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

Available channels

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

Allowlist model

Channels use an allowlist for access control:

• Empty allowlist — Deny all (no one can interact)
• "*" — Allow all
• List of IDs — Exact match only (e.g. Telegram user IDs, Discord user IDs)

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.

Gateway webhooks

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

Path	Channel
/webhook/telegram	Telegram
/webhook/slack	Slack
/webhook/discord	Discord
/webhook/whatsapp	WhatsApp
/webhook/line	LINE
/webhook/lark	Lark
/telegram	Telegram (legacy)
/slack/events	Slack events
/whatsapp	WhatsApp
/line	LINE
/lark	Lark
/discord	Discord

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