Configuration — shared channel policies

Keys under channels.defaults and channels.modelByChannel that apply to every channel, plus the shared multi-account pattern.

DM and group access

All channels support DM policies and group policies:

Channel model overrides

Use channels.modelByChannel to pin specific channel IDs or direct-message peers to a model. Values accept provider/model or configured model aliases. The channel mapping only applies when a session does not already have an active model override (for example, one set via /model). Changes refresh loaded channel runtimes without restarting the Gateway; manually stopped accounts stay stopped.

For group/thread conversations, keys are channel-specific group IDs, topic IDs, or channel names. For direct-message (DM) conversations, keys are peer identifiers derived from the channel's sender identity (nativeDirectUserId, origin.from, origin.to, OriginatingTo, From, or SenderId). The exact key form depends on the channel:

{  channels: {    modelByChannel: {      discord: {        "123456789012345678": "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6",      },      slack: {        C1234567890: "openai/gpt-5.6-sol",        "user:U12345": "openai/gpt-5.4-mini",      },      telegram: {        "-1001234567890": "openai/gpt-5.4-mini",        "-1001234567890:topic:99": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",        "123456789": "openai/gpt-4.1",      },    },  },}

DM-specific keys only match in direct-message conversations; they do not affect group/thread routing.

Channel defaults and heartbeat

Use channels.defaults for shared group-policy, implicit-mention, and heartbeat behavior across providers. Changes refresh loaded channel runtimes without restarting the Gateway; manually stopped accounts stay stopped:

{  channels: {    defaults: {      groupPolicy: "allowlist", // open | allowlist | disabled      contextVisibility: "all", // all | allowlist | allowlist_quote      implicitMentions: {        replyToBot: true,        quotedBot: true,        threadParticipation: true,      },      heartbeatVisibility: {        showOk: false,        showAlerts: true,        useIndicator: true,      },    },  },}

• channels.defaults.groupPolicy: fallback group policy when a provider-level groupPolicy is unset.
• channels.defaults.contextVisibility: default supplemental context visibility mode for all channels. Values: all (default, include all quoted/thread/history context), allowlist (only include context from allowlisted senders), allowlist_quote (same as allowlist but keep explicit quote/reply context). Per-channel override: channels.<channel>.contextVisibility.
• channels.defaults.implicitMentions: controls which supported inbound facts count as mentions. replyToBot, quotedBot, and threadParticipation each default to true, preserving current behavior. The names are positive: set a flag to false to stop that fact from bypassing mention gating. Among bundled channels, Mattermost, Slack, and Tlon read this policy; on those channels you can also override it per channel with channels.<channel>.implicitMentions or per account with channels.<channel>.accounts.<id>.implicitMentions, and each flag resolves account -> channel -> defaults independently. Other bundled channels that produce implicit mention facts do not currently read these settings, so on those channels the facts always count as mentions and the override has no effect. Native explicit mentions are always allowed, and a flag has no effect when the channel does not produce that fact. See Mention gating for the current producer matrix. These settings do not change outbound reply/thread modes or authorized command handling.
• channels.defaults.heartbeatVisibility.showOk: deliver legacy HEARTBEAT_OK acknowledgments when the monitor has nothing to report (default false).
• channels.defaults.heartbeatVisibility.showAlerts: deliver user-facing heartbeat monitor alerts (default true).
• channels.defaults.heartbeatVisibility.useIndicator: emit heartbeat status indicator events (default true).

Multi-account (all channels)

Run multiple accounts per channel (each with its own accountId):

This pattern applies to channels that support accounts. Microsoft Teams uses only the channel-level channels.msteams configuration.

{  channels: {    telegram: {      accounts: {        default: {          name: "Primary bot",          botToken: "123456:ABC...",        },        alerts: {          name: "Alerts bot",          botToken: "987654:XYZ...",        },      },    },  },}

• default is used when accountId is omitted (CLI + routing).
• Env tokens only apply to the default account.
• Base channel settings apply to all accounts unless overridden per account.
• For Discord, Google Chat, iMessage, Signal, Slack, Telegram, and WhatsApp, an omitted account groupPolicy or dmPolicy inherits the channel policy. An explicit account value wins, including allowlist or pairing. With no applicable policy configured, group access stays allowlist and DMs use pairing.
• WhatsApp also inherits shared settings from accounts.default before falling back to the channel root; Google Chat uses shared accounts.default settings below root settings. See the channel pages for these exceptions and collection-merging rules.
• Use bindings[].match.accountId to route each account to a different agent.
• If you add a non-default account via openclaw channels add (or channel onboarding) while still on a single-account top-level channel config, OpenClaw promotes account-scoped top-level single-account values into the channel account map first so the original account keeps working. Most channels move them into channels.<channel>.accounts.default; Matrix can preserve an existing matching named/default target instead.
• Existing channel-only bindings (no accountId) keep matching the default account; account-scoped bindings remain optional.
• openclaw doctor --fix also repairs mixed shapes by moving account-scoped top-level single-account values into the promoted account chosen for that channel. Most channels use accounts.default; Matrix can preserve an existing matching named/default target instead.