Channel Configuration

Overview

Corvus supports 15+ messaging platforms through a unified channel system. Each channel can be independently configured with authentication, allowlists, and platform-specific settings.

Supported Channels

Bot API with streaming support

Discord

WebSocket gateway integration

Slack

Socket Mode and webhook support

Meta Business Cloud API

Matrix

Decentralized messaging

Signal

signal-cli HTTP integration

iMessage

macOS AppleScript integration

IRC

Classic IRC with TLS

Email

IMAP/SMTP support

Lark/Feishu

WebSocket & webhook modes

DingTalk

Stream Mode integration

QQ

Official Bot SDK

Mattermost

Self-hosted Slack alternative

Webhook

HTTP webhook endpoint

CLI

Command-line interface

Channel Security Model

Empty allowlists deny all inbound messages by default. This prevents accidental exposure.

Allowlist behavior:

Empty array []: Deny all inbound messages (secure by default)
Wildcard ["*"]: Allow all senders (explicit opt-in)
Specific IDs: Exact-match allowlist (recommended)

Finding Your Identity

If you’re unsure which identity to allowlist:

Start the channel with an empty allowlist
Send a test message to your bot
Check the logs for the unauthorized sender identity
Add that value to allowed_users and rerun channel setup

corvus onboard --channels-only

Telegram Configuration

Create a Bot

Message @BotFather on Telegram and create a new bot with /newbot.

Get Bot Token

Copy the bot token provided by BotFather.

Configure Corvus

Add to config.toml:

[channels_config.telegram]
bot_token = "123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz"
allowed_users = ["your_username"]  # Without @ symbol
stream_mode = "partial"  # or "off"
draft_update_interval_ms = 1000

Configuration Fields

channels_config.telegram.bot_token

string

required

Bot token from @BotFather.

channels_config.telegram.allowed_users

string[]

required

List of allowed Telegram usernames (without @) or user IDs.Examples:

Username: ["alice", "bob"]
User ID: ["123456789"]
Allow all: ["*"]

channels_config.telegram.stream_mode

string

default:"off"

Streaming mode for progressive response updates:

off: Send complete response as single message (default)
partial: Update draft message during generation

channels_config.telegram.draft_update_interval_ms

number

default:1000

Minimum interval between draft message edits (to avoid rate limits).

Discord Configuration

Create Application

Go to Discord Developer Portal and create a new application.

Create Bot

Under “Bot”, click “Add Bot” and enable:

Message Content Intent
Server Members Intent (optional)

Get Bot Token

Copy the bot token from the Bot settings page.

Invite Bot

Under “OAuth2” → “URL Generator”, select:

Scopes: bot
Permissions: Send Messages, Read Message History

Open the generated URL to invite the bot to your server.

Configure Corvus

[channels_config.discord]
bot_token = "MTk4NjIyNDgzNDcxOTI1MjQ4.XXXXXX.XXXXXX"
guild_id = "123456789012345678"  # Optional: server ID
allowed_users = ["987654321098765432"]  # Discord user IDs
listen_to_bots = false  # Ignore other bots
mention_only = false  # Respond to all messages or @mentions only

Configuration Fields

channels_config.discord.bot_token

string

required

Bot token from Discord Developer Portal.

channels_config.discord.guild_id

string

Server (guild) ID to restrict bot to. Leave empty for all servers.

channels_config.discord.allowed_users

string[]

required

List of allowed Discord user IDs (numeric).

channels_config.discord.listen_to_bots

boolean

default:false

Process messages from other bots (always ignores own messages).

channels_config.discord.mention_only

boolean

default:false

Only respond to messages that @mention the bot.

Slack Configuration

Create Slack App

Go to Slack API and create a new app.

Enable Socket Mode

Under “Socket Mode”, enable Socket Mode and generate an app-level token.

Add Bot Scopes

Under “OAuth & Permissions”, add bot token scopes:

chat:write
channels:history
groups:history
im:history

Install to Workspace

Install the app to your workspace and copy the Bot User OAuth Token.

Configure Corvus

[channels_config.slack]
bot_token = "xoxb-..."
app_token = "xapp-..."  # For Socket Mode
channel_id = "C01234567"  # Optional: specific channel
allowed_users = ["U01234567"]  # Slack member IDs

Configuration Fields

channels_config.slack.bot_token

string

required

Bot User OAuth Token (starts with xoxb-).

channels_config.slack.app_token

string

App-level token for Socket Mode (starts with xapp-).

channels_config.slack.channel_id

string

Specific channel ID to monitor. Leave empty for all channels.

channels_config.slack.allowed_users

string[]

required

List of allowed Slack member IDs (starts with U).

WhatsApp Configuration

WhatsApp requires HTTPS webhook endpoint. Use a tunnel (ngrok, Cloudflare, Tailscale) for local development.

Create Meta Business App

Go to Meta for Developers and create a Business app.

Add WhatsApp Product

Add “WhatsApp” product to your app.

