Claude Code launches Channels, adding support for Telegram and Discord

According to 1M AI News monitoring, Anthropic's Programming Agent Claude Code team engineer Thariq Shihipar announced the launch of the Channels feature, allowing users to remotely control a running Claude Code session via Telegram or Discord Bot, sending instructions directly to the AI Programming Agent on their mobile device and receiving responses.

This feature is provided as an official plugin, implemented based on the MCP protocol. Users install the plugin in Claude Code, configure the Bot Token, and start the session with the --channels parameter, at which point the Bot begins listening to messages. Messages sent by users in the chat application are forwarded to Claude Code through the MCP server for processing, with responses sent back by the Bot, which automatically displays a "typing" status during the exchange.

Both platforms support reply, emoji responses, and message editing. The Discord version additionally offers the ability to retrieve channel history messages (up to 100) and download attachments (up to 25MB per file); the Telegram version automatically downloads received images but is unable to retroactively fetch historical messages due to Bot API restrictions. Both plugins feature built-in pairing verification and whitelist access control.