Add Channels After Onboarding
Run channel commands from the host, not from inside the sandbox.
Select and Add a Channel
List the supported channel names:
channels add can replace a mismatched provider when complete credentials are available.
Replacement is allowed only when the provider is unattached or attached only to the selected sandbox.
An attachment to another sandbox stops the operation.
The --force flag does not override this provider attachment authority.
Add the channel you want:
Add experimental Google Chat through its interactive enrollment flow:
Refer to Set Up Google Chat before running the command.
channels add accepts mixed-case input such as Telegram, then stores and prints the canonical lowercase name.
It collects the inputs the channel needs, registers bridge providers with the OpenShell gateway when it captures tokens, records the channel in the sandbox registry, and asks whether to rebuild immediately.
Telegram, Discord, Slack, and Microsoft Teams prompt for credentials and configuration. WeChat runs an interactive host-side QR scan. WhatsApp collects no token because pairing happens inside the rebuilt sandbox.
Google Chat prompts both agents for a service-account JSON key and sender access settings.
Hermes prompts for the Google Cloud project ID and complete Pub/Sub subscription name. It uses Pub/Sub REST pull and does not create or configure a public webhook endpoint.
Apply Policy and Rebuild
channels add requires the matching built-in network policy preset YAML.
A missing or malformed preset aborts before token prompts, registry writes, or the rebuild prompt, so the sandbox never advertises a channel without matching policy.
With the preset present, the command applies it before rebuild.
OpenShell provider inspection uncertainty stops the operation before provider mutation.
On a fresh add, NemoClaw may already have applied the credential-free policy preset and attempts to remove it before exiting.
If that policy cleanup fails, rebuild the sandbox first, then run the nemohermes <name> policy remove <channel> command printed by the CLI.
When final policy application fails after provider registration during a fresh add, NemoClaw attempts to roll back the bridge providers, preset, and staged environment credentials.
The registry has not been updated at that point.
It exits without prompting for a rebuild.
If a gateway-side cleanup step fails, rollback continues and prints Rollback could not fully clean <surfaces> so you can clean up manually.
When the same failure happens while re-adding an enabled channel, NemoClaw restores the prior messagingChannels entry, staged environment credentials when available, and registry credential hashes.
An existing provider can be changed during re-add.
NemoClaw attempts to restore stored provider credentials, but it cannot restore prior gateway refresh material that was available only during the earlier setup command.
NemoClaw flags gateway-providers as residual.
Inspect the channel’s gateway providers, restore the preset YAML, and correct the gateway failure.
When the gateway is reachable, run the nemohermes <name> channels remove <channel> command printed by the CLI, then rerun nemohermes <name> channels add <channel>.
Choose the rebuild so the running sandbox image picks up the new channel.
For Telegram, Discord, and Slack, channels add checks the rebuilt runtime for the selected bridge and reports startup, credential, or missing-plugin warnings before returning.
If you defer the rebuild, apply the change later:
For an affected v0.0.119 N1x sandbox whose registry records both endpointUrl and endpointSource as null without durable preview acceptance, repeat the one-time recovery choice described in Set Up vLLM:
Add a Channel Non-Interactively
Set required environment variables before running channels add.
A run without a terminal on stdin is non-interactive even when NEMOCLAW_NON_INTERACTIVE=1 is unset.
An SSH command without -t, a service unit, and a CI job all run without a terminal.
Missing credentials fail fast, and the command queues the change for a manual rebuild:
Optional mention-mode settings that declare defaults are still written when unset.
Telegram mention mode defaults to 1.
Discord mention mode defaults to 1 when DISCORD_SERVER_ID is set.
For Discord server access, include the server settings:
For Microsoft Teams, create the Teams app and public endpoint first:
After rebuild starts the Teams webhook forward, route the public HTTPS endpoint to http://127.0.0.1:3978/api/messages or the selected MSTEAMS_PORT.
Add WeChat
channels add wechat renders a QR code, polls Tencent’s iLink gateway, and captures the bot token plus accountId, baseUrl, and userId after you scan the QR.
The login has an eight-minute deadline and refreshes the QR up to three times on expiry.
Keep the terminal in the foreground until you see ✓ WeChat login confirmed.
The command requires an interactive terminal.
NEMOCLAW_NON_INTERACTIVE=1, or a run without a terminal on stdin, fails fast because the QR handshake needs a paired phone.
If WECHAT_BOT_TOKEN is already cached for this sandbox, the command reuses it and skips the QR scan so the upstream plugin’s iLink session remains valid.
Use channels remove wechat first if you intend to acquire a fresh account.
Verify Delivery
Send a message to the configured bot or app after the rebuild.
For Telegram, a Bot API sendMessage proves outbound delivery only.
To test inbound agent replies, send a message from the Telegram client as an allowed user and inspect the gateway log for the inbound turn and outbound reply.
Related Topics
- Choose Messaging Channels for provider-specific prerequisites.
- Manage Messaging Channels to rotate, pause, resume, or remove channels.
- Common Integration Policy Examples for messaging presets.