Manage SandboxesMessaging Channels

Manage Messaging Channels

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Use host-side channel commands to change a configured messaging channel.

Rotate Credentials

Running channels add for a channel that is already configured overwrites stored tokens and registers the updated bridge provider. Rebuild the sandbox after the update so the image reflects the current channel set.

For WeChat, the cached-token shortcut applies. Remove WeChat first when you intend to acquire a fresh account through a new QR scan.

For detailed token rotation procedures, refer to Credential Rotation.

Remove a Channel

Remove the channel and clear its stored credentials:

$nemoclaw my-assistant channels remove telegram
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels remove wechat
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels remove teams

channels remove wechat clears the bot token, deletes the <sandbox>-wechat-bridge provider, and removes wechat from the enabled-channel set. The next rebuild omits WeChat configuration and per-account state files.

For in-sandbox QR-paired channels such as WhatsApp, channels remove destructively clears the session directory before rebuild so stale auth files do not reconnect the channel.

The cleanup targets /sandbox/.openclaw/<channel>/.

It tries openshell sandbox exec and falls back to SSH if the first transport does not produce the success sentinel. If neither transport can reach a running sandbox, the command exits nonzero and asks you to start the sandbox and rerun it.

NemoClaw leaves the registry, policy preset, and session.policyPresets unchanged on that failure path so a later retry can complete cleanly.

channels remove whatsapp clears the client-side Baileys session but cannot deregister the linked device with WhatsApp’s servers after the local connection is gone. The phone continues to list the sandbox as a Linked Device until you remove it manually or WhatsApp’s 14-day inactivity timeout expires.

Remove the phone entry before pairing the same account with another sandbox.

Pause and Resume a Channel

Use channels stop when you want to pause a bridge without deleting credentials:

$nemoclaw my-assistant channels stop telegram
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels start telegram
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels stop wechat
$nemoclaw my-assistant channels start wechat

For WeChat, channels stop wechat followed by rebuild keeps the per-account state under /sandbox/.openclaw/openclaw-weixin/accounts/ even though the bridge is no longer wired into openclaw.json. A later channels start wechat plus rebuild revives the bridge against the same iLink account without a fresh QR scan. The bot token remains in the OpenShell provider across the stop and start cycle.

When channels start re-enables a channel, NemoClaw reapplies the matching built-in policy preset before rebuild. If policy restoration fails, the command keeps the channel disabled and exits without rebuilding into a partially active state.

Avoid Cross-Sandbox Conflicts

Telegram, Discord, Slack, and WeChat allow one active consumer per channel credential. Multiple sandboxes can use the same channel type when each uses a distinct token or WeChat bot account.

For WeChat, each sandbox must own a distinct iLink accountId. Running two sandboxes against the same account causes one to lose messages.

If another sandbox already uses the same token, interactive onboarding prompts for confirmation and non-interactive onboarding exits nonzero. For Slack, NemoClaw checks both bot and Socket Mode app tokens.

For Microsoft Teams, NemoClaw also checks the local webhook port because active Teams sandboxes cannot share it. If NemoClaw has only legacy metadata and cannot compare credential hashes, it keeps the conservative warning.

Rerun channels add <channel> with the intended token to refresh stored non-secret identity metadata.

Before any rebuild, NemoClaw rechecks the staged messaging plan against other registered sandboxes. A credential or resource conflict aborts before backup or deletion and leaves the original sandbox registered and intact.

Resolve the conflict, then rerun the operation. nemoclaw status reports cross-sandbox overlaps.

Stop All Delivery

Use channels stop for an individual bridge or stop the sandbox when you need to stop the complete supervised runtime.

nemoclaw tunnel stop stops host auxiliary services and asks NemoClaw to stop the OpenClaw gateway inside the selected sandbox. The deprecated full nemoclaw stop command also attempts to release an unshared OpenShell gateway port whose ownership NemoClaw can verify.

Stopping the in-sandbox gateway stops all channel delivery for that sandbox until you restart the sandbox or gateway.

Full stop preserves a shared gateway and fails closed without releasing its port when ownership is ambiguous.