Channels & Integrations

Three different things share the word "channel" in Foxl, and it is worth separating them before anything else:

The rest of this page is about the first two. The Channels screen is described in The Channels screen at the end.

OAuth IntegrationsLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Connect services with one click from Settings > Connect > Integrations. No API keys needed - Foxl uses OAuth to act as you.

After connecting, the corresponding tool is automatically registered and available to the agent. Disconnecting removes the tool.

Slack Workspace SelectionLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

By default, Slack OAuth connects to the workspace you're logged into in your browser. To connect a specific workspace, enter the workspace name (the part before .slack.com) in the input field before clicking Connect.

Available ChannelsLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Messaging bots (channel adapters)Link zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Every adapter is under Settings > Connect > Channels, and each one answers only the people you list. A channel whose row is marked Preview has not yet answered a real message the way it ships, so it may not work yet. iMessage replies into SMS and RCS chats have not been tried with another person yet either.

Slack is also an outbound integration (the slack tool, connected by OAuth above) - the bot and the integration are separate connections. This is the whole list: the pane offers only channels this desktop can run. WhatsApp is held for now (its only library brings in a GPL-3.0 dependency). Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, LINE, Synology Chat and SMS through Twilio are not offered, because those services deliver messages only to a public web address, and this desktop does not accept connections from the internet. A channel saved for another platform by an earlier version is still listed, with Remove, so what was saved for it can be deleted.

iMessage: give Foxl its own Apple AccountLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

The iMessage connect dialog opens on the recommended setup: an Apple Account of Foxl's own, signed in to Messages in a second user on this Mac (foxlbot). You then message Foxl like any other contact, and its replies never look like your own. The iMessage setup guide walks through every step of the dialog with screenshots: picking Foxl's address, creating its Apple Account and Mac user, the two macOS permissions, the first message, what to do after the Mac restarts, and how to undo the setup. This setup has not been run end to end on a real Mac yet, which is one more reason the iMessage row is marked Preview.

Social MediaLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

There is no built-in X/Twitter skill today; use the exec tool with a CLI of your choice, or the browser extension on x.com.

EmailLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Smart HomeLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Setting Up a ChannelLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Method 1: Channel adaptersLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

1. Open Settings > Connect > Channels and press Connect beside the channel (the dialog links to that service's own setup guide)
2. Paste the bot's credentials and list who may talk to it - the list starts empty, and an empty list answers nobody. For Signal, press Show QR code and scan it in Signal on your phone (Settings > Linked devices > Link new device); this needs signal-cli on the computer, and the dialog says so when it is missing
3. Save, then press Start; the row says Connecting at once (its button is then Stop) and Connected once the channel is up, and later links to the conversations it has collected

Other services are reached through skills: open Settings > Connect > Skills, and each skill's SKILL.md contains its setup steps, including what API keys or tools are needed.

Method 2: Browser ExtensionLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

For web-based services (Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Slack web), the Chrome Extension provides direct access:

1. Install the Chrome Extension
2. Log into the service in Chrome
3. Ask the agent to interact with it

No API keys needed - the agent uses your existing browser sessions.

Method 3: Shell ToolsLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Some integrations work through CLI tools:

# Email via himalaya
brew install himalaya
# Then: "Check my email"

Signal needs none of this - it is a built-in adapter under Settings > Connect > Channels that drives its own signal-cli and links your number by QR code.

Example WorkflowsLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Morning Slack SummaryLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

"Every morning at 8am, check my Slack channels and summarize unread messages"

Uses: the slack integration + scheduling

Answering a team channelLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Add your Telegram group (or a Slack channel id) under Channels and let Foxl answer questions there with your local tools.

Uses: the Telegram or Slack adapter

Email-to-Slack BridgeLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

"When I get an email from [email protected], send a summary to my Slack #clients channel"

Uses: browser_extension (Gmail) + the slack integration + scheduling

Music at a set timeLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

"At 7pm, play my Focus playlist on the kitchen speaker"

Uses: sonos or spotify skill + scheduling

Adding New ChannelsLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

If you need a channel that isn't available as a built-in skill, you can:

1. Create a custom skill with instructions for the agent
2. Use the exec tool to run CLI commands for the service
3. Use the browser_extension to interact with the service's web interface

The Channels screenLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Channels sits beside Chat in Foxl Agent and holds every conversation that arrived through a channel adapter. It appears in the sidebar, and in the phone's tab bar, once an adapter is switched on under Settings > Connect > Channels; while it has no conversation yet, it says one appears when someone messages your bot, with Open channel settings. While your desktop is off, it says Can't reach Foxl Desktop, where these conversations live.

The first time a channel connects, the people you allowed are listed there right away, each as a conversation with no messages yet, so you can write first (on Telegram only to someone who has messaged your bot before: Telegram does not let a bot start a conversation). When one of them writes, it continues that conversation instead of opening a second one. This works for Telegram, Signal, Slack, Discord, iMessage, Mattermost, Nostr and Zalo; Matrix, Feishu, IRC, Twitch and Nextcloud Talk show a conversation once someone writes, and a channel that already has conversations keeps just those.

Conversations from your channelsLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Somebody messages your bot, Foxl answers with your local tools, and the reply posts back to that platform. Here you see the whole exchange: who wrote, what they said, and what Foxl replied. Each reply is labelled, so an answer the AI wrote can never be mistaken for one you sent. While a channel is set up, these conversations stay out of your own chat list (search and Export everything still include them).

