channels.md

Channels

A channel is a transport that carries messages between humans (or other bots) and Garyx. Built-in channels for Telegram, Discord, Feishu / Lark, WeChat, and an HTTP / WebSocket api channel ship with the binary; you can install additional channels as subprocess plugins.

Built-in vs plugin channels

Channel	Type	Notes
telegram	built-in	Long-poll Bot API; multiple accounts supported.
discord	built-in	Gateway events + REST sends; server channels require @mention by default.
feishu	built-in	WebSocket; supports --domain feishu and --domain lark.
weixin	built-in	Polling via ilinkai; QR-code login.
api	built-in	Local HTTP / WebSocket. Used by the desktop app, CLI, and MCP integrations.
<plugin_id>	plugin	Subprocess channels installed via garyx plugins install.

Built-in and plugin channels share the same config shape and the same account / binding model.

Accounts

A channel can have multiple accounts — each one is an independent bot identity. Accounts live under channels.<channel_id>.accounts.<account_id> and have a fixed envelope plus a channel-specific config blob:

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "accounts": {
        "main": {
          "enabled": true,
          "name": "My Telegram Bot",
          "agent_id": "claude",
          "workspace_dir": "/path/to/garyx-work",
          "config": {
            "token": "${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}",
            "groups": { "<telegram_group_id>": { "enabled": true } }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The envelope keys (enabled, name, agent_id, workspace_dir) are identical across all channels. Everything else — bot tokens, app ids, group allowlists, polling intervals — lives inside config and is validated by the channel itself.

::: tip You can manage accounts from the CLI without hand-editing the JSON. See garyx channels add and garyx channels login. :::

Endpoint bindings

An endpoint is one specific destination inside a channel — a Telegram chat id, a Discord channel or DM, a Feishu chat id, a WeChat user id. Endpoints are not configured ahead of time; they are discovered lazily when the first message arrives, and immediately bound to a thread.

The binding lookup order:

1. If the endpoint is already bound to a thread, route the message there.
2. Otherwise, create a fresh thread inheriting the account defaults and bind the endpoint to it.

You can inspect, rebind, or detach exact endpoint bindings from the desktop app, the CLI (garyx bot endpoint list|bind|detach), or the HTTP API (/api/channel-bindings/{bind,detach}). Binding is endpoint-scoped so the same workflow covers private chats, group chats, Discord channels, and plugin endpoints.

The api channel

The api channel is special in two ways:

1. It has no on-the-wire transport — it speaks plain HTTP / WebSocket on the gateway port.
2. Every other channel internally goes through the same dispatcher as api, so all features (transcripts, MCP, automations) work identically.

The api channel is also what the desktop app, the garyx thread send CLI, and MCP tool callbacks all use.

Where to go next

• Your first bot — concrete walkthroughs for Telegram, Feishu, WeChat
• Configuration — the full per-channel schema
• CLI commands → channels / plugins