Channels

Moltis connects to messaging platforms through channels. Each channel type has a distinct inbound mode, determining how it receives messages, and a set of capabilities that control what features are available.

Supported Channels

Inbound Modes

Polling

The bot periodically fetches new messages from the platform API. No public URL or open port is needed. Used by Telegram.

Gateway / WebSocket

The bot opens a persistent outbound WebSocket connection to the platform and receives events in real time, or uses a persistent sync loop over outbound HTTP. No public URL needed. Used by Discord, Matrix, and WhatsApp.

Socket Mode

Similar to a gateway connection, but uses the platform’s Socket Mode protocol. No public URL needed. Used by Slack.

Webhook

The platform sends HTTP POST requests to a publicly reachable endpoint on your server. You must configure the messaging endpoint URL in the platform’s settings. Used by Microsoft Teams.

None (Send-Only)

For channels that only send outbound messages and do not receive inbound traffic. No channels currently use this mode, but it is available for future integrations (e.g. email, SMS).

Capabilities Reference

Setup

Channels can be configured in two places:

• In moltis.toml under [channels], for file-managed setups
• In the web UI under Settings -> Channels, which stores channel accounts in the internal channels table inside data_dir()/moltis.db

The web UI does not write channel settings back into moltis.toml. It includes an advanced JSON config editor so channel-specific settings remain reachable even when a dedicated form field has not been added yet.

The channel picker itself is controlled by [channels].offered in moltis.toml. If you edit that list by hand, reload the page so the web UI re-reads the current picker options.

Channel configs stored through the web UI currently live as JSON records in the internal channels table in data_dir()/moltis.db. They are not currently wrapped by the Moltis vault, so treat local access to that database as access to the configured channel credentials.

Some channel integrations also have platform-specific limits. For Matrix, encrypted chats require password auth. Access-token auth is only suitable for plain Matrix traffic because Moltis cannot import an existing device’s private E2EE keys from an access token alone. See Matrix for the full setup, ownership, verification, and troubleshooting flow.

moltis.toml and the web UI are both loaded at startup. If the same (channel_type, account_id) exists in both, the moltis.toml entry wins.

Manual file configuration looks like this:

[channels.telegram.my_bot]
token = "123456:ABC-DEF..."
dm_policy = "allowlist"
allowlist = ["alice", "bob"]

[channels.msteams.my_teams_bot]
app_id = "..."
app_password = "..."

[channels.discord.my_discord_bot]
token = "..."

[channels.slack.my_slack_bot]
bot_token = "xoxb-..."
app_token = "xapp-..."

[channels.matrix.my_matrix_bot]
homeserver = "https://matrix.example.com"
access_token = "syt_..."
user_id = "@bot:example.com"

[channels.whatsapp.my_wa]
dm_policy = "open"

[channels.signal.my_signal]
account = "+15551234567"
http_url = "http://127.0.0.1:8080"

For detailed configuration, see the per-channel pages: Telegram, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Slack, Matrix, WhatsApp, Nostr, Signal.

You can also use the web UI’s Channels tab for guided setup with each platform. Web-added channels do not get written back into moltis.toml.

For Matrix specifically, the web UI now supports the full normal setup flow:

• password auth is the default because it unlocks encrypted chats
• dedicated bot accounts default to moltis_owned so Moltis can bootstrap cross-signing and recovery
• older Matrix accounts that need one external approval expose that approval flow in the channel card instead of failing silently

Proactive Outbound Messaging

Agents are not limited to replying in the current chat. Moltis supports three main outbound patterns:

• send_message tool for direct proactive messages to any configured channel account/chat
• update_channel_settings tool for safe in-chat edits to channel access rules, allowlists, and model routing
• Cron job delivery for background jobs that should post their final output to a channel
• Heartbeat delivery for periodic heartbeat acknowledgements sent to a chosen chat

Example send_message tool call:

{
  "account_id": "my-telegram-bot",
  "to": "123456789",
  "text": "Deployment finished successfully."
}

account_id is the configured channel account name, either from moltis.toml or from a channel account stored through the web UI, and to is the destination chat, peer, or room identifier for that platform.

Example update_channel_settings tool call:

{
  "account_id": "my-telegram-bot",
  "settings": {
    "dm_policy": "allowlist",
    "allowlist_add": ["alice"],
    "model": "openai/gpt-5"
  }
}

update_channel_settings intentionally supports a narrow patch surface. It is for non-secret channel settings only, not raw moltis.toml editing, token rotation, or arbitrary config mutation.

Access Control

All channels share the same access control model with three settings:

DM Policy

Controls who can send direct messages to the bot.

Group Policy

Controls who can interact with the bot in group chats / channels / guilds.

The group allowlist field name varies by channel: group_allowlist (Telegram, WhatsApp, MS Teams), guild_allowlist (Discord), channel_allowlist (Slack), room_allowlist (Matrix).

Mention Mode

Controls when the bot responds in groups (does not apply to DMs).

Allowlist Matching

All allowlist fields across all channels share the same matching behavior:

• Values are strings — even for numeric IDs, use "123456789" not 123456789
• Case-insensitive — "Alice" matches "alice"
• Glob wildcards — "admin_*", "*@example.com", "user_*_vip"
• Multiple identifiers — both the user’s numeric ID and username are checked (where applicable)

OTP Self-Approval

Channels that support OTP (Telegram, Discord, Matrix, WhatsApp) allow non-allowlisted users to self-approve by entering a 6-digit code. The code appears in the web UI under Channels > Senders. See each channel’s page for details.