{"slug":"manage-channels","title":"manage-channels","summary":"Wire channels to agent groups, manage isolation levels, add new channel groups. Use after adding a channel, during setup, or standalone to reconfigure.","platform":"Claude","tags":[],"authorName":"LLM Mart","authorSlug":"llm-mart","score":0,"source":"github","price":null,"verified":false,"createdAt":"2026-08-24T05:37:20.517409Z","repo":{"url":"https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw","stars":30841,"forks":12823,"license":"MIT","updatedAt":"2026-09-23T17:25:39Z"},"bodyHtml":"
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name: manage-channels\ndescription: Wire channels to agent groups, manage isolation levels, add new channel groups. Use after adding a channel, during setup, or standalone to reconfigure.

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Manage Channels

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

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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).

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Assess Current State

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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).

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

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pnpm exec tsx scripts/q.ts data/v2.db \"<query>\"\n
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SELECT id, name AS assistant_name, folder, agent_provider FROM agent_groups;\nSELECT id, channel_type, platform_id, name, unknown_sender_policy FROM messaging_groups;\nSELECT messaging_group_id, agent_group_id, engage_mode, engage_pattern, session_mode, threads, priority FROM messaging_group_agents;\nSELECT user_id, role, agent_group_id FROM user_roles ORDER BY role='owner' DESC;\n
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Also check .env for channel tokens and src/channels/index.ts for uncommented imports.

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

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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.

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First Channel (No Agent Groups Exist)

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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.

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Channel Defaults: The Two-Level Model

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

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  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. \n
  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.
    3. \n
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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\".

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

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Wiring via ncl

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

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

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Threading override (--threads)

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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.

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Two consequences to warn the user about:

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Mention capability

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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:

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

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Wire New Channel

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For each unwired channel:

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

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

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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.

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Register Command

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

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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.

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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).

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

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Add Channel Group

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When adding another group/chat on an already-configured platform, open\n.claude/skills/add-<channel>/SKILL.md, follow its current group-discovery\ninstructions, ask the isolation question, then register. Channel-specific\nprocedures belong in that channel's skill, not here.

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Change Wiring

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  1. Show current wiring (agent_groups × messaging_group_agents)
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  2. Ask which channel to move and to which agent group
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  3. Delete the old messaging_group_agents entry, create a new one
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  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.
    5. \n
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One-Time Check: Legacy Mis-Wired WhatsApp Groups

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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:

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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='.'\"\n
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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).

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Show Configuration

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Display a readable summary showing:

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