Building channel plugins

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.openclaw.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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How channel plugins work

• Config - account resolution and setup wizard
• Security - DM policy and allowlists
• Pairing - DM approval flow
• Session grammar - how provider-specific conversation ids map to base chats, thread ids, and parent fallbacks
• Outbound - sending text, media, and polls to the platform
• Threading - how replies are threaded
• Heartbeat typing - optional typing/busy signals for heartbeat delivery targets

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Approvals and channel capabilities

• Core owns same-chat /approve, shared approval button payloads, and generic fallback delivery.
• Prefer one approvalCapability object on the channel plugin when the channel needs approval-specific behavior.
• ChannelPlugin.approvals is removed. Put approval delivery/native/render/auth facts on approvalCapability.
• plugin.auth is login/logout only; core no longer reads approval auth hooks from that object.
• approvalCapability.authorizeActorAction and approvalCapability.getActionAvailabilityState are the canonical approval-auth seam.
• Use approvalCapability.getActionAvailabilityState for same-chat approval auth availability.
• If your channel exposes native exec approvals, use approvalCapability.getExecInitiatingSurfaceState for the initiating-surface/native-client state when it differs from same-chat approval auth. Core uses that exec-specific hook to distinguish enabled vs disabled, decide whether the initiating channel supports native exec approvals, and include the channel in native-client fallback guidance. createApproverRestrictedNativeApprovalCapability(...) fills this in for the common case.
• Use outbound.shouldSuppressLocalPayloadPrompt or outbound.beforeDeliverPayload for channel-specific payload lifecycle behavior such as hiding duplicate local approval prompts or sending typing indicators before delivery.
• Use approvalCapability.delivery only for native approval routing or fallback suppression.
• Use approvalCapability.nativeRuntime for channel-owned native approval facts. Keep it lazy on hot channel entrypoints with createLazyChannelApprovalNativeRuntimeAdapter(...), which can import your runtime module on demand while still letting core assemble the approval lifecycle.
• Use approvalCapability.render only when a channel truly needs custom approval payloads instead of the shared renderer.
• Use approvalCapability.describeExecApprovalSetup when the channel wants the disabled-path reply to explain the exact config knobs needed to enable native exec approvals. The hook receives { channel, channelLabel, accountId }; named-account channels should render account-scoped paths such as channels.<channel>.accounts.<id>.execApprovals.* instead of top-level defaults.
• If a channel can infer stable owner-like DM identities from existing config, use createResolvedApproverActionAuthAdapter from openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-runtime to restrict same-chat /approve without adding approval-specific core logic.
• If a channel needs native approval delivery, keep channel code focused on target normalization plus transport/presentation facts. Use createChannelExecApprovalProfile, createChannelNativeOriginTargetResolver, createChannelApproverDmTargetResolver, and createApproverRestrictedNativeApprovalCapability from openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-runtime. Put the channel-specific facts behind approvalCapability.nativeRuntime, ideally via createChannelApprovalNativeRuntimeAdapter(...) or createLazyChannelApprovalNativeRuntimeAdapter(...), so core can assemble the handler and own request filtering, routing, dedupe, expiry, gateway subscription, and routed-elsewhere notices. nativeRuntime is split into a few smaller seams:
• createChannelNativeOriginTargetResolver uses the shared channel-route matcher by default for { to, accountId, threadId } targets. Pass targetsMatch only when a channel has provider-specific equivalence rules, such as Slack timestamp prefix matching.
• Pass normalizeTargetForMatch to createChannelNativeOriginTargetResolver when the channel needs to canonicalize provider ids before the default route matcher or a custom targetsMatch callback runs, while preserving the original target for delivery. Use normalizeTarget only when the resolved delivery target itself should be canonicalized.
• availability - whether the account is configured and whether a request should be handled
• presentation - map the shared approval view model into pending/resolved/expired native payloads or final actions
• transport - prepare targets plus send/update/delete native approval messages
• interactions - optional bind/unbind/clear-action hooks for native buttons or reactions
• observe - optional delivery diagnostics hooks
• If the channel needs runtime-owned objects such as a client, token, Bolt app, or webhook receiver, register them through openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-runtime-context. The generic runtime-context registry lets core bootstrap capability-driven handlers from channel startup state without adding approval-specific wrapper glue.
• Reach for the lower-level createChannelApprovalHandler or createChannelNativeApprovalRuntime only when the capability-driven seam is not expressive enough yet.
• Native approval channels must route both accountId and approvalKind through those helpers. accountId keeps multi-account approval policy scoped to the right bot account, and approvalKind keeps exec vs plugin approval behavior available to the channel without hardcoded branches in core.
• Core now owns approval reroute notices too. Channel plugins should not send their own “approval went to DMs / another channel” follow-up messages from createChannelNativeApprovalRuntime; instead, expose accurate origin + approver-DM routing through the shared approval capability helpers and let core aggregate actual deliveries before posting any notice back to the initiating chat.
• Preserve the delivered approval id kind end-to-end. Native clients should not guess or rewrite exec vs plugin approval routing from channel-local state.
• Different approval kinds can intentionally expose different native surfaces. Current bundled examples:
  • Slack keeps native approval routing available for both exec and plugin ids.
  • Matrix keeps the same native DM/channel routing and reaction UX for exec and plugin approvals, while still letting auth differ by approval kind.
• createApproverRestrictedNativeApprovalAdapter still exists as a compatibility wrapper, but new code should prefer the capability builder and expose approvalCapability on the plugin.

• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-auth-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-client-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-delivery-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-gateway-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-handler-adapter-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-handler-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-native-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-reply-runtime
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-runtime-context

• openclaw/plugin-sdk/setup-runtime covers the runtime-safe setup helpers: import-safe setup patch adapters (createPatchedAccountSetupAdapter, createEnvPatchedAccountSetupAdapter, createSetupInputPresenceValidator), lookup-note output, promptResolvedAllowFrom, splitSetupEntries, and the delegated setup-proxy builders
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/setup-adapter-runtime is the narrow env-aware adapter seam for createEnvPatchedAccountSetupAdapter
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-setup covers the optional-install setup builders plus a few setup-safe primitives: createOptionalChannelSetupSurface, createOptionalChannelSetupAdapter,

• use the broader openclaw/plugin-sdk/setup seam only when you also need the heavier shared setup/config helpers such as moveSingleAccountChannelSectionToDefaultAccount(...)

• openclaw/plugin-sdk/account-core, openclaw/plugin-sdk/account-id, openclaw/plugin-sdk/account-resolution, and openclaw/plugin-sdk/account-helpers for multi-account config and default-account fallback
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/inbound-envelope and openclaw/plugin-sdk/inbound-reply-dispatch for inbound route/envelope and record-and-dispatch wiring
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/messaging-targets for target parsing/matching
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/outbound-media and openclaw/plugin-sdk/outbound-runtime for media loading plus outbound identity/send delegates and payload planning
• buildThreadAwareOutboundSessionRoute(...) from openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-core when an outbound route should preserve an explicit replyToId/threadId or recover the current :thread: session after the base session key still matches. Provider plugins can override precedence, suffix behavior, and thread id normalization when their platform has native thread delivery semantics.
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/thread-bindings-runtime for thread-binding lifecycle and adapter registration
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/agent-media-payload only when a legacy agent/media payload field layout is still required
• openclaw/plugin-sdk/telegram-command-config for Telegram custom-command normalization, duplicate/conflict validation, and a fallback-stable command config contract

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Inbound mention policy

• plugin-owned evidence gathering
• shared policy evaluation

• reply-to-bot detection
• quoted-bot detection
• thread-participation checks
• service/system-message exclusions
• platform-native caches needed to prove bot participation

• requireMention
• explicit mention result
• implicit mention allowlist
• command bypass
• final skip decision

1. Compute local mention facts.
2. Pass those facts into resolveInboundMentionDecision({ facts, policy }).
3. Use decision.effectiveWasMentioned, decision.shouldBypassMention, and decision.shouldSkip in your inbound gate.

import {
  implicitMentionKindWhen,
  matchesMentionWithExplicit,
  resolveInboundMentionDecision,
} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-inbound";

const mentionMatch = matchesMentionWithExplicit(text, {
  mentionRegexes,
  mentionPatterns,
});

const facts = {
  canDetectMention: true,
  wasMentioned: mentionMatch.matched,
  hasAnyMention: mentionMatch.hasExplicitMention,
  implicitMentionKinds: [
    ...implicitMentionKindWhen("reply_to_bot", isReplyToBot),
    ...implicitMentionKindWhen("quoted_bot", isQuoteOfBot),
  ],
};

const decision = resolveInboundMentionDecision({
  facts,
  policy: {
    isGroup,
    requireMention,
    allowedImplicitMentionKinds: requireExplicitMention ? [] : ["reply_to_bot", "quoted_bot"],
    allowTextCommands,
    hasControlCommand,
    commandAuthorized,
  },
});

if (decision.shouldSkip) return;

• buildMentionRegexes
• matchesMentionPatterns
• matchesMentionWithExplicit
• implicitMentionKindWhen
• resolveInboundMentionDecision

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Walkthrough

{
  "name": "@myorg/openclaw-acme-chat",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "type": "module",
  "openclaw": {
    "extensions": ["./index.ts"],
    "setupEntry": "./setup-entry.ts",
    "channel": {
      "id": "acme-chat",
      "label": "Acme Chat",
      "blurb": "Connect OpenClaw to Acme Chat."
    }
  }
}

import {
  createChatChannelPlugin,
  createChannelPluginBase,
} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-core";
import type { OpenClawConfig } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-core";
import { acmeChatApi } from "./client.js"; // your platform API client

type ResolvedAccount = {
  accountId: string | null;
  token: string;
  allowFrom: string[];
  dmPolicy: string | undefined;
};

function resolveAccount(
  cfg: OpenClawConfig,
  accountId?: string | null,
): ResolvedAccount {
  const section = (cfg.channels as Record<string, any>)?.["acme-chat"];
  const token = section?.token;
  if (!token) throw new Error("acme-chat: token is required");
  return {
    accountId: accountId ?? null,
    token,
    allowFrom: section?.allowFrom ?? [],
    dmPolicy: section?.dmSecurity,
  };
}

export const acmeChatPlugin = createChatChannelPlugin<ResolvedAccount>({
  base: createChannelPluginBase({
    id: "acme-chat",
    setup: {
      resolveAccount,
      inspectAccount(cfg, accountId) {
        const section =
          (cfg.channels as Record<string, any>)?.["acme-chat"];
        return {
          enabled: Boolean(section?.token),
          configured: Boolean(section?.token),
          tokenStatus: section?.token ? "available" : "missing",
        };
      },
    },
  }),

