| name | channel-bot |
| description | Work with messaging-channel bots (Telegram / Slack) — register a bot, route inbound messages through the AI agent, handle webhooks vs polling, or add a new channel adapter. Use when wiring chat into a messaging platform or debugging bot delivery. |
Messaging Channels (Telegram / Slack)
Channels are a thick service at backend/app/services/channels/: per-platform adapters plus a router that funnels inbound messages into the same agent pipeline as the web chat.
Layout
| File | Responsibility |
|---|
base.py | Shared channel adapter interface |
telegram.py | Telegram adapter (aiogram v3) |
slack.py | Slack adapter (Events API + Socket Mode) |
router.py | Maps an inbound platform message → conversation/session → agent run → reply |
chart_render.py | Renders chart tool output as PNG for channels |
Bots are stored in the DB (channel_bot), with per-user identity (channel_identity) and per-thread session (channel_session) tables. Bot tokens are encrypted at rest with CHANNEL_ENCRYPTION_KEY (Fernet).
Register / manage a bot
uv run {{ cookiecutter.project_slug }} cmd channel ...
Webhook vs polling
- Polling (dev): the adapter long-polls the platform — no public URL needed.
- Webhook (prod): the platform POSTs to
POST /api/v1/telegram/{bot_id}/webhook / the Slack events endpoint. Verify the signature/secret (HMAC for Telegram, signing secret for Slack) before processing.
Add a new channel adapter
- Implement an adapter in
services/channels/<platform>.py against the base.py interface (parse inbound → normalized message; send outbound).
- Wire it into
router.py so inbound messages reach the agent and replies stream back.
- Add a webhook route under
api/routes/v1/ (signature-verified) and/or a polling entrypoint.
- Reuse the existing conversation/session model — don't fork the agent pipeline.
Rules
- Inbound messages flow through
router.py into the same agent/session pipeline as web chat — don't duplicate agent logic per platform.
- Always verify webhook signatures before acting on a payload.
- Store tokens encrypted (
CHANNEL_ENCRYPTION_KEY); never log or echo them.
- Respect per-group/per-thread concurrency controls already in the adapters.
