manage-channels

name	manage-channels
description	Wire channels to agent groups, manage isolation levels, add new channel groups. Use after adding a channel, during setup, or standalone to reconfigure.

Manage Channels

Wire messaging channels to agent groups. See docs/isolation-model.md for the full isolation model.

Privilege is a user-level concept, not a channel-level one (see src/modules/permissions/db/user-roles.ts, src/modules/permissions/access.ts). There is no "main channel" / "main group" — any user can be granted owner or admin (global or scoped to an agent group) via grantRole(), and messages from unknown senders are gated per-messaging-group by unknown_sender_policy (strict | request_approval | public).

Assess Current State

Read the central DB (data/v2.db) using these canonical queries (column names match the schema, not the CLI flags — the register command's --assistant-name is stored in agent_groups.name).

Run each via the in-tree wrapper — the host setup deliberately ships no sqlite3 CLI:

pnpm exec tsx scripts/q.ts data/v2.db "<query>"

SELECT id, name AS assistant_name, folder, agent_provider FROM agent_groups;
SELECT id, channel_type, platform_id, name, unknown_sender_policy FROM messaging_groups;
SELECT messaging_group_id, agent_group_id, engage_mode, engage_pattern, session_mode, threads, priority FROM messaging_group_agents;
SELECT user_id, role, agent_group_id FROM user_roles ORDER BY role='owner' DESC;

Also check .env for channel tokens and src/channels/index.ts for uncommented imports.

Categorize channels as: wired (has DB entities + messaging_group_agents row), configured but unwired (has credentials + barrel import, no DB entities), or not configured.

If the instance has no owner yet (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM user_roles WHERE role='owner' AND agent_group_id IS NULL returns 0), tell the user they should run /init-first-agent first — it stands up the first agent group, promotes the operator to owner, and verifies delivery end-to-end by having the agent DM them. Then return here for any additional channels/groups.

First Channel (No Agent Groups Exist)

Delegate to /init-first-agent. It handles: channel choice, operator identity lookup, DM platform id resolution (with cold-DM or pair-code fallback), agent group creation, wiring, and the welcome DM. Return here afterward for any additional channels.

Channel Defaults: The Two-Level Model

Wiring defaults (engage mode/pattern, threading, unknown_sender_policy) resolve through exactly two levels:

1. Adapter declaration — each channel adapter declares ChannelDefaults (separate DM and group contexts, plus a mentions capability) in its source file. The adapter copy is skill-installed and user-owned: to change a default install-wide, edit src/channels/<channel>.ts and restart. Declarations are never persisted to the DB.
2. Per-wiring/per-mg values chosen at creation — every creation surface (ncl wirings create / ncl messaging-groups create, the register wizard step, the approval-card flow, /init-first-agent) fills omitted fields from the declaration and stores the result on the row. Pass explicit flags to override one wiring.

There is no third level: existing rows are never re-resolved, so editing a declaration only affects wirings created afterward. The one exception is the threads column, which stays live — NULL means "inherit the declaration at message time".

Channels with no declaration (stale adapter copies) fall back to the legacy behavior; run /update-skills to pull current adapters.

Wiring via ncl

ncl requires the host service to be running (it connects over a Unix socket):

ncl messaging-groups create --channel-type <type> --platform-id "<id>" --name "<name>" [--is-group 1]
ncl wirings create --messaging-group-id <mg-id> --agent-group-id <ag-id> [--session-mode <mode>]

Omitted engage_mode/engage_pattern/unknown_sender_policy come from the adapter declaration for the right context (DM vs group). Run ncl wirings help / ncl messaging-groups help for the full flag list.

Threading override (--threads)

ncl wirings create/update ... --threads true|false controls whether platform thread ids are honored for this wiring. true (in groups) means per-thread sessions and in-thread replies/typing/cards; false collapses to a flat session with top-level replies. Omitted = NULL = inherit the channel declaration. A wiring can disable threads on a threaded platform (Slack, Discord, GitHub), never enable them on a non-threaded one.

Two consequences to warn the user about:

• Session identity: sessions are never deleted. Flipping threads on a live wiring orphans existing per-thread sessions (or splinters a shared one) — history stays in the old sessions; new messages start fresh ones.
• mention-sticky needs threads: sticky engagement is keyed on per-thread session existence, so with resolved threads off it would engage once and never disengage. Creation and update coerce mention-sticky → mention (with a warning) when the effective thread policy is off.

Mention capability

Each declaration states which mention signal the adapter emits: platform (real platform mentions), dm-only (only DMs are flagged), or never. On a mentions: 'never' channel (Linear OAuth apps, WhatsApp personal-number mode, Emacs), mention/mention-sticky wirings are inert — they can never engage — and ncl rejects them at create/update with an error citing the declaration. For groups on those channels, use a name pattern instead:

ncl wirings update <id> --engage-mode pattern --engage-pattern '(?i)^@?<Name>\b'

Renaming an agent group does not update stored patterns. Declared group patterns containing {name} are substituted with the agent group's name at creation and stored literally — after ncl groups update <id> --name <NewName>, audit that group's wirings for patterns still matching the old name and update them.

