Manage SandboxesMessaging Channels

Add Channels After Onboarding

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Run channel commands from the host, not from inside the sandbox.

Select and Add a Channel

List the supported channel names:

$nemoclaw my-assistant channels list

Add the channel you want:

$nemoclaw my-assistant channels add telegram
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels add discord
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels add slack
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels add wechat
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels add whatsapp
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels add teams

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.

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.

When policy application fails after a fresh add writes registry state, NemoClaw attempts to roll back the bridge providers, messagingChannels entry, and staged environment credentials. 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, registry credential hashes, and prior bridge providers. It flags gateway-providers as residual because the in-flight upsert can leave the gateway with the new token.

Verify the gateway bridge before relying on the channel. Restore the preset YAML and rerun the original command.

Choose the rebuild so the running sandbox image picks up the new channel. For Telegram, Discord, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, 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:

$nemoclaw my-assistant rebuild

Add a Channel Non-Interactively

Set required environment variables before running channels add. Missing credentials fail fast, and the command queues the change for a manual rebuild:

$NEMOCLAW_NON_INTERACTIVE=1 TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="<your-bot-token>" \
>  nemoclaw my-assistant channels add telegram
$nemoclaw my-assistant 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:

$DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN="<your-discord-bot-token>" \
>  DISCORD_SERVER_ID="<your-discord-server-id>" \
>  DISCORD_REQUIRE_MENTION=1 \
>  nemoclaw my-assistant channels add discord

For Microsoft Teams, create the Teams app and public endpoint first:

$MSTEAMS_APP_ID="<your-teams-app-id>" \
>  MSTEAMS_APP_PASSWORD="<your-teams-client-secret>" \
>  MSTEAMS_TENANT_ID="<your-teams-tenant-id>" \
>  TEAMS_ALLOWED_USERS="<your-entra-object-id>" \
>  MSTEAMS_PORT=3978 \
>  nemoclaw my-assistant channels add teams

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 fails fast because the QR handshake needs a paired phone.

$nemoclaw my-assistant channels add wechat

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.

For a repeatable installed-runtime outbound check, run the live messaging-provider test with NEMOCLAW_RUN_LIVE_E2E=1 and NVIDIA_INFERENCE_API_KEY set.

$NEMOCLAW_RUN_LIVE_E2E=1 npx vitest run --project e2e-live test/e2e/live/messaging-providers.test.ts --silent=false --reporter=default

The lane imports the installed OpenClaw Telegram runtime-api.js, calls sendMessageTelegram through the OpenShell credential rewrite path against a host-side fake Telegram API, and verifies that the captured send has no unresolved placeholder. Set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN_REAL and TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID_E2E only when you also want the optional real outbound send.

The lane does not automate an interactive inbound reply.