and remain searchable. Use channel/unarchive to restore. Requires channels:manage scope.

Archiving hides the channel for all members. Members cannot post to an archived channel and it will no longer appear in their channel list. The channel name is blocked from reuse while archived. Use channel/unarchive to restore access. This is the closest Slack has to "deleting" a channel — history is always preserved.

When to Use

Project completion: Archive project channels after the final handoff is complete and the team no longer needs an active communication space for that work.
Seasonal channel cleanup: Archive event or campaign channels at the end of a season or campaign (e.g., #hackathon-2024 after the event concludes).
Workspace audit cleanup: As part of a periodic channel hygiene review, archive channels that have had no activity for 90+ days.
Channel lifecycle automation: Part of a project lifecycle workflow — create on kickoff, archive on completion, with automatic notification to members before archiving.

Configuration

Connection

Field	Type	Required	Description
`botToken`	string	Required	Bot Token starting with `xoxb-`. Requires `channels:manage` scope. The bot must have admin permissions in some workspace configurations.

Operation Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
`channelId`	string	Required	The channel to archive. Starts with `C` (public) or `G` (private).

Sample Configuration

{
  "operation": "channel/archive",
  "connection": {
    "botToken": "{{credentials.slackBotToken}}"
  },
  "fields": {
    "channelId": "{{$json.channelId}}"
  }
}

Validation Errors

Error Code	Cause	Resolution
`already_archived`	The channel is already archived.	Check `isArchived` with `channel/get` before archiving. Treat this error as a warning, not a failure.
`cant_archive_general`	Attempting to archive the workspace's `#general` channel.	The `#general` channel cannot be archived. Skip it in bulk archive workflows.
`not_authorized`	The bot does not have permission to archive this channel. Some workspaces require admin-level permissions.	Check workspace settings. The operation may require workspace admin privileges beyond the bot's current scope.
`channel_not_found`	Invalid channel ID.	Verify the channel ID with `channel/get` first.
`missing_scope`	Bot token lacks `channels:manage` scope.	Re-authorize the Slack app with the required scope.

Output

Success Port

Field	Type	Description
`channelId`	string	The channel that was archived.
`status`	string	`success` or `error`.
`errorCode`	string	Slack error code when `status` is `error`.
`payload`	object	Full raw Slack API response.

Error Port

On failure with Continue on Error enabled, routes to the error port. For bulk archive workflows, treat already_archived and cant_archive_general as safe-to-ignore warnings.

Sample Output

{
  "channelId": "C08PROJECT01",
  "status": "success",
  "errorCode": "",
  "payload": {
    "ok": true
  }
}

Expression Reference

Expression	Result
`{{$node["channel-archive"].json.channelId}}`	Archived channel ID — use in audit log entries and completion notifications.
`{{$node["channel-archive"].json.status === "success"}}`	Boolean confirmation — gate downstream archival notifications.

Node Policies & GuardRails

Policy Area	Recommendation
Scope requirements	Requires `channels:manage` scope. Some workspace configurations require workspace admin privileges to archive channels.
Rate limiting	Tier 2 (20+ req/min). For bulk archive operations, add delays between calls.
No hard-coded IDs	Always source `channelId` dynamically. Never hard-code channel IDs in archive configurations.
Archive instead of delete	Slack has no delete operation for channels. Archive is the permanent lifecycle end state. Archived channels preserve full history and are searchable. Do not try to recreate channels by name after archiving without unarchiving first.
Pre-archive notification	Always post a final message to the channel before archiving, informing members that the channel will be archived and where they should go for future communication.
General channel exception	Always filter out the `#general` channel from bulk archive workflows. Attempting to archive it returns `cant_archive_general`.

Examples

Example 1 — Project Completion Archival Workflow

Full project lifecycle close-out: post final message, export history, then archive.

// Node 1: message/send — final notification
{
  "channelId": "{{$json.channelId}}",
  "text": "Project {{$json.projectName}} is now complete and marked as delivered. This channel will be archived in 24 hours. Post-mortem document: {{$json.documentUrl}}"
}

// Node 2 (24h later): channel/archive
{ "channelId": "{{$json.channelId}}" }

// Node 3: log archival to project management system

Example 2 — Inactive Channel Cleanup Audit

Monthly scheduled workflow that archives channels with no activity in 90 days.

// channel/getMany → all active channels
// For each channel: channel/getHistory (oldest: 90 days ago, limit: 1)
// IF: messageCount === 0
//   channel/archive

const ninetyDaysAgo = (Date.now() / 1000 - 90 * 86400).toString();
// IF last message older than 90 days → archive

Example 3 — Post-Incident Channel Archive

After an incident is marked resolved in PagerDuty, archives the incident channel after exporting the thread.

// Trigger: incident resolved event
// Node 1: channel/getHistory → export to incident archive DB
// Node 2: message/send — "Incident resolved. Channel archived for records."
// Node 3: channel/archive
{ "channelId": "{{$json.incidentChannelId}}" }