Channel Overview

Channels are how Human receives and sends messages. Each channel implements the hu_channel_t vtable.

Channel vtable interface

Method	Description
`start`	Start listening (e.g. long-poll, WebSocket)
`stop`	Stop listening
`send`	Send a message to a target
`name`	Channel identifier
`health_check`	Report channel health
`send_event`	Optional: streaming send with stage
`start_typing` / `stop_typing`	Optional: typing indicators

Channel	Build flag	Description
CLI	`HU_ENABLE_CLI` (default ON)	Terminal chat, always available
Telegram	`HU_ENABLE_TELEGRAM`	Telegram Bot API
Discord	`HU_ENABLE_DISCORD`	Discord bot
Slack	`HU_ENABLE_SLACK`	Slack app (Socket mode, events)
Signal	`HU_ENABLE_SIGNAL`	Signal via signal-cli
Nostr	`HU_ENABLE_NOSTR`	Nostr DMs (nak)
WhatsApp	`HU_ENABLE_WHATSAPP`	WhatsApp Business API
Matrix	`HU_ENABLE_MATRIX`	Matrix.org
IRC	`HU_ENABLE_IRC`	IRC
Line	`HU_ENABLE_LINE`	LINE
Lark	`HU_ENABLE_LARK`	Lark/Feishu
OneBot	`HU_ENABLE_ONEBOT`	OneBot protocol
DingTalk	`HU_ENABLE_DINGTALK`	DingTalk
Email	`HU_ENABLE_EMAIL`	Email
Web	`HU_ENABLE_WEB`	WebSocket web UI
iMessage	`HU_ENABLE_IMESSAGE`	Apple iMessage
Mattermost	`HU_ENABLE_MATTERMOST`	Mattermost
QQ	`HU_ENABLE_QQ`	QQ
MaixCam	`HU_ENABLE_MAIXCAM`	MaixCam board
Dispatch	`HU_ENABLE_DISPATCH`	Dispatch/router

Enable all at once: -DHU_ENABLE_ALL_CHANNELS=ON

Channels use an allowlist for access control:

Example (Telegram):

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": [
      {
        "token": "123456:ABC...",
        "allow_from": ["123456789", "987654321"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

allow_from empty or omitted = allow all. allow_from: ["*"] = allow all. allow_from: ["123"] = only user 123.

When using the gateway (human gateway), incoming webhooks are routed by path:

Use a tunnel (ngrok, cloudflared) to expose the gateway to the internet for webhook delivery.