Wire New Channel

For each unwired channel:

1. Read its SKILL.md ## Channel Info for terminology, how-to-find-id, typical-use, and default-isolation
2. Ask for the platform ID using the platform's terminology
3. Ask the isolation question (see below)
4. Register with the appropriate flags

Isolation Question

Present a multiple-choice with a contextual recommendation. The three options:

• Same conversation (--session-mode "agent-shared" + existing folder) — all messages land in one session. Recommend for webhook + chat combos (GitHub + Slack).
• Same agent, separate conversations (--session-mode "shared" + existing folder) — shared workspace/memory, independent threads. Recommend for same user across platforms.
• Separate agent (new --folder) — full isolation. Recommend when different people are involved.

Use the channel's typical-use and default-isolation fields to pick the recommendation. Offer to explain more if the user is unsure — reference docs/isolation-model.md for the detailed explanation.

Register Command

pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step register -- \
  --platform-id "<id>" --name "<name>" \
  --folder "<folder>" --channel "<type>" \
  --session-mode "<shared|agent-shared|per-thread>" \
  --assistant-name "<name>"

The register step creates the agent group (reusing it if the folder already exists), the messaging group, and the wiring row. createMessagingGroupAgent auto-creates the companion agent_destinations row so the agent can address the channel by name.

Omitted engage/policy fields default from the channel adapter's declaration (see "Channel Defaults" above). Optional overrides: --trigger "<regex>" (explicit engage pattern), --engage-mode <pattern|mention|mention-sticky>, --is-group <true|false>, --unknown-sender-policy <strict|request_approval|public>. Don't pick a mention mode on a channel whose declaration says mentions: 'never' — it can never engage there.

New agent groups are created on the instance default provider (DEFAULT_AGENT_PROVIDER in .env, or claude when unset). To run a group on a different provider, switch it after creation with ncl groups config update --provider <name> (e.g. codex).

For separate agents, also ask for a folder name and optionally a different assistant name.

Add Channel Group

When adding another group/chat on an already-configured platform (e.g. a second Telegram group):

1. Telegram: ask the isolation question first to determine intent (wire-to:<folder> for an existing agent, new-agent:<folder> for a fresh one). Run pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step pair-telegram -- --intent <intent>, show the CODE from the PAIR_TELEGRAM_CODE status block, and tell the user to post @<botname> CODE in the target group (or DM the bot for a private chat). Wait for the final PAIR_TELEGRAM block. The inbound interceptor has already created the messaging_groups row stamped with the Telegram adapter's declared policy (request_approval on current adapter copies; strict only on stale pre-declaration copies) and upserted the paired user — register only needs to add the wiring:

   pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step register -- \
     --platform-id "<PLATFORM_ID>" --name "<group-name>" \
     --folder "<folder>" --channel "telegram" \
     --session-mode "<shared|agent-shared|per-thread>" \
     --assistant-name "<name>"
   

2. Other channels: read the channel's SKILL.md ## Channel Info for terminology and how-to-find-id. Ask for the new group/chat ID, ask the isolation question, then register.

Change Wiring

1. Show current wiring (agent_groups × messaging_group_agents)
2. Ask which channel to move and to which agent group
3. Delete the old messaging_group_agents entry, create a new one
4. Note: existing sessions stay with the old agent group; new messages route to the new one. The agent_destinations row created for the old wiring is NOT automatically removed — if you want the old agent to stop seeing the channel as a named target, delete it from agent_destinations manually.

One-Time Check: Legacy Mis-Wired WhatsApp Groups

Installs that approved WhatsApp group registration cards before the channel-defaults model wired those groups as engage_mode='pattern', engage_pattern='.' — respond-to-everything (the card flow couldn't tell groups from DMs on non-threaded platforms). Check once:

pnpm exec tsx scripts/q.ts data/v2.db "SELECT mga.id, mg.platform_id, mg.name FROM messaging_group_agents mga JOIN messaging_groups mg ON mg.id = mga.messaging_group_id WHERE mg.channel_type='whatsapp' AND mg.is_group=1 AND mga.engage_mode='pattern' AND mga.engage_pattern='.'"

For any hit the operator didn't deliberately configure as always-on, offer the repair options in /add-whatsapp's "Migration audit" section (flip to mention/name-pattern engagement, or delete the wiring).

Show Configuration

Display a readable summary showing:

• Agent groups with their wired channels (from messaging_group_agents)
• Configured-but-unwired channels (credentials present, no DB entities)
• Unconfigured channels
• Privileged users: SELECT user_id, role, agent_group_id FROM user_roles ORDER BY role='owner' DESC