Connect a channel

An agent can receive conversations from several platforms. Connect the platform first, then approve the people or groups allowed to reach the agent. A valid bot token or linked account does not grant every sender access.

Guide	What you need	Delivery	Conversations
Telegram	BotFather bot token	Long polling	DMs, groups, supergroups
Discord	Bot token, intents and server permissions	Discord Gateway	DMs, guild channels and threads
LINE	Official Account, access token and channel secret	Signed HTTPS webhook	DMs, groups and rooms
Slack	App bot token and signing secret	Signed HTTPS Events API	DMs and channel mentions
WhatsApp linked device	Phone account and QR or device pairing code	Linked device connection	DMs and groups; multiple accounts
WhatsApp Cloud API	Meta business assets and four credential fields	Signed HTTPS webhook	DMs in this integration
WeChat	Personal account eligible for iLink and a QR scan	iLink long polling	DMs; one account per agent

Before you connect

Create an agent and verify that it can answer in the gateway first. See getting started. You need permission to configure that agent and permission to create or install the platform app. Platform tokens authenticate the bot to its provider; gateway API keys authenticate administrative requests to the gateway. They are different credentials.

For Telegram, Discord, LINE and Slack, run:

claude-gateway agents update --agent assistant

Choose the channel connection step and enter the credentials requested. The same wizard can update or disconnect these four channels. WhatsApp device linking and WeChat use their link controls/API; WhatsApp Cloud credentials are configured in agent settings or the agent configuration.

The JSON examples in the platform guides are fragments of an existing agents[] entry in ~/.claude-gateway/config.json (or your GATEWAY_CONFIG file). Keep the entry's id, workspace, env, claude and other settings. ${VARIABLE} interpolation reads the gateway process environment; exporting a variable only inside an agent session does not make it available to the configuration loader. Arrange for your service/container to load those variables, then restart the gateway after manual configuration edits. A missing interpolated variable can cause the affected agent to be skipped at startup.

Approve access

New channel policies are closed by default. dmPolicy and, where supported, groupPolicy use open, allowlist or disabled. pairing is a separate boolean: when enabled under an allowlist policy, a denied sender can receive a code for the administrator to recognize. Turning pairing off keeps the allowlist active and stops new pairing invitations. A disabled policy stays disabled even when pairing is on.

Telegram and Discord have approval queues:

claude-gateway channels pending --agent assistant
claude-gateway channels approve --agent assistant --channel telegram --code YOUR_CODE
claude-gateway channels deny --agent assistant --channel discord --code YOUR_CODE

Only approve requests you recognize. Telegram/Discord store their active policies in the workspace's channel access.json files. Older files may preserve older behavior, so inspect the effective settings rather than assuming new-agent defaults.

LINE, Slack, WhatsApp and WeChat instead expose pending sender discovery. Compare the code with the sender, then add their stable sender or group ID to the appropriate allowlist in channel settings. The CLI channels approve command does not support these platforms. Removing a pending row only dismisses discovery; it does not approve the sender.

Publish a webhook

LINE, Slack and WhatsApp Cloud need a public HTTPS URL that reaches the gateway's /webhooks/{app}/{agentId} route. For a deployment published under /gateway, a LINE URL is:

https://gateway.example.com/gateway/webhooks/line/assistant

A direct host without that prefix uses /webhooks/line/assistant. Preserve your deployment's actual proxy path, and include the agent ID to avoid routing to the first configured agent. gateway.publicUrl describes the public gateway base; setting it does not create DNS, TLS or a tunnel.

Webhook ingress bypasses gateway API-key authentication because providers authenticate requests with their own signatures. Keep the signed body and signature headers intact, and configure the reverse proxy so these routes do not redirect providers to a login page. All management APIs remain authenticated. See the API reference.

Orchestration and voice

gateway.orchestration: true enables managed conversations and background tasks across every connected channel. Voice providers and models are configured per agent under agents[].voice. Telegram, Discord, LINE and Slack support voice notes, spoken replies and chat controls; see orchestration and voice setup. WhatsApp and WeChat retain their adapter-specific media limits.

Diagnose a silent bot

Check these in order:

1. Connection: valid token or linked account; gateway and agent running.
2. Delivery: polling conflict, Discord permissions/intents, or webhook reachability and signature.
3. Access: sender/group allowlist, policy and pairing status.
4. Mention: group mention requirement and the provider's ability to deliver that message.
5. Execution/reply: agent credentials, provider response errors, media limits and quotas.

Each guide gives platform-specific checks and a first-message test. For gateway logs and process problems, continue to troubleshooting.