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Channels are in research preview and require Claude Code v2.1.80 or later. They require claude.ai login. Console and API key authentication is not supported. Team and Enterprise organizations must explicitly enable them.
A channel is an MCP server that pushes events into your running Claude Code session, so Claude can react to things that happen while you’re not at the terminal. Channels can be two-way: Claude reads the event and replies back through the same channel, like a chat bridge. Events only arrive while the session is open, so for an always-on setup you run Claude in a background process or persistent terminal. Unlike integrations that spawn a fresh cloud session or wait to be polled, the event arrives in the session you already have open: see how channels compare. You install a channel as a plugin and configure it with your own credentials. Telegram, Discord, and iMessage are included in the research preview. When Claude replies through a channel, you see the inbound message in your terminal but not the reply text. The terminal shows the tool call and a confirmation (like “sent”), and the actual reply appears on the other platform. This page covers: To build your own channel, see the Channels reference.

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Supported channels

Each supported channel is a plugin that requires Bun. For a hands-on demo of the plugin flow before connecting a real platform, try the fakechat quickstart.
View the full Telegram plugin source.
1

Create a Telegram bot

Open BotFather in Telegram and send /newbot. Give it a display name and a unique username ending in bot. Copy the token BotFather returns.
2

Install the plugin

In Claude Code, run:
/plugin install telegram@claude-plugins-official
If Claude Code reports that the plugin is not found in any marketplace, your marketplace is either missing or outdated. Run /plugin marketplace update claude-plugins-official to refresh it, or /plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official if you haven’t added it before. Then retry the install.After installing, run /reload-plugins to activate the plugin’s configure command.
3

Configure your token

Run the configure command with the token from BotFather:
/telegram:configure <token>
This saves it to ~/.claude/channels/telegram/.env. You can also set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN in your shell environment before launching Claude Code.
4

Restart with channels enabled

Exit Claude Code and restart with the channel flag. This starts the Telegram plugin, which begins polling for messages from your bot:
claude --channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official
5

Pair your account

Open Telegram and send any message to your bot. The bot replies with a pairing code.
If your bot doesn’t respond, make sure Claude Code is running with --channels from the previous step. The bot can only reply while the channel is active.
Back in Claude Code, run:
/telegram:access pair <code>
Then lock down access so only your account can send messages:
/telegram:access policy allowlist
You can also build your own channel for systems that don’t have a plugin yet.

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Quickstart

Fakechat is an officially supported demo channel that runs a chat UI on localhost, with nothing to authenticate and no external service to configure. Once you install and enable fakechat, you can type in the browser and the message arrives in your Claude Code session. Claude replies, and the reply shows up back in the browser. After you’ve tested the fakechat interface, try out Telegram, Discord, or iMessage. To try the fakechat demo, you’ll need:
1

Install the fakechat channel plugin

Start a Claude Code session and run the install command:
/plugin install fakechat@claude-plugins-official
If Claude Code reports that the plugin is not found in any marketplace, your marketplace is either missing or outdated. Run /plugin marketplace update claude-plugins-official to refresh it, or /plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official if you haven’t added it before. Then retry the install.
2

Restart with the channel enabled

Exit Claude Code, then restart with --channels and pass the fakechat plugin you installed:
claude --channels plugin:fakechat@claude-plugins-official
The fakechat server starts automatically.
You can pass several plugins to --channels, space-separated.
3

Push a message in

Open the fakechat UI at http://localhost:8787 and type a message:
hey, what's in my working directory?
The message arrives in your Claude Code session as a <channel source="fakechat"> event. Claude reads it, does the work, and calls fakechat’s reply tool. The answer shows up in the chat UI.
If Claude hits a permission prompt while you’re away from the terminal, the session pauses until you respond. Channel servers that declare the permission relay capability can forward these prompts to you so you can approve or deny remotely. For unattended use, --dangerously-skip-permissions bypasses prompts entirely, but only use it in environments you trust.

