Add Channel to Agent

Add

$1

channel to agent

$0

.

Reference

Read

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/07-channel-configuration.md

for detailed guidance.

Setup Detection

OPENCLAW_REPO=$(readlink ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json 2>/dev/null | sed 's|/.openclaw/openclaw.json||')
TIER_CONFIGS=(~/.openclaw/configs/openclaw-*.json)
[[ -f "${TIER_CONFIGS[0]}" ]] && MULTI_GATEWAY=true || MULTI_GATEWAY=false

Resolve Config File

Multi-gateway

Find which tier the agent belongs to:

for cfg in ~/.openclaw/configs/openclaw-*.json; do
  if grep -q "\"id\": *\"$0\"" "$cfg" 2>/dev/null; then
    TIER=$(basename "$cfg" | sed 's/openclaw-//;s/.json//')
    CONFIG="$OPENCLAW_REPO/.openclaw/configs/openclaw-$TIER.json"
    break
  fi
done

If the agent isn't found in any tier config, ask the user which tier it belongs to.

Single-gateway

CONFIG="$OPENCLAW_REPO/.openclaw/openclaw.json"

Steps

1. Read current config: Read

   $CONFIG

   to see existing channels and bindings.

2. Depending on channel type:

Telegram

• Ask user for the bot token (from @BotFather)
• Store in keychain:
  • Multi-gateway:

    security add-generic-password -s "openclaw-$TIER-telegram-$0-bot-token" -a "openclaw" -w "<TOKEN>" ~/.openclaw/openclaw.keychain-db

  • Single-gateway:

    security add-generic-password -s "openclaw.telegram-$0-bot-token" -a "openclaw" -w "<TOKEN>" ~/.openclaw/openclaw.keychain-db

• Add to

  channels.telegram.accounts

  in the config (NEVER add botToken at the top-level telegram config — only in accounts):

  "$0": {
    "name": "<agent display name>",
    "enabled": true,
    "dmPolicy": "pairing",
    "botToken": "${OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_<AGENT_UPPER>_BOT_TOKEN}",
    "groupPolicy": "allowlist",
    "streaming": "partial"
  }
  

• Add binding:

  {"agentId": "$0", "match": {"channel": "telegram", "accountId": "$0"}}

Slack

• Ask user for bot token (

  xoxb-...

  ) and app token (

  xapp-...

  )
• Store both in keychain (same tier-aware naming as Telegram)
• Add to

  channels.slack.accounts

  with both tokens,

  nativeStreaming: true

  (NEVER add tokens or nativeStreaming at the top-level slack config — only in accounts)
• Add binding with accountId

WhatsApp

• Add phone numbers to

  channels.whatsapp.allowFrom

  array
• Create binding:

  {"agentId": "$0", "match": {"channel": "whatsapp"}}

GChat

• Add binding:

  {"agentId": "$0", "match": {"channel": "gchat", "accountId": "$0"}}

3. Update secrets loader script:

Multi-gateway

Add export lines to

$OPENCLAW_REPO/.openclaw/scripts/start-$TIER.sh

(before the

exec

block), following the existing

kc()

pattern in the file.

Single-gateway

Add export lines to BOTH:

• $OPENCLAW_REPO/.openclaw/scripts/openclaw-secrets.sh

• $OPENCLAW_REPO/.openclaw/scripts/openclaw-env.sh

4. Update secrets.sh — Add entry to the SECRETS array in

   $OPENCLAW_REPO/secrets.sh

5. Stow and restart:

rm -f ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json
cd "$OPENCLAW_REPO" && stow --no-folding -t ~ .

Multi-gateway

launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/ai.openclaw.gateway.$TIER

Single-gateway

launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/ai.openclaw.gateway

6. Verify: Check the tier's gateway logs for the new channel starting, then send a test message.

• Multi-gateway:

  tail -30 ~/.openclaw-$TIER/gateway.log

• Single-gateway:

  tail -30 ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.log

Important

• Env var naming convention:

  OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_<AGENT_UPPER>_BOT_TOKEN

  (uppercase, underscores)
• Channel tokens go ONLY in the

  accounts

  section — never at the top-level channel config. Adding tokens at both levels causes duplicate responses.
• Never echo the token back to the user after storing it