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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auto-triage-skip bug security semver:major
Dominant language
Python
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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:
  1. Register a member_joined_channel listener in a Slack Bolt app:
@app.event("member_joined_channel")
def handle_channel_join(event, client, say):
    say("Hello!")
  1. Add the bot to any Slack channel.

  2. 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

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. 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

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