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Security

Every approved channel plugin maintains a sender allowlist: only IDs you’ve added can push messages, and everyone else is silently dropped. Telegram and Discord bootstrap the list by pairing:
  1. Find your bot in Telegram or Discord and send it any message
  2. The bot replies with a pairing code
  3. In your Claude Code session, approve the code when prompted
  4. Your sender ID is added to the allowlist
iMessage works differently: texting yourself bypasses the gate automatically, and you add other contacts by handle with /imessage:access allow. On top of that, you control which servers are enabled each session with --channels, and on Team and Enterprise plans your organization controls availability with channelsEnabled. Being in .mcp.json isn’t enough to push messages: a server also has to be named in --channels. The allowlist also gates permission relay if the channel declares it. Anyone who can reply through the channel can approve or deny tool use in your session, so only allowlist senders you trust with that authority.

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Enterprise controls

On Team and Enterprise plans, channels are off by default. Admins control availability through two managed settings that users cannot override:
SettingPurposeWhen not configured
channelsEnabledMaster switch. Must be true for any channel to deliver messages. Set via the claude.ai Admin console toggle or directly in managed settings. Blocks all channels including the development flag when off.Channels blocked
allowedChannelPluginsWhich plugins can register once channels are enabled. Replaces the Anthropic-maintained list when set. Only applies when channelsEnabled is true.Anthropic default list applies
Pro and Max users without an organization skip these checks entirely: channels are available and users opt in per session with --channels.

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Enable channels for your organization

Admins can enable channels from claude.ai → Admin settings → Claude Code → Channels, or by setting channelsEnabled to true in managed settings. Once enabled, users in your organization can use --channels to opt channel servers into individual sessions. If the setting is disabled or unset, the MCP server still connects and its tools work, but channel messages won’t arrive. A startup warning tells the user to have an admin enable the setting.

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Restrict which channel plugins can run

By default, any plugin on the Anthropic-maintained allowlist can register as a channel. Admins on Team and Enterprise plans can replace that allowlist with their own by setting allowedChannelPlugins in managed settings. Use this to restrict which official plugins are allowed, approve channels from your own internal marketplace, or both. Each entry names a plugin and the marketplace it comes from: 
{
  "channelsEnabled": true,
  "allowedChannelPlugins": [
    { "marketplace": "claude-plugins-official", "plugin": "telegram" },
    { "marketplace": "claude-plugins-official", "plugin": "discord" },
    { "marketplace": "acme-corp-plugins", "plugin": "internal-alerts" }
  ]
}
When allowedChannelPlugins is set, it replaces the Anthropic allowlist entirely: only the listed plugins can register. Leave it unset to fall back to the default Anthropic allowlist. An empty array blocks all channel plugins from the allowlist, but --dangerously-load-development-channels can still bypass it for local testing. To block channels entirely including the development flag, leave channelsEnabled unset instead. This setting requires channelsEnabled: true. If a user passes a plugin to --channels that isn’t on your list, Claude Code starts normally but the channel doesn’t register, and the startup notice explains that the plugin isn’t on the organization’s approved list.

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Research preview

Channels are a research preview feature. Availability is rolling out gradually, and the --channels flag syntax and protocol contract may change based on feedback. During the preview, --channels only accepts plugins from an Anthropic-maintained allowlist, or from your organization’s allowlist if an admin has set allowedChannelPlugins. The channel plugins in claude-plugins-official are the default approved set. If you pass something that isn’t on the effective allowlist, Claude Code starts normally but the channel doesn’t register, and the startup notice tells you why. To test a channel you’re building, use --dangerously-load-development-channels. See Test during the research preview for information about testing custom channels that you build. Report issues or feedback on the Claude Code GitHub repository.

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How channels compare

Several Claude Code features connect to systems outside the terminal, each suited to a different kind of work:
FeatureWhat it doesGood for
Claude Code on the webRuns tasks in a fresh cloud sandbox, cloned from GitHubDelegating self-contained async work you check on later
Claude in SlackSpawns a web session from an @Claude mention in a channel or threadStarting tasks directly from team conversation context
Standard MCP serverClaude queries it during a task; nothing is pushed to the sessionGiving Claude on-demand access to read or query a system
Remote ControlYou drive your local session from claude.ai or the Claude mobile appSteering an in-progress session while away from your desk
Channels fill the gap in that list by pushing events from non-Claude sources into your already-running local session.
  • Chat bridge: ask Claude something from your phone via Telegram, Discord, or iMessage, and the answer comes back in the same chat while the work runs on your machine against your real files.
  • Webhook receiver: a webhook from CI, your error tracker, a deploy pipeline, or other external service arrives where Claude already has your files open and remembers what you were debugging.

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Next steps

Once you have a channel running, explore these related features: