Claude Code Channels — Control Sessions via Telegram & Discord
Channels is a research preview feature that lets you push external events into a running Claude Code session. Connect a Telegram or Discord bot to your local session, and messages from your phone arrive as channel events — Claude acts on them and replies back through the same chat. Unlike standard MCP servers where Claude pulls data on demand, Channels actively push events into the session. Beyond chat bridging, Channels work as webhook receivers, routing CI results, error tracker alerts, and deployment pipeline events directly into a debugging session that already has your files open. Requires Claude Code v2.1.80+ and claude.ai login. Enterprise plans must explicitly enable Channels in admin settings.
Why It Matters
Channels formalizes the 'supervise from your phone while Claude works in the background' workflow. Where Remote Control means 'you drive the session from mobile,' Channels means 'external systems send Claude notifications.' Particularly powerful for DevOps automation where CI pipelines and monitoring alerts are received and acted on directly by Claude. Currently in research preview — requires Bun, opt-in per session with the --channels flag.