Channels

Channels are the messaging platforms your bot listens on. At least one is required before your bot can receive anything, and the Channels card shows a Required badge until you connect one.

Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, and Slack each have a permanent row on the card, whether or not you use them. Every other platform lives behind Add channel.

Each row carries a status badge: Not configured, Configuring while the change is applied on the server, Configured, Installed on a plugin channel you have added, or Not linked for a WhatsApp channel that still needs its QR scan.

Connecting a platform takes two things: handing us its credentials, then approving the people who message your bot. Until you approve someone, your bot stays silent to them. See Approving pairing requests.

Telegram

1. Open Telegram and start a chat with @BotFather.
2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts. BotFather gives you a bot token that looks like 123456789:ABCDefGH....
3. On the Telegram row, select Add, paste the token, and select Add.

Your token is stored encrypted. Once the row reads Configured, your bot is live.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp uses no token. You link it by scanning a QR code with your phone.

1. On the WhatsApp row, select Add.
2. Optionally enter a phone number to allow only that number to message your bot. Leave it blank to allow anyone. Use E.164 format, for example +12345678901.
3. Optionally turn on self-chat mode, which limits the bot to your own "Message yourself" chat. Use it for a personal assistant rather than a shared bot.
4. Select Add. The row reads Configuring while your server applies the change, then becomes Not linked with a Link WhatsApp button.
5. Select Link WhatsApp, then Generate QR code. Generating takes 10 to 15 seconds.
6. On your phone, open WhatsApp, go to Linked Devices, tap Link a Device, and scan the code in the dialog.
7. Select Done. The dialog cannot detect the scan, so select Refresh on the dashboard and check that the row reads Configured.

If the session expires later, the row drops back to Not linked and its button reads Link WhatsApp again. Select it and generate a fresh code.

To move the bot to a different phone while the row still reads Configured, remove the WhatsApp channel and add it again. Pair on a linked row reopens the same dialog, but generating a code there fails with "the channel is already linked".

Discord

1. In the Discord Developer Portal, create an application for your bot.
2. Open its Bot section and copy the token, using Reset Token if no token is shown.
3. On the same screen, enable Message Content Intent under Privileged Gateway Intents. Your bot cannot read what people send it without this.
4. Invite the bot to your Discord server from OAuth2 → URL Generator.
5. Back in Rapidbot, select Add on the Discord row, paste the token, and select Add.

Steps 1 to 4 happen in Discord, and the Add dialog repeats this checklist while you work through them. For the detail of each screen, see Discord's developer documentation.

Slack

Slack connects over Socket Mode, which needs two tokens from one Slack app.

1. Create an app at api.slack.com/apps.
2. Enable Socket Mode, then create an App-Level Token with the connections:write scope. It starts with xapp-.
3. Install the app to your workspace and copy the Bot Token. It starts with xoxb-.
4. Subscribe the app to the message.im and app_mention events, and enable the App Home Messages Tab, so your bot receives direct messages.
5. Back in Rapidbot, select Add on the Slack row, paste both tokens, and select Add.

Steps 1 to 4 happen in Slack, and the Add dialog repeats this checklist while you work through them. For the detail of each screen, see Slack's Socket Mode documentation.

Approving pairing requests

Telegram, Discord, and Slack users have to be paired before your bot replies to them.

1. The user messages your bot and receives a pairing code.
2. They pass the code to you.
3. Select Pair on that channel's row, enter the code, and select Approve.

Rapidbot has no button for taking that access away again. Removing the channel clears every pairing on it, and anything finer than that is handled in your OpenClaw dashboard.

Other platforms

Select Add channel to see everything else your server can run, from Signal and Matrix through Microsoft Teams, LINE, WeChat, and voice calls. The catalog in the dashboard is always the current list.

• Built-in platforms need no installation. Selecting one opens your OpenClaw dashboard, where you configure it.
• Plugin platforms are installed on your server first. Select the platform, then Install. Once it finishes, select Configure to set it up in your OpenClaw dashboard.

Installed plugins appear as their own row on the Channels card with a Configure button. Their settings and their credentials live in OpenClaw, and the OpenClaw documentation describes each platform.

Removing a channel

Removal from Rapidbot covers Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, and Slack. Your server has to be running.

Select the trash icon on the row, then Remove in the confirmation toast that appears in the corner. Nothing happens until you select it there, and the toast disappears after a few seconds. Removing a channel clears its configuration and every pairing on it. You can add it back at any time and go through setup again.

The trash icon on plugin rows currently returns Failed to remove channel. Uninstall those from your OpenClaw dashboard, or contact us.

Changing credentials

Telegram, Discord, and Slack tokens cannot be edited in place. Remove the channel, then add it again with the new token. Removing it clears every pairing on that channel, so everyone who uses your bot there has to pair again.