Claude Code Channels: Control Your AI Agent from Discord (Complete Setup Guide)

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Developers were paying for Mac Minis just to run OpenClaw so they could message their AI agent from their phone. Anthropic just made that completely unnecessary. Claude Code Channels is the native, secure version of what OpenClaw was trying to do — and it supports Discord and Telegram out of the box.

In this guide, I'll walk you through the complete setup process: from testing with a local Fake Chat demo, to creating a Discord bot, pairing your account, and locking down access for security.

What Are Claude Code Channels?

A channel is an MCP server that pushes events into your running Claude Code session. This means Claude can react to things that happen while you're not at the terminal. Channels are two-way — Claude reads the event and replies back through the same channel, like a chat bridge.

Key points:

Events only arrive while the session is open
For an always-on setup, run Claude in a background process or persistent terminal
Discord and Telegram are included in the research preview
You can build your own custom channels for Slack, WhatsApp, or anything else

Quick Start: Testing with Fake Chat

Before connecting Discord, let's verify everything works with the built-in Fake Chat demo — a local chat UI that requires no authentication or external services.

# Make sure Claude Code is up to date
claude update

# Add the official plugins marketplace (if not already added)
claude plugin add-marketplace claude-plugins-official

# Install the Fake Chat plugin
claude plugin install @anthropic-ai/claude-code-fakechat

# Start Claude Code with the Fake Chat channel
claude --channels fakechat

Once running, open http://localhost:8787 in your browser. You'll see a simple chat interface where you can type messages and even attach files. Any message you send appears in your terminal session, and Claude's response shows up in the chat UI.

Setting Up Discord

Step 1: Create a Discord Bot

Go to the Discord Developer Portal
Click New Application and name it (e.g., "Claude Code")
Go to the Bot section in the left sidebar
Click Reset Token and copy the token — save it somewhere safe
Enable Message Content Intent under Privileged Gateway Intents
Click Save Changes

Step 2: Invite the Bot to Your Server

Go to OAuth2 → URL Generator
Select the bot scope
Under Bot Permissions, enable: View Channels, Send Messages, Read Message History, and Attach Files
Copy the generated URL and open it in a new tab
Select your server and click Authorize

Step 3: Install and Configure the Discord Plugin

# Install the Discord channel plugin
claude plugin install @claude-plugins-official/discord

# Configure with your bot token
/discord:configure YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE

# Restart Claude Code with the Discord channel enabled
claude --channels discord

Step 4: Pair Your Discord Account

DM your bot on Discord — it will reply with a pairing code
Run the pairing command shown in the bot's reply in your Claude Code terminal
Approve the pairing when prompted
You're connected! Send messages from Discord and Claude responds

Security: Locking Down Access

This step is critical. Without locking down access, anyone who can message your bot could potentially control your Claude Code session — and by extension, your entire computer.

# Lock down to allow-list mode
/discord:access policy allowlist

This changes the DM policy from pairing (anyone can request access) to allowlist (only pre-approved users can interact). New users won't even get a pairing prompt.

What Can You Do from Discord?

Once connected, you can do everything from Discord that you'd normally do in the terminal:

Send text messages — ask Claude to read files, explain code, or answer questions
Upload images — Claude can analyze screenshots, diagrams, or any visual content
Create files — ask Claude to generate code, HTML pages, configs, etc.
Run commands — anything Claude Code can do locally, you can trigger remotely

Bypass Permissions (Use with Caution)

By default, Claude Code pauses and asks for permission when executing potentially dangerous actions. If you want fully unattended operation:

# WARNING: Only use in sandboxed/trusted environments
claude --channels discord --dangerously-skip-permissions

⚠️ Warning: This flag bypasses ALL permission prompts. Claude Code will execute any action without asking — including deleting files, installing packages, or modifying system configurations. Only use this in sandboxed environments you can easily restore.

Multi-User Access

You can potentially add multiple users to the same Claude Code session. When a new user messages the bot, they'll receive a pairing code. You approve it from the terminal, and they're added to the allow list. Once everyone is added, lock it down with the allowlist policy.

What's Next?

Claude Code Channels currently supports Discord and Telegram in the research preview. You can also build your own custom channel for platforms like Slack, WhatsApp, or any messaging service.