Multi-Platform Channels Overview

The Channel system turns Elftia into a cross-platform AI bot. You can connect an Agent to Discord, Telegram, Slack, and other platforms simultaneously — receiving messages, calling tools, and generating replies from anywhere.

When to Use

• You want to deploy an AI assistant bot in a Discord server
• You need to have private conversations with an Agent via Telegram
• You want to integrate an AI collaborator into a Slack workspace
• You want the same Agent to serve users across multiple platforms at once

Supported Platforms

Platform	Type ID	Connection Method	Max Message Length	Category
Discord	discord	Bot Token	2,000 characters	Core
Telegram	telegram	Bot Token	4,096 characters	Core
Slack	slack	Bot Token + App Token	4,000 characters	Core
QQ Bot	qqbot	Bot Token	1,500 characters	China
LINE	line	Channel Access Token + Secret	5,000 characters	Core
Email	email	SMTP + IMAP credentials	100,000 characters	Core
WhatsApp	whatsapp	Phone number	65,000 characters	Core
WeChat	wechat	Wechaty Token	2,000 characters	China
Matrix	matrix	Access Token	65,536 characters	Extended
Microsoft Teams	msteams	App ID + Password	28,000 characters	Extended
Mattermost	mattermost	Bot Token	16,383 characters	Extended
WeCom (Enterprise WeChat)	wecom	Webhook Key	4,000 characters	China
WeCom (App)	wecom-app	Corp ID + Secret	4,000 characters	China

:::tip Platforms Are Plugins All platforms are implemented via Channel plugins. Built-in plugins ship with the app; additional plugins can be downloaded and installed via the Marketplace. :::

Core Concepts

Channel Instance

Each Channel instance represents a connection to an external platform. You can create multiple instances for the same platform (e.g., connecting two different Discord bots). Each instance independently manages its own:

• Credentials: the token/key required to connect
• Trigger rules: determine when the Agent should reply (see Trigger Rules & Security)
• Connection state: disconnected / connecting / connected / error

Trigger Rules

Trigger rules determine which messages the Agent responds to:

Mode	Description	Best For
all	Reply to all messages	Personal bots, test environments
mention	Reply only when @mentioned	Multi-user groups, shared servers
keyword	Reply when a specified keyword is matched	Topic-specific triggers
dm_only	Reply to direct messages only	Public groups where only private chat is accepted

Security Pipeline

Every message passes through multiple security checks before reaching the Agent:

1. InputSanitizer — strips invisible control characters
2. RateLimiter — rate limiting (prevents spam flooding)
3. PromptGuardian — AI-driven prompt injection detection
4. UserPermissionService — role-based access control
5. ChannelPermissionGate — sensitive operation confirmation mechanism

Workflow

External platform message (Discord/Telegram/...)
    │
    ▼
Channel Plugin ─── receive and parse message
    │
    ▼
ChannelPluginRegistry ─── convert to unified ChannelMessage format
    │
    ▼
ChannelMessageRouter ─── security pipeline checks + trigger rule matching
    │
    ▼
ChannelMagiBridge ─── convert to MagiIncomingMessage
    │
    ▼
MagiService (Agent) ─── process and generate reply
    │
    ▼
ChannelMessageRouter ─── format + message splitting
    │
    ▼
Channel Plugin ─── send reply back to the original platform

Plugin Architecture

The Channel system uses a plugin-based architecture supporting two plugin sources:

Source	Directory	Description	Priority
Built-in (Bundled)	resources/bundled-channel-plugins/	Distributed with the app installer; read-only	Lower
User (Marketplace)	{userData}/channel-plugins/	Downloaded from Marketplace or manually installed; read/write	Higher

When the same plugin type exists in both directories, the user directory version takes precedence (potentially a newer Marketplace version).

Each plugin must include an elftia-channel.json manifest file declaring the plugin type, entry file, required credentials, and other information.

Quick Start

1. Open Settings → Channel
2. Click Add Channel and select a platform (e.g., Discord)
3. If the plugin is not installed, the system will automatically download it from the Marketplace
4. Enter the platform credentials (e.g., Discord Bot Token)
5. Configure the trigger rules (recommended: start with mention mode for testing)
6. Click Connect to start the instance
7. Send a message to the bot on the corresponding platform to verify the connection

Next Steps

• Discord Setup Guide — detailed steps for configuring a Discord bot
• Trigger Rules & Security — trigger mode configuration and security pipeline details