A channel is a messaging surface the agent talks through. One ZeroClaw instance can bind multiple channels simultaneously — the same agent can answer in Discord, Telegram, email, and over the REST gateway without you running separate processes.
Channels are implementations of the Channel trait in zeroclaw-api. Each one is feature-gated at compile time, so a minimal build only includes the channels you want.
The default ZeroClaw build includes a lean channel bundle: ACP, webhook, email, and Telegram. These cover local/editor sessions, gateway ingress, and common first-run external messaging without compiling every bundled platform integration. Pre-built binaries use this lean default. For source installs that need the historical broad channel set, run install.sh --source --preset full, build with --features channels-full, or use individual channel-* features for selective builds:
./install.sh --source --preset full
cargo build --features channels-full
cargo build --no-default-features --features "agent-runtime,gateway,channel-discord"Real-time messaging where the agent can hold a conversation, get notified of new messages via push or long-poll, and reply as a bot user.
| Channel | Feature flag | Dedicated guide |
|---|---|---|
| Matrix | channel-matrix |
Matrix |
| Mattermost | channel-mattermost |
Mattermost |
| LINE | channel-line |
LINE |
| Nextcloud Talk | channel-nextcloud |
Nextcloud Talk |
| Signal | channel-signal |
Signal |
| WhatsApp Cloud API | channel-whatsapp-cloud |
|
| WhatsApp Web | whatsapp-web |
|
| Discord, Slack, Telegram, iMessage, WeCom Bot Webhook, WeCom AI Bot Long Connection, WeChat personal iLink Bot, DingTalk, Lark, QQ, IRC, Mochat, Notion | per channel | Other chat platforms |
One-to-many or public-feed integrations.
| Channel | Feature flag | Protocol / service |
|---|---|---|
| Bluesky | channel-bluesky |
AT Protocol |
| Nostr | channel-nostr |
NIP-01 relays |
| Twitter / X | channel-twitter |
API v2 |
channel-reddit |
JSON API |
See Social channels.
| Channel | Feature flag | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IMAP / SMTP | channel-email |
Classic poll-based inbox |
| Gmail Push | channel-email |
Google Pub/Sub push notifications — real-time, no polling |
See Email.
| Channel | Feature flag | Service |
|---|---|---|
| ClawdTalk | channel-clawdtalk |
Telnyx SIP real-time voice |
| Voice Call | channel-voice-call |
Twilio / Telnyx / Plivo |
| Voice Wake | voice-wake |
Local wake-word detection |
| TTS | always compiled with channel support | Outbound speech synthesis (OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Google Cloud, Edge, Piper) |
See Voice & telephony.
| Channel | Feature flag | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Webhook | channel-webhook |
Inbound HTTP → agent |
| CLI | always on | Local stdin/stdout |
| Gateway REST/WS | always on | HTTP + WebSocket |
| ACP (Agent Client Protocol) | channel-acp-server |
JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio — editor/IDE sessions |
Modern channel instances are configured under [channels.<type>.<alias>], with default as the common first alias:
[channels.discord.default]
enabled = true
bot_token = "..."
allowed_users = ["123456789012345678"]
reply_to_mentions_only = false
[agents.assistant]
enabled = true
channels = ["discord.default"]The channels entry binds the channel alias to the agent that should answer it. Some older per-channel guides still show legacy flat examples; prefer the alias shape above for new config. Channel-specific options live under the same block. Common keys across channels:
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
enabled |
On/off without removing the section |
allowed_users |
Whitelist — empty means allow all |
allowed_destinations |
Restrict which rooms/channels/threads the bot answers in |
reply_to_mentions_only |
Ignore messages that don't @-mention the bot |
provider |
Override default model for this channel |
draft_update_interval_ms |
Streaming edit cadence (default 500 ms) |
Most channels require pairing — a one-time handshake that binds an incoming message source to the agent's policy. zeroclaw onboard channels walks you through pairing each channel you configure; use zeroclaw channel bind-telegram for Telegram-specific identities and the channel-specific guide for channels such as WhatsApp or Signal. Without pairing, the channel rejects everything.
The rationale: an agent with a public Telegram bot token and no pairing is a publicly-accessible shell. Pairing is the gate.
Channels declare what kind of streaming they support — see Providers → Streaming for the capability matrix and what supports_draft_updates / supports_multi_message_streaming mean.
Implementing a new channel means adding a file to crates/zeroclaw-channels/src/ that implements the Channel trait. The canonical reference is any existing channel of similar shape — discord.rs for push-based, email_channel.rs for polling, webhook.rs for HTTP-driven.