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Building Channel Plugins

This guide walks through building a channel plugin that connects OpenClaw to a messaging platform. By the end you will have a working channel with DM security, pairing, reply threading, and outbound messaging.
If you have not built any OpenClaw plugin before, read Getting Started first for the basic package structure and manifest setup.

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How channel plugins work

Channel plugins do not need their own send/edit/react tools. OpenClaw keeps one shared message tool in core. Your plugin owns:
  • Config — account resolution and setup wizard
  • Security — DM policy and allowlists
  • Pairing — DM approval flow
  • Session grammar — how provider-specific conversation ids map to base chats, thread ids, and parent fallbacks
  • Outbound — sending text, media, and polls to the platform
  • Threading — how replies are threaded
Core owns the shared message tool, prompt wiring, the outer session-key shape, generic :thread: bookkeeping, and dispatch. If your platform stores extra scope inside conversation ids, keep that parsing in the plugin with messaging.resolveSessionConversation(...). That is the canonical hook for mapping rawId to the base conversation id, optional thread id, explicit baseConversationId, and any parentConversationCandidates. When you return parentConversationCandidates, keep them ordered from the narrowest parent to the broadest/base conversation. Bundled plugins that need the same parsing before the channel registry boots can also expose a top-level session-key-api.ts file with a matching resolveSessionConversation(...) export. Core uses that bootstrap-safe surface only when the runtime plugin registry is not available yet. messaging.resolveParentConversationCandidates(...) remains available as a legacy compatibility fallback when a plugin only needs parent fallbacks on top of the generic/raw id. If both hooks exist, core uses resolveSessionConversation(...).parentConversationCandidates first and only falls back to resolveParentConversationCandidates(...) when the canonical hook omits them.

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Approvals and channel capabilities

Most channel plugins do not need approval-specific code.
  • Core owns same-chat /approve, shared approval button payloads, and generic fallback delivery.
  • Use auth.authorizeActorAction or auth.getActionAvailabilityState only when approval auth differs from normal chat auth.
  • Use outbound.shouldSuppressLocalPayloadPrompt or outbound.beforeDeliverPayload for channel-specific payload lifecycle behavior such as hiding duplicate local approval prompts or sending typing indicators before delivery.
  • Use approvals.delivery only for native approval routing or fallback suppression.
  • Use approvals.render only when a channel truly needs custom approval payloads instead of the shared renderer.
  • If a channel can infer stable owner-like DM identities from existing config, use createResolvedApproverActionAuthAdapter from openclaw/plugin-sdk/approval-runtime to restrict same-chat /approve without adding approval-specific core logic.
For Slack, Matrix, Microsoft Teams, and similar chat channels, the default path is usually enough: core handles approvals and the plugin just exposes normal outbound and auth capabilities.

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Walkthrough

1
2

Package and manifest

Create the standard plugin files. The channel field in package.json is what makes this a channel plugin:
{
  "name": "@myorg/openclaw-acme-chat",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "type": "module",
  "openclaw": {
    "extensions": ["./index.ts"],
    "setupEntry": "./setup-entry.ts",
    "channel": {
      "id": "acme-chat",
      "label": "Acme Chat",
      "blurb": "Connect OpenClaw to Acme Chat."
    }
  }
}
3

Build the channel plugin object

The ChannelPlugin interface has many optional adapter surfaces. Start with the minimum — id and setup — and add adapters as you need them.Create src/channel.ts:
src/channel.ts
import {
  createChatChannelPlugin,
  createChannelPluginBase,
} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/core";
import type { OpenClawConfig } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/core";
import { acmeChatApi } from "./client.js"; // your platform API client

type ResolvedAccount = {
  accountId: string | null;
  token: string;
  allowFrom: string[];
  dmPolicy: string | undefined;
};

function resolveAccount(
  cfg: OpenClawConfig,
  accountId?: string | null,
): ResolvedAccount {
  const section = (cfg.channels as Record<string, any>)?.["acme-chat"];
  const token = section?.token;
  if (!token) throw new Error("acme-chat: token is required");
  return {
    accountId: accountId ?? null,
    token,
    allowFrom: section?.allowFrom ?? [],
    dmPolicy: section?.dmSecurity,
  };
}

export const acmeChatPlugin = createChatChannelPlugin<ResolvedAccount>({
  base: createChannelPluginBase({
    id: "acme-chat",
    setup: {
      resolveAccount,
      inspectAccount(cfg, accountId) {
        const section =
          (cfg.channels as Record<string, any>)?.["acme-chat"];
        return {
          enabled: Boolean(section?.token),
          configured: Boolean(section?.token),
          tokenStatus: section?.token ? "available" : "missing",
        };
      },
    },
  }),

  // DM security: who can message the bot
  security: {
    dm: {
      channelKey: "acme-chat",
      resolvePolicy: (account) => account.dmPolicy,
      resolveAllowFrom: (account) => account.allowFrom,
      defaultPolicy: "allowlist",
    },
  },

  // Pairing: approval flow for new DM contacts
  pairing: {
    text: {
      idLabel: "Acme Chat username",
      message: "Send this code to verify your identity:",
      notify: async ({ target, code }) => {
        await acmeChatApi.sendDm(target, `Pairing code: ${code}`);
      },
    },
  },

