Channels

A channel connects OpenClaw to a chat service.

Support matrix

A webhook channel works only if the Worker has a route for it: Telegram, Slack, Discord and Twilio do. Any other path needs the owner cookie, so another platform’s webhook calls get 404 in every sleep mode. “Sleeps” means the install can sleep between messages. “Always-on” means the channel holds a connection, so the container must stay up. See Cost.

Add a “sleeps” channel with ochost channels add. Add an “always-on” channel with OpenClaw’s own tools; ochost status then names it as the sleep blocker.

Telegram

Telegram uses a webhook. The Worker stores and acknowledges each update before the container is up, which is why the install can sleep.

Add the bot

1. Get a bot token from @BotFather. See Quickstart.
2. Run ochost channels add telegram and paste the token. The input is hidden. To give it from a file, use --token-file <file>.
3. Send a direct message to the bot.
4. Run ochost pairing approve telegram <code> with the code the bot sends.

ochost channels add telegram
ochost pairing approve telegram <code>
ochost channels list
ochost channels remove telegram

Pairing

Pairing is how you approve who may talk to the bot.

• --wait-pair waits for you to send a direct message to the bot, for 10 minutes by default. --pair-timeout sets the wait.
• Without --wait-pair, a pairing request stays open 24 hours, and ochost pairing list shows it.
• ochost pairing wait waits for a request.
• ochost init --telegram-owner <id> records your Telegram user id. The bot then approves your first direct message without a code, but not a group message.
• Only one Telegram bot works. A second bot is refused with “a second Telegram bot is not supported in v1”.

What wakes the install

The wake list is the set of senders and groups whose messages wake the install.

• A message from a sender you approved by pairing wakes the install.
• A message from an unknown sender is stored and acknowledged, but it does not wake the install or keep it awake. The Worker holds it until the next wake.
• A group wakes the install only when its chat id is a key in groups. A sender in groupAllowFrom does not wake it from an unlisted group.
• Your own messages (the --telegram-owner id) wake it from any chat.

The waking message

While the install wakes, the Worker shows the typing indicator and one “Waking up” message with the wake phase and the seconds so far. The Worker deletes the message when the reply arrives.

To change this, set telegram.wakeProgress in oc-host.jsonc, then run ochost deploy.

The message goes only to a chat where a person wrote to the bot or pressed its button.

channels add telegram also sets streaming.mode: partial, so the answer text streams into one preview message. To change it, set streaming.mode to progress (tool lines only), block or off with ochost config set. Reasoning is a per-session command, not a config key: send /reasoning stream in the chat to see it live, or /reasoning on to keep it.

Slack, Discord and Twilio SMS

For these channels, the Worker checks the platform signature, stores the event and answers inside the platform deadline, then wakes the install. The container is not on that path. These adapters are experimental.

ochost channels add slack       # or discord, twilio (sms is the same as twilio)
ochost channels remove slack

1. Set the secrets in your environment, or wait for the hidden prompt:
   • Slack: SLACK_BOT_TOKEN, SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET.
   • Discord: DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN, DISCORD_PUBLIC_KEY, DISCORD_APPLICATION_ID.
   • Twilio: TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID, TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN, TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER.
2. Run ochost channels add <channel>. The values become Worker secrets, never config values.
3. Paste the URL it prints into the platform console: https://<worker>/_ochost/hook/slack, /discord or /twilio.
4. Wait for the first signed call from the platform. --no-wait skips the wait, and --verify-timeout 5m sets it.

Notes:

• OpenClaw keeps Slack and SMS in separate plugins. The oc-workers image has both, and channels add turns the plugin on. An older install needs ochost deploy first; without the plugin, messages wait in the inbox.
• channels add tells the Worker that the secrets changed, so no deploy is needed.
• channels remove refuses while the channel has messages that the gateway did not take. --force removes the channel and drops those messages. It prints the wrangler secret delete commands but does not delete the secrets.

Every verified Slack or Twilio event wakes the install. Only Telegram has a wake list.

Socket channels

A socket cannot survive a sleep, and oc-workers treats an unknown channel as a socket. A socket channel keeps the install always-on: about $50 to $69 a month at the default size, against about $7 to $14 when it can sleep.

Messages that do not go out

The Worker keeps each message in the inbox until the gateway (OpenClaw in the container) takes it. A message that the gateway keeps refusing stays in the inbox and keeps the install awake for up to 23 hours, until it expires.

• After 3 refusals in a row with “route missing” (404 or 501), you get the inbox-blocked alert, which names the route and the fix. A single 404 does not stop the queue.
• While the gateway stops or restarts, the Worker holds the message (503 gateway-stopping) and sends it after the restart.
• After a restart without a clean stop, the Worker resends only the messages taken after the last reply or in the last 2 minutes. It drops messages older than 24 hours.
• ochost inbox list shows the messages, their channel and the number of attempts.
• ochost inbox drop <id> drops one message, and ochost inbox drop --all --channel sms drops all messages of one channel. A dropped message is not delivered.
• When waiting messages are the only thing that stops a sleep, ochost sleep now --force drops them and prints how many it dropped.

Test without a bot

ochost init --fake-telegram makes a test install with a fake Telegram inside the Worker, so channels add telegram needs no BotFather token. A test install cannot talk to a real bot, and it turns on test hooks in the Worker, so do not put it to real use. To go back, run ochost init --no-fake-telegram, then channels add telegram.

ochost or openclaw commands

Use ochost channels add for the channel token and ochost pairing for the first approval of a sender. Both must go through the Worker: the bot token is a Worker secret, the webhook URL points at the Worker, and an approved sender joins the wake list. After that, OpenClaw’s own pairing page and openclaw channels commands work inside the gateway. A Telegram token set only in OpenClaw runs long-polling, which blocks sleep.

Adopt a channel from the OpenClaw UI

You can paste a bot token in OpenClaw’s Settings > Channels and save it. The Worker does not use that config at once. It holds it, because a token in the UI config makes OpenClaw poll, and polling keeps the install awake. Meanwhile the gateway keeps its last good config.

Open the Setup tab of the owner console. The row says “token in the UI config, waiting for adoption”. Push Adopt (or run ochost channels adopt telegram), and the Worker:

1. sets the Telegram webhook (a wrong token stops here, and nothing changes);
2. moves the token out of the config and keeps it in its own store;
3. rewrites the channel to webhook mode and accepts the config;
4. restarts the gateway.

Slack, Discord and Twilio work the same way. Discord also needs its application id in the UI config. The public key is not a UI field, so Discord adopt stops with “missing” until you use ochost channels add discord.

One difference from channels add: an adopted token goes in the Control DO’s creds store, while ochost channels add writes a Worker secret. A Worker secret of the same name wins.

Next

Go to Models.