iMessage

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.openclaw.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

​

Quick setup

brew install steipete/tap/imsg
imsg rpc --help
imsg launch
openclaw channels status --probe

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      enabled: true,
      cliPath: "/usr/local/bin/imsg",
      dbPath: "/Users/user/Library/Messages/chat.db",
    },
  },
}

openclaw gateway

openclaw pairing list imessage
openclaw pairing approve imessage <CODE>

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec ssh -T gateway-host imsg "$@"

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      enabled: true,
      cliPath: "~/.openclaw/scripts/imsg-ssh",
      remoteHost: "user@gateway-host", // used for SCP attachment fetches
      includeAttachments: true,
      // Optional: override allowed attachment roots.
      // Defaults include /Users/*/Library/Messages/Attachments
      attachmentRoots: ["/Users/*/Library/Messages/Attachments"],
      remoteAttachmentRoots: ["/Users/*/Library/Messages/Attachments"],
    },
  },
}

​

Requirements and permissions (macOS)

• Messages must be signed in on the Mac running imsg.
• Full Disk Access is required for the process context running OpenClaw/imsg (Messages DB access).
• Automation permission is required to send messages through Messages.app.
• For advanced actions (react / edit / unsend / threaded reply / effects / group ops), System Integrity Protection must be disabled — see Enabling the imsg private API below. Basic text and media send/receive work without it.

imsg chats --limit 1
# or
imsg send <handle> "test"

​

Enabling the imsg private API

• Basic mode (default, no SIP changes needed): outbound text and media via send, inbound watch/history, chat list. This is what you get out of the box from a fresh brew install steipete/tap/imsg plus the standard macOS permissions above.
• Private API mode: imsg injects a helper dylib into Messages.app to call internal IMCore functions. This is what unlocks react, edit, unsend, reply (threaded), sendWithEffect, renameGroup, setGroupIcon, addParticipant, removeParticipant, leaveGroup, plus typing indicators and read receipts.

Advanced features such as read, typing, launch, bridge-backed rich send, message mutation, and chat management are opt-in. They require SIP to be disabled and a helper dylib to be injected into Messages.app. imsg launch refuses to inject when SIP is enabled.

​

Setup

1. Install (or upgrade) imsg on the Mac that runs Messages.app:
   brew install steipete/tap/imsg
   imsg --version
   imsg status --json
   
   The imsg status --json output reports bridge_version, rpc_methods, and per-method selectors so you can see what the current build supports before you start.
2. Disable System Integrity Protection. This is macOS-version-specific because the underlying Apple requirement depends on the OS and hardware:
   • macOS 10.13–10.15 (Sierra–Catalina): disable Library Validation via Terminal, reboot to Recovery Mode, run csrutil disable, restart.
   • macOS 11+ (Big Sur and later), Intel: Recovery Mode (or Internet Recovery), csrutil disable, restart.
   • macOS 11+, Apple Silicon: power-button startup sequence to enter Recovery; on recent macOS versions hold the Left Shift key when you click Continue, then csrutil disable. Virtual-machine setups follow a separate flow — take a VM snapshot first.
   • macOS 26 / Tahoe: library-validation policies and imagent private-entitlement checks have tightened further; imsg may need an updated build to keep up. If imsg launch injection or specific selectors start returning false after a macOS major upgrade, check imsg’s release notes before assuming the SIP step succeeded.
   Follow Apple’s Recovery-mode flow for your Mac to disable SIP before running imsg launch.
3. Inject the helper. With SIP disabled and Messages.app signed in:
   imsg launch
   
   imsg launch refuses to inject when SIP is still enabled, so this also doubles as a confirmation that step 2 took.
4. Verify the bridge from OpenClaw:
   openclaw channels status --probe
   
   The iMessage entry should report works, and imsg status --json | jq '.selectors' should show retractMessagePart: true plus whichever edit / typing / read selectors your macOS build exposes. The OpenClaw plugin per-method gating in actions.ts only advertises actions whose underlying selector is true, so the action surface you see in the agent’s tool list reflects what the bridge can actually do on this host.

​

When you can’t disable SIP

• imsg falls back to basic mode — text + media + receive only.
• The OpenClaw plugin still advertises text/media send and inbound monitoring; it just hides react, edit, unsend, reply, sendWithEffect, and group ops from the action surface (per the per-method capability gate).
• You can run a separate non-Apple-Silicon Mac (or a dedicated bot Mac) with SIP off for the iMessage workload, while keeping SIP enabled on your primary devices. See Dedicated bot macOS user (separate iMessage identity) below.