  // Threading: how replies are delivered
  threading: { topLevelReplyToMode: "reply" },

  // Outbound: send messages to the platform
  outbound: {
    attachedResults: {
      sendText: async (params) => {
        const result = await acmeChatApi.sendMessage(
          params.to,
          params.text,
        );
        return { messageId: result.id };
      },
    },
    base: {
      sendMedia: async (params) => {
        await acmeChatApi.sendFile(params.to, params.filePath);
      },
    },
  },
});
Instead of implementing low-level adapter interfaces manually, you pass declarative options and the builder composes them:
OptionWhat it wires
security.dmScoped DM security resolver from config fields
pairing.textText-based DM pairing flow with code exchange
threadingReply-to-mode resolver (fixed, account-scoped, or custom)
outbound.attachedResultsSend functions that return result metadata (message IDs)
You can also pass raw adapter objects instead of the declarative options if you need full control.
4

Wire the entry point

Create index.ts:
index.ts
import { defineChannelPluginEntry } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/core";
import { acmeChatPlugin } from "./src/channel.js";

export default defineChannelPluginEntry({
  id: "acme-chat",
  name: "Acme Chat",
  description: "Acme Chat channel plugin",
  plugin: acmeChatPlugin,
  registerCliMetadata(api) {
    api.registerCli(
      ({ program }) => {
        program
          .command("acme-chat")
          .description("Acme Chat management");
      },
      {
        descriptors: [
          {
            name: "acme-chat",
            description: "Acme Chat management",
            hasSubcommands: false,
          },
        ],
      },
    );
  },
  registerFull(api) {
    api.registerGatewayMethod(/* ... */);
  },
});
Put channel-owned CLI descriptors in registerCliMetadata(...) so OpenClaw can show them in root help without activating the full channel runtime, while normal full loads still pick up the same descriptors for real command registration. Keep registerFull(...) for runtime-only work. defineChannelPluginEntry handles the registration-mode split automatically. See Entry Points for all options.
5

Add a setup entry

Create setup-entry.ts for lightweight loading during onboarding:
setup-entry.ts
import { defineSetupPluginEntry } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/core";
import { acmeChatPlugin } from "./src/channel.js";

export default defineSetupPluginEntry(acmeChatPlugin);
OpenClaw loads this instead of the full entry when the channel is disabled or unconfigured. It avoids pulling in heavy runtime code during setup flows. See Setup and Config for details.
6

Handle inbound messages

Your plugin needs to receive messages from the platform and forward them to OpenClaw. The typical pattern is a webhook that verifies the request and dispatches it through your channel’s inbound handler:
registerFull(api) {
  api.registerHttpRoute({
    path: "/acme-chat/webhook",
    auth: "plugin", // plugin-managed auth (verify signatures yourself)
    handler: async (req, res) => {
      const event = parseWebhookPayload(req);

      // Your inbound handler dispatches the message to OpenClaw.
      // The exact wiring depends on your platform SDK —
      // see a real example in the bundled Microsoft Teams or Google Chat plugin package.
      await handleAcmeChatInbound(api, event);

      res.statusCode = 200;
      res.end("ok");
      return true;
    },
  });
}
Inbound message handling is channel-specific. Each channel plugin owns its own inbound pipeline. Look at bundled channel plugins (for example the Microsoft Teams or Google Chat plugin package) for real patterns.
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8

Test

Write colocated tests in src/channel.test.ts:
src/channel.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
import { acmeChatPlugin } from "./channel.js";

describe("acme-chat plugin", () => {
  it("resolves account from config", () => {
    const cfg = {
      channels: {
        "acme-chat": { token: "test-token", allowFrom: ["user1"] },
      },
    } as any;
    const account = acmeChatPlugin.setup!.resolveAccount(cfg, undefined);
    expect(account.token).toBe("test-token");
  });

  it("inspects account without materializing secrets", () => {
    const cfg = {
      channels: { "acme-chat": { token: "test-token" } },
    } as any;
    const result = acmeChatPlugin.setup!.inspectAccount!(cfg, undefined);
    expect(result.configured).toBe(true);
    expect(result.tokenStatus).toBe("available");
  });

  it("reports missing config", () => {
    const cfg = { channels: {} } as any;
    const result = acmeChatPlugin.setup!.inspectAccount!(cfg, undefined);
    expect(result.configured).toBe(false);
  });
});

pnpm test -- <bundled-plugin-root>/acme-chat/
For shared test helpers, see Testing.

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File structure

<bundled-plugin-root>/acme-chat/
├── package.json              # openclaw.channel metadata
├── openclaw.plugin.json      # Manifest with config schema
├── index.ts                  # defineChannelPluginEntry
├── setup-entry.ts            # defineSetupPluginEntry
├── api.ts                    # Public exports (optional)
├── runtime-api.ts            # Internal runtime exports (optional)
└── src/
    ├── channel.ts            # ChannelPlugin via createChatChannelPlugin
    ├── channel.test.ts       # Tests
    ├── client.ts             # Platform API client
    └── runtime.ts            # Runtime store (if needed)

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Advanced topics

Threading options

Fixed, account-scoped, or custom reply modes

Message tool integration

describeMessageTool and action discovery

Target resolution

inferTargetChatType, looksLikeId, resolveTarget

Runtime helpers

TTS, STT, media, subagent via api.runtime

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Next steps