Python on Slack today
Python continues to be the most popular language for building apps on the Slack platform. With over 8.6 million monthly downloads of the Python Slack SDK and 1.5 million downloads of Bolt for Python, we’re continuing to invest in tools that help our vibrant ecosystem of Python developers build and integrate with Slack.
As we evolve our Python support, we’re aligning even more closely with the Python community’s standards. That means we’re streamlining our SDKs, removing technical debt, and making room for the latest and greatest features Python has to offer. And part of that work includes officially saying goodbye to Python 3.6.
We offer two core Python packages designed to help you build faster and smarter:
Python Slack SDK — direct access to match the Web API, the Events API, and Socket Mode
Bolt for Python — a full-featured framework built upon the Python Slack SDK that simplifies app development with helpful patterns built in
Behind the scenes, we maintain a robust test suite and CI pipeline to ensure these tools are stable, reliable, and always ready for the next great idea you bring to Slack.
As we evolve our Python support, we’re aligning even more closely with the Python community’s standards. That means we’re streamlining our SDKs, removing technical debt, and making room for the latest and greatest features Python has to offer. And part of that work includes officially saying goodbye to Python 3.6.
We offer two core Python packages designed to help you build faster and smarter:
Behind the scenes, we maintain a robust test suite and CI pipeline to ensure these tools are stable, reliable, and always ready for the next great idea you bring to Slack.
Looking ahead: our Python support policy
As we look to maintain high-quality support for our Python developer community, we’re formalizing our approach to better align with the language’s lifecycle and community norms. We looked at the data—and the impact is minimal:
About 1.6% of Slack apps built with Python still use 3.6
Only 0.89% use it with the latest versions of our SDK
This tells us it’s time to move on. Here’s what you can expect moving forward:
We’ll deprecate older versions of Python in minor releases, just as other projects do Flask, FastAPI, and boto3
When a Python version reaches end-of-life (EOL), we’ll provide advance notice before removing official support
Apps using EOL versions will still run—but won’t be able to use the latest SDK releases
This change lets us take advantage of newer Python features (hello, data classes!) while keeping our SDK up-to-date and easy to maintain. Don’t worry—existing apps won’t break. If your app is running on Python 3.6 today, it’ll continue working.
This tells us it’s time to move on. Here’s what you can expect moving forward:
This change lets us take advantage of newer Python features (hello, data classes!) while keeping our SDK up-to-date and easy to maintain. Don’t worry—existing apps won’t break. If your app is running on Python 3.6 today, it’ll continue working.
Saying goodbye to Python 3.6
Which brings us to one immediate change: we’re deprecating support for Python 3.6 in our developer tools.
Python 3.6 officially reached EOL in 2021, and our CI tools (specifically GitHub Actions) no longer support testing for it. This makes it difficult for us to guarantee a great developer experience for that version.
Your existing apps using Python 3.6 will continue to work, but will be missing out on crucial fixes and new features. We recommend on upgrading your Python runtime to at least Python 3.13 to keep things running smooth.
Moving forward together
The Slack Developer Relations team is here to help – whether you’re upgrading, testing, or have questions, we’re just a message away – support@slack.com or find more python specific help here.
