Channels

14 adapters, one unified message format. Every adapter normalizes inbound messages into the same InboundMessage shape regardless of platform.

Channel	Required config keys	Auth method
Telegram	`bot_token`	@BotFather bot token
Discord	`bot_token`	Discord Developer Portal bot token
Slack	`bot_token`, `app_token`	Slack app tokens (socket mode)
WhatsApp	`phone_number_id`, `access_token`	Meta permanent access token
Email	`username`, password (IMAP+SMTP)	IMAP/SMTP credentials
SMS	`account_sid`, `auth_token`, `from_number`	Twilio credentials
Matrix	`homeserver`, `user_id`, `access_token`	Matrix access token
IRC	`server`, `nick`	None (or SASL via server config)
Signal	`phone_number`	Local `signal-cli` registration
Webhook	none required	Optional HMAC `secret`
Mastodon	`instance_url`, `access_token`	OAuth2 access token
Microsoft Teams	`app_id`, `app_password`	Azure Bot Framework
Mattermost	`token`	Personal access token
Nextcloud Talk	`url`, `username`, `password`, `room_token`	Nextcloud credentials

Enabling a channel

Either run the guided wizard:

cortex channels add discord

Or write the config block directly — every key supports ENV:VAR_NAME secret resolution:

[channels.discord]
enabled = true
bot_token = "ENV:DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"

Checking channel status

cortex channels list

Shows every configured channel and whether its adapter is currently connected.

Writing your own channel adapter

Subclass ChannelAdapter from cortexflow-sdk and implement connect(), disconnect(), and send() — see Plugins & SDK for a full example, or examples/plugins/ on GitHub for three complete, tested plugins.