​

Access control and routing

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      groupAllowFrom: ["+15555550123"],
      groups: { "*": { "requireMention": true } },
    },
  },
}

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      groupAllowFrom: ["+15555550123"],
      groups: {
        "*": { systemPrompt: "Use British spelling." },
        "8421": {
          requireMention: true,
          systemPrompt: "This is the on-call rotation chat. Keep replies under 3 sentences.",
        },
        "9907": {
          // explicit suppression: the wildcard "Use British spelling." does not apply here
          systemPrompt: "",
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

​

ACP conversation bindings

• Run /acp spawn codex --bind here inside the DM or allowed group chat.
• Future messages in that same iMessage conversation route to the spawned ACP session.
• /new and /reset reset the same bound ACP session in place.
• /acp close closes the ACP session and removes the binding.

• normalized DM handle such as +15555550123 or user@example.com
• chat_id:<id> (recommended for stable group bindings)
• chat_guid:<guid>
• chat_identifier:<identifier>

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "codex",
        runtime: {
          type: "acp",
          acp: { agent: "codex", backend: "acpx", mode: "persistent" },
        },
      },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    {
      type: "acp",
      agentId: "codex",
      match: {
        channel: "imessage",
        accountId: "default",
        peer: { kind: "group", id: "chat_id:123" },
      },
      acp: { label: "codex-group" },
    },
  ],
}

​

Deployment patterns

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      enabled: true,
      cliPath: "~/.openclaw/scripts/imsg-ssh",
      remoteHost: "bot@mac-mini.tailnet-1234.ts.net",
      includeAttachments: true,
      dbPath: "/Users/bot/Library/Messages/chat.db",
    },
  },
}

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec ssh -T bot@mac-mini.tailnet-1234.ts.net imsg "$@"

​

Media, chunking, and delivery targets

imsg chats --limit 20

​

Private API actions

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      actions: {
        reactions: true,
        edit: true,
        unsend: true,
        reply: true,
        sendWithEffect: true,
        sendAttachment: true,
        renameGroup: true,
        setGroupIcon: true,
        addParticipant: true,
        removeParticipant: true,
        leaveGroup: true,
      },
    },
  },
}

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      sendReadReceipts: false,
    },
  },
}

​

Config writes

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      configWrites: false,
    },
  },
}

​

Coalescing split-send DMs (command + URL in one composition)

1. A text message ("Dump").
2. A URL-preview balloon ("https://...") with OG-preview images as attachments.

{
  channels: {
    imessage: {
      coalesceSameSenderDms: true, // opt in (default: false)
    },
  },
}

{
  messages: {
    inbound: {
      byChannel: {
        // 2500 ms works for most setups; raise to 4000 ms if your Mac is
        // slow or under memory pressure (observed gap can stretch past 2 s
        // then).
        imessage: 2500,
      },
    },
  },
}

​

Scenarios and what the agent sees

​

Catching up after gateway downtime

channels: {
  imessage: {
    catchup: {
      enabled: true,             // master switch (default: false)
      maxAgeMinutes: 120,        // skip rows older than now - 2h (default: 120, clamp 1..720)
      perRunLimit: 50,           // max rows replayed per startup (default: 50, clamp 1..500)
      firstRunLookbackMinutes: 30, // first run with no cursor: look back 30 min (default: 30)
      maxFailureRetries: 10,     // give up on a wedged guid after 10 dispatch failures (default: 10)
    },
  },
}

​

How it runs

​

Cursor and retry semantics

{
  "lastSeenMs": 1717900800000,
  "lastSeenRowid": 482910,
  "updatedAt": 1717900801234,
  "failureRetries": { "<guid>": 1 }
}

• The cursor advances on each successful dispatch and is held when a row’s dispatch throws — the next startup retries the same row from the held cursor.
• After maxFailureRetries consecutive throws against the same guid, catchup logs a warn and force-advances the cursor past the wedged message so subsequent startups can make progress.
• Already-given-up guids are skipped on sight (no dispatch attempt) on later runs and counted under skippedGivenUp in the run summary.

​

Operator-visible signals

imessage catchup: replayed=N skippedFromMe=… skippedGivenUp=… failed=… givenUp=… fetchedCount=…
imessage catchup: giving up on guid=<guid> after <N> failures; advancing cursor past it
imessage catchup: fetched <X> rows across chats, capped to perRunLimit=<Y>

​

When to leave it off

• Gateway runs continuously with watchdog auto-restart and gaps are always < a few seconds — the default of off is fine.
• DM volume is low and missed messages would not change agent behavior — the firstRunLookbackMinutes initial window can dispatch surprising old context on first enable.

​

Troubleshooting

imsg rpc --help
imsg status --json
openclaw channels status --probe

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec ssh -T messages-mac imsg "$@"

openclaw channels status --probe --channel imessage

imsg chats --limit 1
imsg send <handle> "test"

​

Configuration reference pointers

• Configuration reference - iMessage
• Gateway configuration
• Pairing

​

Related

• Channels Overview — all supported channels
• Coming from BlueBubbles — config translation table and step-by-step cutover
• Pairing — DM authentication and pairing flow
• Groups — group chat behavior and mention gating
• Channel Routing — session routing for messages
• Security — access model and hardening