Get Credentials

From WhatsApp → API Setup:

Copy Access Token
Copy Phone Number ID
Define a Verify Token (any random string)

Configure Corvus

[channels_config.whatsapp]
access_token = "EAABx..."
phone_number_id = "123456789012345"
verify_token = "my-secret-verify-token"
app_secret = "app-secret-from-meta"  # For signature verification
allowed_numbers = ["+1234567890"]  # E.164 format

Start Gateway with Tunnel

corvus gateway --port 8080

Set up a tunnel to expose the gateway:

ngrok http 8080

Configure Webhook

In Meta Developer Console → WhatsApp → Configuration:

Callback URL: https://your-tunnel-url/whatsapp
Verify Token: Same as verify_token in config
Subscribe to: messages

Configuration Fields

channels_config.whatsapp.access_token

string

required

Access token from Meta Business Suite.

channels_config.whatsapp.phone_number_id

string

required

Phone number ID from WhatsApp API Setup.

channels_config.whatsapp.verify_token

string

required

Webhook verification token (you define this).

channels_config.whatsapp.app_secret

string

App secret for webhook signature verification. Can also be set via CORVUS_WHATSAPP_APP_SECRET.

channels_config.whatsapp.allowed_numbers

string[]

required

Allowed phone numbers in E.164 format (e.g., +1234567890).Use ["*"] to allow all numbers.

Signal Configuration

Requires signal-cli running in HTTP daemon mode.

[channels_config.signal]
http_url = "http://127.0.0.1:8686"
account = "+1234567890"  # Your signal-cli number
group_id = "dm"  # "dm" for DMs only, or specific group ID
allowed_from = ["+9876543210"]
ignore_attachments = false
ignore_stories = true

channels_config.signal.http_url

string

required

URL of signal-cli HTTP daemon.

channels_config.signal.account

string

required

E.164 phone number of signal-cli account.

channels_config.signal.group_id

string

Filter messages by group:

Omit: Accept all messages (DMs and groups)
"dm": Only accept direct messages
Group ID: Only accept messages from specific group

channels_config.signal.allowed_from

string[]

required

Allowed sender phone numbers in E.164 format.

Lark/Feishu Configuration

Lark (international) and Feishu (China) support two receive modes:

[channels_config.lark]
app_id = "cli_..."
app_secret = "..."
allowed_users = ["ou_..."]  # User IDs or union IDs
use_feishu = false  # true for Feishu (China)
receive_mode = "websocket"  # or "webhook"

# Only for webhook mode:
port = 8080
encrypt_key = "..."  # Optional
verification_token = "..."  # Optional

channels_config.lark.receive_mode

string

default:"websocket"

Event receive mode:

websocket: Persistent connection, no public URL required (recommended)
webhook: HTTP callback, requires public HTTPS endpoint

channels_config.lark.use_feishu

boolean

default:false

Use Feishu (China) endpoint instead of Lark (international).

IRC Configuration

[channels_config.irc]
server = "irc.libera.chat"
port = 6697
nickname = "corvus-bot"
channels = ["#rust", "#ai"]
allowed_users = ["alice", "bob"]  # Case-insensitive

# Authentication (choose one)
server_password = "..."  # For bouncers like ZNC
nickserv_password = "..."  # For NickServ IDENTIFY
sasl_password = "..."  # For SASL PLAIN (IRCv3)

verify_tls = true  # Verify TLS certificate

Email Configuration

[channels_config.email]
imap_host = "imap.gmail.com"
imap_port = 993
smtp_host = "smtp.gmail.com"
smtp_port = 587
email = "bot@example.com"
password = "app-password"
allowed_from = ["user@example.com"]

Webhook Configuration

Generic HTTP webhook endpoint:

[channels_config.webhook]
port = 3000
secret = "webhook-secret-token"  # Optional HMAC verification

Usage:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/webhook \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <pairing-token>" \
  -d '{"message": "Hello, Corvus!"}'

Channel Health Checks

Check the health of configured channels:

corvus channel doctor

This validates:

Authentication credentials
Network connectivity
API endpoint availability
Webhook configuration

Quick Reconfiguration

To reconfigure channels without affecting other settings:

corvus onboard --channels-only

This updates channel configuration and allowlists while preserving provider, memory, and security settings.

Complete Example

[channels_config]
cli = true

[channels_config.telegram]
bot_token = "123456789:ABCdef..."
allowed_users = ["alice"]
stream_mode = "partial"

[channels_config.discord]
bot_token = "MTk4NjIy..."
allowed_users = ["123456789012345678"]
mention_only = true

[channels_config.slack]
bot_token = "xoxb-..."
app_token = "xapp-..."
allowed_users = ["U01234567"]

[channels_config.whatsapp]
access_token = "EAABx..."
phone_number_id = "123456789012345"
verify_token = "my-secret"
allowed_numbers = ["+1234567890"]

Next Steps

Memory Configuration

Configure memory backends and embedding providers

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Configuration

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Supported Channels

Telegram

Discord

Slack

WhatsApp

Matrix

Signal

iMessage

IRC

Email

Lark/Feishu

DingTalk

QQ

Mattermost

Webhook

CLI

​Channel Security Model

​Finding Your Identity

​Telegram Configuration

​Configuration Fields

​Discord Configuration

​Configuration Fields

​Slack Configuration

​Configuration Fields

​WhatsApp Configuration

​Configuration Fields

​Signal Configuration

​Lark/Feishu Configuration

​IRC Configuration

​Email Configuration

​Webhook Configuration

​Channel Health Checks

​Quick Reconfiguration

​Complete Example

​Next Steps

Memory Configuration

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Supported Channels

Channel Security Model

Finding Your Identity

Telegram Configuration

Configuration Fields

Discord Configuration

Configuration Fields

Slack Configuration

Configuration Fields

WhatsApp Configuration

Configuration Fields

Signal Configuration

Lark/Feishu Configuration

IRC Configuration

Email Configuration

Webhook Configuration

Channel Health Checks

Quick Reconfiguration

Complete Example

Next Steps