Channels

xbot receives and sends messages through channels — pluggable adapters that connect the same Agent engine to different platforms. Configure them once, and your team reaches the agent through the tools they already use.

Channel comparison

Channel	Best for	Connection	Highlights
CLI	Developers, power users	Local process / WebSocket	Full TUI, streaming output, mouse, themes
Feishu	Team collaboration	WebSocket (long-lived)	@mention in groups, interactive cards, Feishu API
QQ	QQ users	WebSocket	Official QQ Bot protocol
NapCat	Individuals, small circles	WebSocket	OneBot 11 protocol, personal QQ account
Web	Anyone with a browser	HTTP + WebSocket	Web chat, registration/login, invite-only

Enabling channels

All channels are enabled through ~/.xbot/config.json. No environment variables are required.

Tip
Visual configuration in the TUI: Type /channel to open the channel settings panel. You can toggle channels on/off and edit their parameters graphically — changes are written directly to config.json. This is especially useful in Remote mode, since you don’t need to SSH into the server to edit config files.

Important
Feishu, QQ, NapCat, and Web channels require Server mode. Standalone mode only supports CLI.

Choosing channels

Quick personal trial → CLI (Standalone mode)
Team uses Feishu → Server mode + Feishu channel
Friends or QQ groups → Server mode + NapCat channel
Public web chat → Server mode + Web channel
Multi-channel simultaneously → Server mode + enable multiple channels

Access control

All channels support an allow_from whitelist:

Leave empty (default): anyone can talk to the agent
Set a list: only listed users can interact

Feishu uses open_id, QQ uses openid, NapCat uses QQ numbers.