Day 5: Be Everywhere

You've been talking to your bot from one platform. That works, but it's limiting — you're on your phone with Telegram, at your desk with Discord, in a meeting with Slack. Your bot should meet you wherever you are.

Today you connect a second (and third) channel and learn the killer feature: cross-channel routing.

Time: ~45 minutes

Why Multi-Channel?

Same bot. Same brain. Same memory. Accessible from anywhere.

Start a conversation from Telegram on your phone during your commute. Pick it up from Discord on your desktop when you sit down. Ask a question in Slack during a meeting. The bot maintains context across all of them because it's the same agent with the same memory — the channel is just a transport.

This also means your bot can act across platforms: monitor Slack for you while you're on Telegram, post summaries to Discord, forward urgent messages wherever you are.

Add a Second Channel

You already have Telegram (or whichever channel you started with). Let's add Discord.

openclaw channel add discord

OpenClaw will prompt you for credentials. Here's the quick setup:

Go to the Discord Developer Portal
Click New Application, give it a name
Go to Bot in the sidebar, click Add Bot
Copy the bot token
Under Privileged Gateway Intents, enable Message Content Intent
Go to OAuth2 > URL Generator, select bot scope and Send Messages + Read Message History permissions
Copy the generated URL and open it to add the bot to your server

Paste the token when OpenClaw asks:

openclaw channel add discord
# ? Bot token: paste-your-token-here
# ? Default server ID (optional): 123456789
# ? Default channel ID (optional): 987654321
# ✓ Discord connected — say "hello" in your server to verify

Test it by messaging the bot in Discord. It should respond with the same personality and memory as your Telegram bot — because it is the same bot.

Add More Channels

Each platform has a slightly different setup flow. Here's the quick reference:

openclaw channel add whatsapp

Scan the QR code that appears in your terminal with WhatsApp on your phone (Settings > Linked Devices > Link a Device). No API keys needed.

Slack

openclaw channel add slack

Opens a browser for OAuth. Authorize the app for your workspace, select the channels it should have access to.

Signal

openclaw channel add signal

Link via phone number — similar to Signal Desktop. Follow the on-screen prompts to pair.

tip

For full setup instructions for all 50+ supported platforms, see the Channels & Integrations guide.

Channel Status

Keep track of what's connected:

# List all configured channels
openclaw channel list

NAME       STATUS      LAST MESSAGE
telegram   connected   2 minutes ago
discord    connected   5 minutes ago
whatsapp   connected   1 hour ago
slack      disconnected

Check a specific channel:

openclaw channel status discord

Channel:    discord
Status:     connected
Server:     My Server (#general)
Uptime:     4h 23m
Messages:   47 today

If a channel disconnects (network blip, token expiry), reconnect it:

openclaw channel reconnect slack

Cross-Channel Routing

This is the killer feature. Your bot isn't just reachable on multiple platforms — it can act across them. You talk on one platform and it operates on another.

Example 1: Forward urgent messages

From Telegram on your phone:

Forward any Slack messages from my manager to me here on Telegram

The bot monitors Slack and pushes anything matching to your Telegram DM. You never have to open Slack on your phone.

Example 2: Post to another platform

From Discord on your desktop:

Summarize today's conversation history and post it to my #daily-updates channel on Slack

The bot compiles the summary and posts it directly to Slack.

Example 3: Cross-platform lookup

From Telegram:

Check Discord for the last message from Alice in #project-alpha and tell me what she said

The bot reads from Discord and reports back to you on Telegram.

info

Cross-channel routing requires the bot to have appropriate permissions on each platform. It can only read channels it's been added to and post where it has write access.

Per-Channel Settings

Different platforms need different behavior. Your bot should respond to every DM on Telegram but only when mentioned in a busy Discord server. Configure this per channel:

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  channels: {
    telegram: {
      // Respond to all DMs, require mention in groups
      directMessage: { autoReply: true },
      group: { requireMention: true }
    },
    discord: {
      // Only respond when @mentioned or in specific channels
      requireMention: true,
      allowedChannels: ["bot-commands", "general"],
      // Restrict who can talk to the bot
      allowlist: ["alice#1234", "bob#5678"]
    },
    slack: {
      // Only respond in DMs and specific channels
      allowedChannels: ["#ask-bot", "#dev-ops"],
      // Require thread replies to avoid noise
      requireThread: true
    },
    whatsapp: {
      // Only respond to contacts in your allowlist
      allowlist: ["+1234567890", "+0987654321"],
      // Rate limit to avoid runaway costs
      maxMessagesPerHour: 30
    }
  }
}

Group Chat Tips

Bots in group chats need guard rails. Without them, your bot replies to every single message — annoying for everyone.

Mention-gating

The most important setting for groups. When enabled, the bot only responds when directly mentioned:

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  channels: {
    discord: {
      group: {
        requireMention: true,  // Only respond to @BotName
        mentionPrefix: ["!bot", "/ask"]  // Also respond to these prefixes
      }
    },
    telegram: {
      group: {
        requireMention: true  // Only respond to @bot_username
      }
    }
  }
}

Dedicated bot channels

Instead of letting the bot loose in every channel, restrict it:

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  channels: {
    discord: {
      allowedChannels: ["bot-chat", "ask-anything"],
      // Ignore everything else
      ignoreChannels: ["off-topic", "memes"]
    }
  }
}

Permissions per user

Control who can interact with the bot in group settings:

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  channels: {
    discord: {
      group: {
        // Only these roles can use the bot
        allowedRoles: ["admin", "bot-user"],
        // Or specify individual users
        allowlist: ["alice#1234"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Pairing New Devices

When you add a channel from a new device or location, OpenClaw requires approval for security:

openclaw pairing approve discord abc123

You can also view pending pairing requests:

openclaw pairing list

CHANNEL    CODE     REQUESTED       STATUS
discord    abc123   2 minutes ago   pending
whatsapp   xyz789   1 hour ago      pending

Reject a request you don't recognize:

openclaw pairing reject discord abc123

caution

If you see a pairing request you didn't initiate, someone else is trying to connect to your bot. Reject it and rotate your channel credentials.

What You've Done Today

Connected a second (and maybe third) chat platform
Learned cross-channel routing — the bot acts across platforms on your behalf
Configured per-channel behavior so the bot is quiet where it should be
Set up group chat guard rails with mention-gating and allowlists
Understood the pairing approval flow for new devices

Your bot is now accessible from anywhere, and smart enough to act across platforms. Tomorrow you start building your own extensions.

Next: Day 6: Build Your Own — create custom skills and go multi-agent

Why Multi-Channel?​

Add a Second Channel​

Add More Channels​

WhatsApp​

Slack​

Signal​

Channel Status​

Cross-Channel Routing​

Example 1: Forward urgent messages​

Example 2: Post to another platform​

Example 3: Cross-platform lookup​

Per-Channel Settings​

Group Chat Tips​

Mention-gating​

Dedicated bot channels​

Permissions per user​

Pairing New Devices​

What You've Done Today​