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Channels & routing

OpenClaw routes replies back to the channel where a message came from. The model does not choose a channel; routing is deterministic and controlled by the host configuration.

Key terms

  • Channel: whatsapp, telegram, discord, slack, signal, imessage, webchat.
  • AccountId: per‑channel account instance (when supported).
  • AgentId: an isolated workspace + session store (“brain”).
  • SessionKey: the bucket key used to store context and control concurrency.

Session key shapes (examples)

Direct messages collapse to the agent’s main session:

  • agent:<agentId>:<mainKey> (default: agent:main:main)

Groups and channels remain isolated per channel:

  • Groups: agent:<agentId>:<channel>:group:<id>
  • Channels/rooms: agent:<agentId>:<channel>:channel:<id>

Threads:

  • Slack/Discord threads append :thread:<threadId> to the base key.
  • Telegram forum topics embed :topic:<topicId> in the group key.

Examples:

  • agent:main:telegram:group:-1001234567890:topic:42
  • agent:main:discord:channel:123456:thread:987654

Routing rules (how an agent is chosen)

Routing picks one agent for each inbound message:

  1. Exact peer match (bindings with peer.kind + peer.id).
  2. Parent peer match (thread inheritance).
  3. Guild + roles match (Discord) via guildId + roles.
  4. Guild match (Discord) via guildId.
  5. Team match (Slack) via teamId.
  6. Account match (accountId on the channel).
  7. Channel match (any account on that channel, accountId: "*").
  8. Default agent (agents.list[].default, else first list entry, fallback to main).

When a binding includes multiple match fields (peer, guildId, teamId, roles), all provided fields must match for that binding to apply.

The matched agent determines which workspace and session store are used.

Broadcast groups (run multiple agents)

Broadcast groups let you run multiple agents for the same peer when OpenClaw would normally reply (for example: in WhatsApp groups, after mention/activation gating).

Config:

{
  broadcast: {
    strategy: "parallel",
    "[email protected]": ["alfred", "baerbel"],
    "+15555550123": ["support", "logger"],
  },
}

See: Broadcast Groups.

Config overview

  • agents.list: named agent definitions (workspace, model, etc.).
  • bindings: map inbound channels/accounts/peers to agents.

Example:

{
  agents: {
    list: [{ id: "support", name: "Support", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-support" }],
  },
  bindings: [
    { match: { channel: "slack", teamId: "T123" }, agentId: "support" },
    { match: { channel: "telegram", peer: { kind: "group", id: "-100123" } }, agentId: "support" },
  ],
}

Session storage

Session stores live under the state directory (default ~/.openclaw):

  • ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/sessions.json
  • JSONL transcripts live alongside the store

You can override the store path via session.store and {agentId} templating.

WebChat behavior

WebChat attaches to the selected agent and defaults to the agent’s main session. Because of this, WebChat lets you see cross‑channel context for that agent in one place.

Reply context

Inbound replies include:

  • ReplyToId, ReplyToBody, and ReplyToSender when available.
  • Quoted context is appended to Body as a [Replying to ...] block.

This is consistent across channels.