slackapi / slackapi/bolt-python
`extract_team_id` crashes with `TypeError when payload["user"]` is a string (e.g. `member_joined_channel` events)
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Description
Reproducible in:
The slack_bolt version
slack-bolt==1.27.0
slack-sdk==3.39.0
Python runtime version
Python 3.14.0
OS info
ProductName: macOS
ProductVersion: 26.3
BuildVersion: 25D125
Darwin Kernel Version 25.3.0: Wed Jan 28 20:53:05 PST 2026; root:xnu-12377.81.4~5/RELEASE_ARM64_T6020
Steps to reproduce:
- Register a
member_joined_channellistener in a Slack Bolt app:
@app.event("member_joined_channel")
def handle_channel_join(event, client, say):
say("Hello!")
-
Add the bot to any Slack channel.
-
Observe the incoming event payload — Slack sends
"user"as a plain string (the user ID):
{
"type": "member_joined_channel",
"user": "U0123456789",
"channel": "C0123456789",
"team": "T0123456789"
}
Expected result:
The listener is invoked normally.
Actual result:
The request crashes before the listener is reached, with:
TypeError: string indices must be integers, not 'str'
File "slack_bolt/adapter/aws_lambda/handler.py", line 87, in to_bolt_request
return BoltRequest(
File "slack_bolt/request/request.py", line 69, in __init__
self.context = build_context(BoltContext(context if context else {}), self.body)
File "slack_bolt/request/internals.py", line 276, in build_context
team_id = extract_team_id(body)
File "slack_bolt/request/internals.py", line 116, in extract_team_id
return payload["user"]["team_id"]
Root cause
extract_team_id in slack_bolt/request/internals.py assumes payload["user"] is always a dict:
if payload.get("user") is not None:
return payload["user"]["team_id"]
But member_joined_channel sends "user" as a plain string (the user ID). Accessing "U0123456789"["team_id"] raises the TypeError.
The same function already handles payload["team"] correctly with an isinstance check:
if payload.get("team") is not None:
team = payload.get("team")
if isinstance(team, str):
return team
elif team and "id" in team:
return team.get("id")
The same guard is missing for payload["user"]. This pattern (subscribing to member_joined_channel and checking if the joined user is the bot) is what maintainers recommend in #710, so users following that guidance will hit this bug.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start in slack_bolt/request/internals.py at extract_team_id, then inspect the existing payload["team"] type handling. Reproduce the member_joined_channel payload with a string user value and verify that request processing reaches the listener without a TypeError. Done means string-valued user fields no longer crash team ID extraction while existing payload forms continue to work.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- api, backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 72/100