Claude Code Channels: Push Events from Telegram and Discord into Your Coding Agent
Anthropic has launched Claude Code Channels in research preview, a new feature that lets MCP servers push real-time events into a running Claude Code session. This means your coding agent can now react to external triggers — CI results, chat messages, monitoring alerts — even while you're away from the terminal.
Channels work as two-way bridges: Claude reads incoming events and can reply through the same channel. The research preview includes built-in support for Telegram and Discord via official plugins, with a fakechat localhost demo for testing. Developers can also build custom channels using the channels reference documentation.
The setup is straightforward: install a channel plugin, configure credentials, and restart Claude Code with the --channels flag. For Telegram, you create a bot via BotFather and pair it with your session. For Discord, you create a bot application and invite it to your server. Security is enforced through sender allowlists — only paired accounts can push messages.
This feature represents a shift toward always-on agent workflows. Combined with Claude Code's existing background processes and scheduled tasks, channels enable scenarios where your coding agent monitors Telegram for deployment requests, receives Discord alerts about failing tests, or processes webhook events from CI/CD pipelines — all autonomously.
Channels require Claude Code v2.1.80+ and claude.ai authentication. Enterprise organizations must explicitly enable them via admin settings. Documentation: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/channels
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Channels work as two-way bridges: Claude reads incoming events and can reply through the same channel. The research preview includes built-in support for Telegram and Discord via official plugins, with a fakechat localhost demo for testing. Developers can also build custom channels using the channels reference documentation.
The setup is straightforward: install a channel plugin, configure credentials, and restart Claude Code with the --channels flag. For Telegram, you create a bot via BotFather and pair it with your session. For Discord, you create a bot application and invite it to your server. Security is enforced through sender allowlists — only paired accounts can push messages.
This feature represents a shift toward always-on agent workflows. Combined with Claude Code's existing background processes and scheduled tasks, channels enable scenarios where your coding agent monitors Telegram for deployment requests, receives Discord alerts about failing tests, or processes webhook events from CI/CD pipelines — all autonomously.
Channels require Claude Code v2.1.80+ and claude.ai authentication. Enterprise organizations must explicitly enable them via admin settings. Documentation: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/channels