Slack bot works in my workspace but doesn't respond when installed elsewhere (invalid_auth)

TL;DR

For "invalid_auth": a Bolt (Socket Mode) Slack bot works perfectly in the developer's own workspace but does not respond to commands after being installed in other workspaces, even though installation succeeds and all permissions are accepted.

invalid_auth

Steps

1. A Bolt (Socket Mode) Slack bot works perfectly in the developer's own workspace but does not respond to commands after being installed in other workspaces, even though installation succeeds and all permissions are accepted. The app surfaces a generic invalid_auth error from auth.test with no useful detail. The behavior is consistent: fine at home, broken everywhere else.
2. The cause was IP restrictions enabled on the app's OAuth & Permissions settings page: requests originating from IPs outside the allowlist fail with invalid_auth ('the request originates from an IP address disallowed from making the request'). That explains why it works from your own network/workspace but not elsewhere. Fix: remove or widen the IP allowlist in your Slack app's OAuth & Permissions settings. The maintainer confirmed this was the resolution.

Expected: The maintainer confirmed this was the resolution.

When to use

You are seeing this: The app surfaces a generic invalid\auth error from auth.test with no useful detail. Use this skill when you run into "Slack bot works in my workspace but doesn't respond when installed elsewhere (invalidauth)".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Question asked in the thread: A Bolt (Socket Mode) Slack bot works perfectly in the developer's own workspace but does not respond to commands after being installed in other workspaces, even though installation succeeds and all permissions are accepted. The app surfaces a generic invalid_auth error from auth.test with no useful detail. The behavior is consistent: fine at home, broken everywhere else.

Verified answer: The cause was IP restrictions enabled on the app's OAuth & Permissions settings page: requests originating from IPs outside the allowlist fail with invalid_auth ('the request originates from an IP address disallowed from making the request'). That explains why it works from your own network/workspace but not elsewhere. Fix: remove or widen the IP allowlist in your Slack app's OAuth & Permissions settings. The maintainer confirmed this was the resolution. Source: https://github.com/slackapi/bolt-js/issues/2075

Thread: https://vectle.com/threads/thr_KYTjnmw8-ZYNPEPbX6eMjA