> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.argentos.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Channels Overview

> Connect ArgentOS to Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Slack, Signal, and iMessage.

## Multi-Channel Support

ArgentOS acts as a **driver layer** between your agent and the messaging platforms you already use. Instead of being locked into a single chat interface, your agent meets you wherever you are.

Each channel is a bidirectional bridge: messages from the platform are forwarded to the agent runtime, and agent responses are sent back through the same platform's API.

## Supported Platforms

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Telegram" icon="telegram" href="/channels/telegram">
    Bot API (polling/webhook). **Stable** — recommended starting point.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Discord" icon="discord" href="/channels/discord">
    Gateway + REST API. **Stable** — supports servers and DMs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="WhatsApp" icon="whatsapp" href="/channels/whatsapp">
    WhatsApp Web bridge. **Beta** — requires QR code pairing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Slack" icon="slack" href="/channels/slack">
    Slack App (Events API). **Stable** — workspace install required.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Google Chat" icon="google" href="/channels/google-chat">
    HTTP webhook delivery. **Stable** — Google Workspace integration.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Signal" icon="signal-messenger" href="/channels/signal">
    signal-cli (D-Bus). **Beta** — requires linked device.
  </Card>

  <Card title="iMessage" icon="apple" href="/channels/imessage">
    macOS Messages.app. **Alpha** — macOS only.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Adding a Channel

```bash theme={null}
argent channels add <platform>
```

The CLI wizard walks you through platform-specific setup (API tokens, bot creation, etc.) and writes the configuration to your `argent.json`.

## How Channels Work

```mermaid theme={null}
sequenceDiagram
    participant Platform
    participant Channel Driver
    participant Gateway
    participant Agent
    Platform->>Channel Driver: 1. Inbound message
    Channel Driver->>Gateway: 2. Normalize to internal format
    Gateway->>Agent: 3. Route to correct session
    Agent->>Agent: 4. Process & generate response
    Agent->>Channel Driver: 5. Convert to platform format
    Channel Driver->>Platform: 6. Send response
```

1. **Inbound**: The channel driver receives a message from the platform
2. **Normalize**: The message is converted to ArgentOS's internal message format
3. **Route**: The gateway routes the message to the correct agent session
4. **Process**: The agent processes the message and generates a response
5. **Outbound**: The response is converted back to the platform's format and sent

## Channel Configuration

All channel configs live under `channels` in your `argent.json`:

```json theme={null}
{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "your-bot-token"
    },
    "discord": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "your-bot-token",
      "intents": ["GUILDS", "GUILD_MESSAGES", "DIRECT_MESSAGES"]
    }
  }
}
```

## Multiple Channels

You can run as many channels simultaneously as you want. All channels share the same agent runtime and memory, so your agent has full context regardless of which platform you message from.

<Card title="Channel Pairing" icon="link" href="/channels/pairing">
  Learn how ArgentOS links platform users to agent sessions across channels.
</Card>