How to Enable Claude Code Channels for Team and Enterprise Plans (Step by Step)

You connected Claude Code to a channel, maybe AgentRQ, a Telegram bot or a Discord bot, and sent it a message from your phone. Nothing happened. Claude Code started, the MCP server connected and its tools work, but the message never showed up in the session. A startup warning says to ask your admin.

If you are on a claude.ai Team or Enterprise plan, that is expected. Channels ship switched off for organizations, and one person has to flip a switch before anyone can use them.

This guide walks through that switch screen by screen, then covers the managed-settings route and how to limit which channel plugins your team can run.

TL;DR

• Claude Code Channels are a research preview, and they are blocked by default on claude.ai Team and Enterprise plans.
• An Owner enables them at Organization settings → Claude Code → Channels (claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-code).
• The alternative is to set channelsEnabled: true in managed settings. Add allowedChannelPlugins to pick which plugins can register.
• Once Channels are on, each developer still chooses channels per session. Step 4 shows how to set up AgentRQ, Telegram and Discord.

What are Claude Code Channels, and why are they off for my org?

A channel is an MCP server that pushes events into a Claude Code session that is already running. Ordinary MCP tools only respond when Claude calls them. A channel can deliver a new task, a reply to a question the agent asked you, a CI failure or a monitoring alert into the session while you are away from the terminal. Claude reads the event, does the work against your real files and can reply through the same channel.

That makes a channel an inbound path into a developer's machine, and Anthropic leaves it to organization admins to decide whether to allow it. The defaults depend on how you sign in:

Account type	Channels by default
Pro / Max (no organization)	Available, opt in per session
claude.ai Team / Enterprise	Blocked until an Owner enables them
Console (API key)	Allowed, unless your org deploys managed settings
Bedrock / Google Cloud / Foundry	Not available

You also need Claude Code v2.1.80 or later. The official channel plugins (Telegram, Discord, iMessage and the fakechat demo) need Bun.

Who can enable Channels?

Only a user with the Owner role on the claude.ai organization. Admins without the Owner role, and regular members, will not be able to change the toggle. If that isn't you, send this post to your Owner.

Step 1: Open Organization settings

Sign in to claude.ai with your Team or Enterprise account. Click your name in the bottom-left corner to open the account menu, make sure your organization (not your personal account) is selected at the top, and choose Organization settings.

Step 2: Go to Products → Claude Code and find Channels

In the left sidebar of Organization settings, scroll to the Products group and click Claude Code (1).

The Claude Code page is long. The quickest way to the setting is your browser's find bar: press Cmd+F on macOS or Ctrl+F on Windows and Linux, and type channels (2). It sits in the Capabilities section, below Dynamic workflows.

Turn on the Channels toggle (3). It carries a Preview badge, and its description reads: "Allow your team to receive inbound messages from MCP servers in Claude Code sessions."

You can skip the menu clicks by opening the page directly: claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-code.

Step 3: Confirm it says "Set by admin"

Once the toggle is on, the label next to it changes from Default to Set by admin. That label shows the setting is now enforced for the whole organization, and members cannot override it.

That's the whole admin side.

Step 4: Connect a channel (AgentRQ, Telegram or Discord)

Turning the setting on doesn't start anything. Each developer still picks which channel servers their session will trust. Below are three common setups: AgentRQ, plus Anthropic's official Telegram and Discord plugins. Pick one, or run several at once.

Option A: AgentRQ

AgentRQ lets you assign tasks, answer the agent's questions and approve its actions from your phone or desktop while Claude Code keeps running on your machine. You don't run a bot or a server.

1. Create a workspace. Sign in at app.agentrq.com, create a workspace for your project and click Generate MCP Token. The token is shown only once, so copy it. Note the workspace ID too.

2. Add the server to .mcp.json in the project root, where you run claude:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agentrq-WORKSPACE_ID": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://WORKSPACE_ID.mcp.agentrq.com/mcp?token=YOUR_MCP_TOKEN"
    }
  }
}

The server key has to include your workspace ID, because the next command refers to the server by that name.

3. Start Claude Code with the server as a channel:

claude --dangerously-load-development-channels server:agentrq-WORKSPACE_ID --name my-api-project

A server in .mcp.json alone gives Claude the AgentRQ tools, but it can't push anything into the session. New tasks and your replies only arrive as they happen when the server is also named as a channel.

AgentRQ is a custom channel. During the research preview, only the plugins on Anthropic's allowlist load through --channels, so a custom channel like this one loads through --dangerously-load-development-channels. That flag skips the plugin allowlist after a confirmation prompt. It does not get around an organization that has Channels turned off, which is why the Owner toggle above comes first. --name just labels the session.

4. Send it work. Create a task in the AgentRQ app. It arrives in the running session as a <channel> event, Claude starts on it, and its progress updates and questions come back to the app.