  // DM security: who can message the bot
  security: {
    dm: {
      channelKey: "acme-chat",
      resolvePolicy: (account) => account.dmPolicy,
      resolveAllowFrom: (account) => account.allowFrom,
      defaultPolicy: "allowlist",
    },
  },

  // Pairing: approval flow for new DM contacts
  pairing: {
    text: {
      idLabel: "Acme Chat username",
      message: "Send this code to verify your identity:",
      notify: async ({ target, code }) => {
        await acmeChatApi.sendDm(target, `Pairing code: ${code}`);
      },
    },
  },

  // Threading: how replies are delivered
  threading: { topLevelReplyToMode: "reply" },

  // Outbound: send messages to the platform
  outbound: {
    attachedResults: {
      sendText: async (params) => {
        const result = await acmeChatApi.sendMessage(
          params.to,
          params.text,
        );
        return { messageId: result.id };
      },
    },
    base: {
      sendMedia: async (params) => {
        await acmeChatApi.sendFile(params.to, params.filePath);
      },
    },
  },
});

import { defineChannelPluginEntry } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-core";
import { acmeChatPlugin } from "./src/channel.js";

export default defineChannelPluginEntry({
  id: "acme-chat",
  name: "Acme Chat",
  description: "Acme Chat channel plugin",
  plugin: acmeChatPlugin,
  registerCliMetadata(api) {
    api.registerCli(
      ({ program }) => {
        program
          .command("acme-chat")
          .description("Acme Chat management");
      },
      {
        descriptors: [
          {
            name: "acme-chat",
            description: "Acme Chat management",
            hasSubcommands: false,
          },
        ],
      },
    );
  },
  registerFull(api) {
    api.registerGatewayMethod(/* ... */);
  },
});

import { defineSetupPluginEntry } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-core";
import { acmeChatPlugin } from "./src/channel.js";

export default defineSetupPluginEntry(acmeChatPlugin);

registerFull(api) {
  api.registerHttpRoute({
    path: "/acme-chat/webhook",
    auth: "plugin", // plugin-managed auth (verify signatures yourself)
    handler: async (req, res) => {
      const event = parseWebhookPayload(req);

      // Your inbound handler dispatches the message to OpenClaw.
      // The exact wiring depends on your platform SDK -
      // see a real example in the bundled Microsoft Teams or Google Chat plugin package.
      await handleAcmeChatInbound(api, event);

      res.statusCode = 200;
      res.end("ok");
      return true;
    },
  });
}

import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
import { acmeChatPlugin } from "./channel.js";

describe("acme-chat plugin", () => {
  it("resolves account from config", () => {
    const cfg = {
      channels: {
        "acme-chat": { token: "test-token", allowFrom: ["user1"] },
      },
    } as any;
    const account = acmeChatPlugin.setup!.resolveAccount(cfg, undefined);
    expect(account.token).toBe("test-token");
  });

  it("inspects account without materializing secrets", () => {
    const cfg = {
      channels: { "acme-chat": { token: "test-token" } },
    } as any;
    const result = acmeChatPlugin.setup!.inspectAccount!(cfg, undefined);
    expect(result.configured).toBe(true);
    expect(result.tokenStatus).toBe("available");
  });

  it("reports missing config", () => {
    const cfg = { channels: {} } as any;
    const result = acmeChatPlugin.setup!.inspectAccount!(cfg, undefined);
    expect(result.configured).toBe(false);
  });
});

pnpm test -- <bundled-plugin-root>/acme-chat/

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File structure

<bundled-plugin-root>/acme-chat/
├── package.json              # openclaw.channel metadata
├── openclaw.plugin.json      # Manifest with config schema
├── index.ts                  # defineChannelPluginEntry
├── setup-entry.ts            # defineSetupPluginEntry
├── api.ts                    # Public exports (optional)
├── runtime-api.ts            # Internal runtime exports (optional)
└── src/
    ├── channel.ts            # ChannelPlugin via createChatChannelPlugin
    ├── channel.test.ts       # Tests
    ├── client.ts             # Platform API client
    └── runtime.ts            # Runtime store (if needed)

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Advanced topics

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Next steps

• Provider Plugins - if your plugin also provides models
• SDK Overview - full subpath import reference
• SDK Testing - test utilities and contract tests
• Plugin Manifest - full manifest schema

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Related

• Plugin SDK setup
• Building plugins
• Agent harness plugins