Channels

Connect The Bridge to messaging platforms. Send notifications, receive messages, and automate outbound communication.

Channel Types

Type	Mode	Examples	Use Case
plugin	tmux keepalive	iMessage, Discord, Slack	Claude Code built-in channel plugins
collector	scheduled cron	Signal, RSS, Webhooks	Pull-based message collection
bot	keepalive daemon	Telegram, Slack Bot	Bidirectional messaging bot
api	on-demand/scheduled	Email (Graph API), Teams	API-based message access
bridge	background process	WhatsApp (MCP)	MCP-based external service bridge

Channel Schema

One file per channel: infra/channels/<name>.yaml, created from infra/channels/_template.yaml (the full schema lives there). Overview:

name: my-channel
display_name: "My Channel"
type: bot                    # plugin | collector | bot | api | bridge

implementation:
  skill: skill-name          # Claude skill — OR plugin: name@publisher, OR mcp: server-name

runtime:
  remote: server-hostname    # from infra/remotes/*.yaml, or "local"
  mode: on-demand            # tmux | launchd | on-demand
  service: service-slug      # from infra/remotes/{host}.yaml services list

access:
  policy: allowlist          # allowlist | pairing | disabled
  contacts: []               # named handles
  groups: []                 # named group ids

checkin:
  enabled: true              # include in /briefing?

behavior:
  auto_response: false       # auto-respond to messages?

status: active               # pending | active | paused | disabled

Operations

Inventory, health checks, deploy, start/stop live in the channel skill (skills/channel/SKILL.md). Scheduled messages and cron/launchd/systemd jobs are a separate concern owned by the /schedule skill (skills/schedule/SKILL.md).

Setup

1. Enable channels: set channels.enabled: true in bridge-config.yaml
2. Copy infra/channels/_template.yaml to infra/channels/{name}.yaml
3. Configure runtime (which server runs the channel)
4. Test: /channel health