Option B: Telegram

The official plugins run on Bun, so install that first.

1. In Telegram, open @BotFather, send /newbot, choose a name and a username ending in bot, and copy the token it returns.
2. Install the plugin and save the token. Run these inside Claude Code:

/plugin install telegram@claude-plugins-official
/telegram:configure <token>

1. Exit Claude Code and restart it with the channel:

claude --channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official

1. Send any message to your bot. It replies with a pairing code. Approve the code and lock access to your account:

/telegram:access pair <code>
/telegram:access policy allowlist

Option C: Discord

1. In the Discord Developer Portal, create an application. In the Bot section, click Reset Token and copy it. Under Privileged Gateway Intents, turn on Message Content Intent.
2. Under OAuth2 → URL Generator, select the bot scope with these permissions: View Channels, Send Messages, Send Messages in Threads, Read Message History, Attach Files and Add Reactions. Open the generated URL to add the bot to your server.
3. Install the plugin, save the token, then restart with the channel:

/plugin install discord@claude-plugins-official
/discord:configure <token>

claude --channels plugin:discord@claude-plugins-official

1. Send the bot a DM. It replies with a pairing code. Approve it and lock access:

/discord:access pair <code>
/discord:access policy allowlist

To run more than one channel in a session, list them all. --channels takes several plugins separated by spaces, and you can use it together with --dangerously-load-development-channels:

claude --channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official plugin:discord@claude-plugins-official \
  --dangerously-load-development-channels server:agentrq-WORKSPACE_ID

Neither flag shows up in claude --help while Channels are in preview, but both work. If the org setting is still off, every server connects and its tools work, but no channel messages arrive, and a startup warning tells the user to ask an admin.

Can I enable Channels with managed settings instead?

Yes. If you already roll out Claude Code managed settings, set the master switch there:

{
  "channelsEnabled": true
}

That is the same switch as the toggle above, and users cannot override it. Console organizations that deploy managed settings need this key too, because deploying managed settings blocks Channels until it is set.

How do I restrict which channel plugins can run?

By default, any plugin on Anthropic's channel allowlist can register, which means the ones in claude-plugins-official. On Team and Enterprise you can replace that list with allowedChannelPlugins. Each entry names a plugin and the marketplace it comes from:

{
  "channelsEnabled": true,
  "allowedChannelPlugins": [
    { "marketplace": "claude-plugins-official", "plugin": "telegram" },
    { "marketplace": "claude-plugins-official", "plugin": "discord" },
    { "marketplace": "acme-corp-plugins", "plugin": "internal-alerts" }
  ]
}

A few rules worth knowing:

• allowedChannelPlugins only applies when channelsEnabled is true.
• If a plugin isn't on your list, Claude Code still starts, but the channel doesn't register. The startup notice says the plugin is not on the organization's approved list.
• Each entry has to match the plugin name as well as the marketplace.
• An empty array blocks every allowlisted plugin. Servers loaded with --dangerously-load-development-channels, such as AgentRQ, can still run. To shut Channels off completely, development flag included, leave channelsEnabled unset.

What should admins think about before turning it on?

Channels are useful because they let outside events reach a session, and that is also the part to plan for:

• Who can reach the session. Telegram and Discord keep a sender allowlist that you fill by pairing, and messages from anyone else are dropped silently. Always finish with access policy allowlist. With AgentRQ, the workspace MCP token is the key. Anyone with the token can connect to the workspace, so keep .mcp.json out of public repos and generate a new token if one leaks.
• Who can approve actions. If a channel relays permission prompts, anyone who can answer through it can approve or deny tool use in that session. Only give that access to people you would trust at the keyboard.
• Unattended sessions. People who pair Channels with --dangerously-skip-permissions should do it only in environments they trust.

FAQ

Do I need to restart Claude Code after the admin enables Channels?
Yes. The setting is checked when a session starts. Exit and relaunch with the channel flag.

The MCP server connects and its tools work, so why don't messages arrive?
That is the exact symptom of Channels being off at the org level. The server still connects, but channel messages are dropped. Check the startup warning, then ask your Owner to check Organization settings → Claude Code → Channels.

I'm an Admin but the toggle doesn't change.
Enabling Channels requires the Owner role.

Does enabling Channels connect everyone to AgentRQ, Telegram or Discord automatically?
No. It only allows Channels. Each developer still sets up a channel and names it with --channels or --dangerously-load-development-channels when they start a session.

Are Channels available on Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry?
No. They need Anthropic authentication, either a claude.ai login or a Console API key.

Is this stable?
Channels are still a research preview. Anthropic says the flag syntax and the protocol may change, so check the official Channels docs before you script it.

---

Has your team turned Channels on yet? What's the first thing you'd hand to an agent you can reach from your phone? Tell us in the comments.

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