fix(slack-researcher): make Slack research opt-in, surface workspace identity (#521)

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

plugins/compound-engineering/skills/ce-brainstorm/SKILL.md

@@ -110,7 +110,11 @@ If nothing obvious appears after a short scan, say so and continue. Two rules go
 
 2. **Defer design decisions to planning** — Implementation details like schemas, migration strategies, endpoint structure, or deployment topology belong in planning, not here — unless the brainstorm is itself about a technical or architectural decision, in which case those details are the subject of the brainstorm and should be explored.
 
-**Slack context** (Standard and Deep only) — If any `slack_*` tool is available in the tool list, dispatch `compound-engineering:research:slack-researcher` with a brief summary of the brainstorm topic. If the agent returns an error or reports Slack MCP unavailable, log a warning ("Slack context unavailable: {reason}. Proceeding without organizational context.") and continue. Coordinate this dispatch at the start of Phase 1.1 alongside the inline Constraint Check and Topic Scan. Wait for all to complete before proceeding to Phase 1.2. Incorporate any Slack findings into the constraint and context awareness for the brainstorm session. Skip for Lightweight scope.
+**Slack context** (opt-in, Standard and Deep only) — never auto-dispatch. Route by condition:
+
+- **Tools available + user asked**: Dispatch `compound-engineering:research:slack-researcher` with a brief summary of the brainstorm topic alongside Phase 1.1 work. Incorporate findings into constraint and context awareness.
+- **Tools available + user didn't ask**: Note in output: "Slack tools detected. Ask me to search Slack for organizational context at any point, or include it in your next prompt."
+- **No tools + user asked**: Note in output: "Slack context was requested but no Slack tools are available. Install and authenticate the Slack plugin to enable organizational context search."
 
 #### 1.2 Product Pressure Test
 

plugins/compound-engineering/skills/ce-ideate/SKILL.md

@@ -117,16 +117,17 @@ Run agents in parallel in the **foreground** (do not use background dispatch —
 
    If the agent reports fewer than 5 total issues, note "Insufficient issue signal for theme analysis" and proceed with default ideation frames in Phase 2.
 
-4. **Slack context** (conditional) — if any `slack_*` tool is available in the tool list, dispatch `compound-engineering:research:slack-researcher` with the focus hint as context. Run this in parallel with agents 1-3.
-
-   If the agent returns an error or reports Slack MCP unavailable, log a warning ("Slack context unavailable: {reason}. Proceeding without organizational context.") and continue.
-
 Consolidate all results into a short grounding summary. When issue intelligence is present, keep it as a distinct section so ideation sub-agents can distinguish between code-observed and user-reported signals:
 
 - **Codebase context** — project shape, notable patterns, obvious pain points, likely leverage points
 - **Past learnings** — relevant institutional knowledge from docs/solutions/
 - **Issue intelligence** (when present) — theme summaries from the issue intelligence agent, preserving theme titles, descriptions, issue counts, and trend directions
-- **Slack context** (when present) — relevant organizational context, team discussions, and decisions from Slack channels surfaced by the slack-researcher agent
+
+**Slack context** (opt-in) — never auto-dispatch. Route by condition:
+
+- **Tools available + user asked**: Dispatch `compound-engineering:research:slack-researcher` with the focus hint in parallel with other Phase 1 agents. Include findings in the grounding summary.
+- **Tools available + user didn't ask**: Note in output: "Slack tools detected. Ask me to search Slack for organizational context at any point, or include it in your next prompt."
+- **No tools + user asked**: Note in output: "Slack context was requested but no Slack tools are available. Install and authenticate the Slack plugin to enable organizational context search."
 
 Do **not** do external research in v1.
 

plugins/compound-engineering/skills/ce-plan/SKILL.md

@@ -170,15 +170,18 @@ Run these agents in parallel:
 
 - Task compound-engineering:research:repo-research-analyst(Scope: technology, architecture, patterns. {planning context summary})
 - Task compound-engineering:research:learnings-researcher(planning context summary)
-- (conditional) Task compound-engineering:research:slack-researcher({planning context summary}. If the origin document contains a Slack context section, include it verbatim so the researcher can focus on gaps rather than re-searching.) — if any `slack_*` tool is available in the tool list. If the agent returns an error or reports Slack MCP unavailable, log a warning ("Slack context unavailable: {reason}. Proceeding without organizational context.") and continue.
-
 Collect:
 - Technology stack and versions (used in section 1.2 to make sharper external research decisions)
 - Architectural patterns and conventions to follow
 - Implementation patterns, relevant files, modules, and tests
 - AGENTS.md guidance that materially affects the plan, with CLAUDE.md used only as compatibility fallback when present
 - Institutional learnings from `docs/solutions/`
-- Organizational context from Slack (if the slack-researcher agent ran successfully)
+
+**Slack context** (opt-in) — never auto-dispatch. Route by condition:
+
+- **Tools available + user asked**: Dispatch `compound-engineering:research:slack-researcher` with the planning context summary in parallel with other Phase 1.1 agents. If the origin document has a Slack context section, pass it verbatim so the researcher focuses on gaps. Include findings in consolidation.
+- **Tools available + user didn't ask**: Note in output: "Slack tools detected. Ask me to search Slack for organizational context at any point, or include it in your next prompt."
+- **No tools + user asked**: Note in output: "Slack context was requested but no Slack tools are available. Install and authenticate the Slack plugin to enable organizational context search."
 
 #### 1.1b Detect Execution Posture Signals