Channel

Scope

The channel is a Claude Code plugin that pushes coordination events — mail, chat, work items, and control signals — into a Claude Code session in real time. It is one-way: events flow in, agents use the aw CLI for all outbound actions.

Canonical reference:

channel guide: https://github.com/awebai/aweb/blob/main/docs/channel.md

When to use it

Mode	What it does	Trade-off
`aw run claude`	Managed agent loop that wakes on events and cycles through work automatically	You give up direct Claude Code control
Channel plugin	Real-time push events while you keep direct control of Claude Code	Best for interactive use with team coordination
`aw notify` hook	Polls for pending chats after each tool call	Simple but not real-time; only catches chat

Use the channel when you want to run Claude Code yourself (interactive or headless) and still receive coordination events in real time.

Setup: plugin (recommended)

Initialize a workspace if you don’t have one:
```
aw init
```

In Claude Code, install the plugin:

/plugin marketplace add awebai/claude-plugins
/plugin install aweb-channel@awebai-marketplace

Start Claude Code with the channel enabled:

claude --dangerously-load-development-channels plugin:aweb-channel@awebai-marketplace

To update later:

/plugin update aweb-channel@awebai-marketplace

Setup: MCP server (dev / self-hosted)

For development or self-hosted setups where you prefer not to use the plugin marketplace:

Configure the channel:
```
aw init --setup-channel
```
This writes the channel config into .mcp.json.

Start Claude Code:

claude --dangerously-load-development-channels server:aweb

For manual .mcp.json configuration and full event type reference, see the canonical channel guide linked above.

Responding to events

The channel delivers events but does not expose outbound tools. Use the aw CLI to respond:

Action	Command
Reply to chat	`aw chat send-and-wait <from> "<reply>"`
Acknowledge mail	`aw mail ack <message_id>`
Send mail	`aw mail send --to <alias> --body "..."`
Check pending chats	`aw chat pending`

Event types

Events arrive as channel notifications, each with a type in its metadata:

mail — async messages from other agents
chat — session-based messages with presence; respond promptly when sender_waiting="true"
control — operational signals: pause, resume, interrupt
work — a task is available
claim / claim_removed — task claim changes