Anthropic has rolled out Claude Code Channels, a research preview feature that lets developers pipe messages from Telegram, Discord, or custom webhooks straight into a running Claude Code session. The practical upshot: you can manage a coding session from your phone without SSH tunnels, VPNs, or third-party wrappers.
Channels work as MCP servers that push events into an active session. They can be one-way (forwarding alerts or CI notifications) or two-way, where Claude reads an incoming message and replies through the same channel. The official docs describe it as a chat bridge baked into the Claude Code runtime. Telegram and Discord ship as pre-built plugins in Anthropic's plugin marketplace, with a localhost demo called fakechat for testing. Setup for the Telegram plugin requires Bun, a bot token from BotFather, and a pairing code exchange.
There are constraints. Channels require Claude Code v2.1.80 or later and a claude.ai login; API key auth won't work. Team and Enterprise organizations need an admin to flip the switch in managed settings before anyone on the team can use --channels. During the preview, only plugins on Anthropic's curated allowlist can register as channels, so custom integrations need a --dangerously-load-development-channels flag and won't work in locked-down orgs.
Events only arrive while the session is open, so always-on setups require a persistent terminal or background process. Telegram's Bot API also has no message history, meaning the bot only sees messages as they come in. For developers already running long Claude Code sessions on remote machines, though, channels eliminate a real friction point. Availability is rolling out gradually.
Bottom Line
Claude Code Channels requires v2.1.80+, a claude.ai login, and admin approval for Team/Enterprise orgs during the research preview.
Quick Facts
- Feature status: research preview
- Minimum version: Claude Code v2.1.80
- Supported channels: Telegram, Discord, webhooks, fakechat demo
- Authentication: claude.ai login required (no API key support)
- Enterprise requirement: admin must enable channelsEnabled in managed settings
