Channel System Overview

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Architecture

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Self-Registration Pattern

1. Each channel skill adds implementation code to src/channels/
2. The channel registers itself by calling registerChannel() at module load time
3. At startup, NanoClaw loops through registered channels and connects those with valid credentials
4. Channels without credentials are automatically skipped

// Example: How channels self-register
import { registerChannel, ChannelOpts } from './registry.js';

registerChannel('whatsapp', (opts: ChannelOpts) => {
  // Return null if credentials are missing
  if (!existsSync(authPath)) return null;
  return new WhatsAppChannel(opts);
});

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Channel Interface

interface Channel {
  name: string;
  connect(): Promise<void>;
  sendMessage(jid: string, text: string): Promise<void>;
  isConnected(): boolean;
  ownsJid(jid: string): boolean;
  disconnect(): Promise<void>;
  setTyping?(jid: string, isTyping: boolean): Promise<void>;
  syncGroups?(force: boolean): Promise<void>;
}

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Available Channels

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How Channels Work

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Message Flow

1. Incoming Message → Channel receives message from platform API
2. Store in SQLite → Message is stored with metadata
3. Polling Loop → Main loop polls for new messages every 2 seconds
4. Routing Check → Router verifies chat is registered and checks trigger pattern
5. Agent Invocation → Message is processed by Claude in an isolated container
6. Response → Router sends response back through the owning channel

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Multi-Channel Support

• Each channel auto-enables when its credentials are present
• Channels operate independently and in parallel
• Messages are routed to the correct channel based on JID prefix (whatsapp:, tg:, slack:, etc.)
• No conflicts — you can have WhatsApp, Telegram, and Slack all running together

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Adding a New Channel

registerChannel('mychannel', (opts: ChannelOpts) => {
  const credentials = readEnvFile(['MY_CHANNEL_TOKEN']);
  if (!credentials.MY_CHANNEL_TOKEN) return null;
  return new MyChannel(credentials.MY_CHANNEL_TOKEN, opts);
});

import './mychannel.js';

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Channel Registry

export type ChannelFactory = (opts: ChannelOpts) => Channel | null;

const registry = new Map<string, ChannelFactory>();

export function registerChannel(name: string, factory: ChannelFactory): void {
  registry.set(name, factory);
}

export function getChannelFactory(name: string): ChannelFactory | undefined {
  return registry.get(name);
}

export function getRegisteredChannelNames(): string[] {
  return [...registry.keys()];
}

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Key Files

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Next Steps