Set Up A Messaging Channel

Use this guide when you want one external chat surface to reach the resident Anyy gateway. For platform-specific fields, open the matching page under Messaging Platforms.

Channels are gateway features

Channels do not run inside one-shot CLI calls. Start the resident gateway before expecting inbound messages, outbound replies, cron deliveries, or background-job notifications to move through a messaging platform.

Pick One Implemented Channel

Start with one platform and verify it end to end before adding more.

Implemented channel names are:

Name	Platform
telegram	Telegram
discord	Discord
slack	Slack
whatsapp	WhatsApp
facebook	Facebook Messenger
email	Email (IMAP/SMTP)
sms	SMS through Twilio
dingtalk	DingTalk
feishu	Feishu / Lark
weixin	Weixin / WeChat
qqbot	QQ Bot
irc	IRC
line	LINE

The catalog command shows local setup status:

anyy setup channels

It prints the supported catalog and tells you to run anyy setup channels CHANNEL --write-config. Planned catalog entries may appear, but they return a planned-status JSON payload until a runtime adapter ships.

Create Platform Credentials

Create the external platform credentials first. Anyy generally needs one of these shapes:

Shape	Examples
Bot token	Telegram, Discord, Slack, Weixin
App id plus secret	Feishu, DingTalk, QQ Bot
Webhook token or secret	LINE, SMS, Facebook
Bridge URL/token	WhatsApp
Host/login secret	Email, IRC

Store secrets with --secret NAME=VALUE. The setup command writes profile-local secret files and writes only secret: references into config.yaml.

Write Channel Config

Use the direct setup form:

anyy setup channels CHANNEL \
  --account-id ACCOUNT_ID \
  --secret NAME=VALUE \
  --set FIELD=VALUE \
  --write-config

Example:

anyy setup channels discord \
  --secret bot_token='discord-bot-token' \
  --write-config

The command prints JSON with the config path, redacted secret refs, written secret names, and a doctor command. It writes channels.<name> only when --write-config is present.

List fields such as allow_from, allow_groups, channels, or mention_aliases should be edited as YAML lists after setup:

channels:
  discord:
    dm_policy: allowlist
    allow_from:
      - "user-id"

Start Or Reload The Gateway

Channels run inside the resident gateway:

anyy gateway start

After editing channel config while the gateway is running:

anyy channels reload

If reload fails, confirm the gateway is running for the same profile/home:

anyy gateway status
anyy status

Run Channel Doctor

Run the channel-specific doctor and the general doctor:

anyy channels doctor CHANNEL
anyy doctor

channels doctor is an offline config check. It validates config shape, required fields, secret references, and known readiness gates. It does not create platform apps, register webhooks, or call provider APIs.

Tighten Access Before Broad Use

Before inviting a bot into groups or broad workspaces, configure admission policy:

channels:
  slack:
    dm_policy: allowlist
    group_policy: mention
    allow_from:
      - "U0123456789"
    allow_groups:
      - "C0123456789"

Common policies:

Policy	Use
open	Accept matching senders or groups without pairing.
pairing	Allow initial pairing where the adapter supports it.
allowlist	Accept only configured ids.
mention	For groups, require a mention before responding.
disabled	Ignore inbound messages for that scope.

Channel access controls who can reach Anyy. It does not grant extra power to risky tools. Approvals, ChangePlans, audit, and tool policy still apply.

Verify A Real Message

Send a small message from the platform:

/status

Then send an ordinary message:

Say hello in one short sentence.

If the command works but ordinary chat does not, check the provider/model config. If neither works, check gateway logs, channel policy, anyy channels doctor CHANNEL, and the platform setup page's troubleshooting section.