What a channel run may doLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Channel runs follow Settings > Safety > By where a run comes from > Channels, which starts on Full access - your Safety rules as they are, auto-approve included, which is how channel runs always worked. Two stricter choices:

• Ask first: shell commands, file writes, the browser and sending ask for approval in a Foxl window on this computer, as if auto-approve were off. With no Foxl window open the call is refused at once and the thread is told why.
• Read only: the run gets only the tools that read - files, web pages, memory, past conversations. Every tool that can change something, your custom and MCP tools included, is removed, and a call to one is refused. The reply can still quote what the run read, so this keeps a message from changing your computer; it does not keep your files private from the person who asked.

Even on Full access, a message, mail or web-page text that carries a card number, a Korean resident registration number or a US Social Security number, and a browser click that can pay or book, wait for your approval in a Foxl window; with no Foxl window open, nothing is sent or clicked and the run says it needs your OK.

Over iMessage an SMS from a listed number is answered too, and anyone can send an SMS that shows someone else's number, yours included. A listed number is therefore no proof of who wrote an SMS: under Full access, whoever fakes one runs the agent with this computer's tools. If that matters to you, put Channels on Ask first or Read only.

Replying yourselfLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

You can answer straight from the thread. Your reply goes out on the channel it came from, in the right Slack thread, and it is only recorded once the platform has actually accepted it.

Tapping a "message from Telegram" notification lands on the thread rather than on the assistant chat, and the Channels row in Settings links to the conversations it has collected.

Where the threads liveLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Threads live on the desktop, so they show up wherever your desktop is reachable - including a phone on the relay. They do not need a team or a shared workspace.

A mention that arrives while your computer is asleep or the app is quit is missed, not queued. The adapter holds an outbound connection rather than a mailbox, so there is nothing to replay when it comes back. Turn on Keep running when closed if you want the machine to keep answering after you quit the app.

Team channels, direct messages and huddlesLink zu diesem Abschnitt kopieren

Once you create or join a Foxl workspace (any account can, a Free one included), the same screen also holds the workspace's own channels and direct messages, and huddles. Until then the Channels screen shows the adapters' conversations only, and everything above works the same without them. A workspace a Free account owns is never charged for them.

Where an account has them:

• Threads: Reply in thread is on a message's hover bar, its right-click menu and, on a phone, the long-press sheet. The reply goes under the message it answers, which then shows 3 replies with who replied and when; the thread opens beside the channel on a wide screen and as its own screen on a phone. A link to a reply, or a notification about one, opens its thread. A reply to a message further back than the channel has loaded stays in the channel until Load older messages brings that message in. Loading older messages keeps your place.
• Statuses: Set a status at the top of the workspace menu (the ... beside the workspace name) takes an emoji, a line such as "In a meeting" and when it clears (30 minutes up to the end of the week, or never). It shows after your name in direct messages and in a direct message's header, for everyone who shares a channel or direct message with you. A person's dot is green while they are active and a hollow ring while they are away; Set yourself as away and Appear offline set it by hand (Appear offline hides your dot and leaves a status you set showing). Dots show only for people in the channel you have open.
• People: click or tap someone's name or picture on a message, an @mention of them, or their row in the member list, and their card opens with their name, email and role in the channel, Message (opens your direct message with them, starting one if needed) and Copy email. The member count in a channel's header opens the member list, with a search field and Add people at the top; on a phone the channel's ... menu has a Members row.
• Unreads: a message in a room you are not looking at raises its unread count and moves it up the list as soon as it is sent (in a room with more than 50 other members, the 50 who read it most recently see it at once and the rest within 5 minutes). On a computer or an iPad, More unreads at the foot of the channel list takes you to an unread channel below the fold. While you read back, the date of the day you are in stays pinned at the top.
• Keyboard: Option+Up and Option+Down (Alt on Windows and Linux) move to the channel above or below, passing over a channel you are not in, and Option+Shift+Up and Option+Shift+Down to the previous or next unread one. Both can be changed in Settings > Shortcuts.
• Pictures in a channel or direct message show in the conversation, as in Slack: click one (or press Enter on it) to see it full size, zoom in, or save it. The ones you pick show as small previews in the message box before you send. A file that is not a picture, a picture over 8 MB, or a format your browser cannot show (HEIC in Chrome, for example) stays a file you can download.
• Coming back: in the iPhone, iPad and Android apps and on app.foxl.ai, a channel or direct message you read before opens on its last messages right away, also after the app was closed, and new messages, edits and deletions arrive a moment later. What the device keeps for this is limited: each workspace's channel list, the newest 50 messages of up to 24 conversations, and up to 48 MB of the pictures you saw there (each up to 4 MB), which then load from the device instead of downloading again; all of it for a week at most, encrypted like the chat history Foxl keeps on the device. It is deleted when you sign out or another account signs in, and a conversation you can no longer open is removed from it. The desktop app also reopens a conversation on its messages, but keeps nothing once it is closed.
• Huddles: press the headphones in a channel or DM to start one. Starting one rings the other side of a DM - on their phone too, and everyone else in a group DM at the same time - and posts a "started a huddle" line in the conversation. A huddle in a channel does not ring everybody in it; the line plus the pulsing headphones is the signal there, and the invite picker calls someone in. A huddle invite is marked time-sensitive, so the ring can reach you inside Do Not Disturb, and it expires after two minutes. See Notifications.
• Profile pictures: teammates see the picture you set on the Account page. A picture set from an image link is copied into your Foxl account when you save it, so their apps load it from Foxl rather than from the site you linked; the link has to point to a JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF of up to 512 KB.
• Limits: each account can post about 1,000 messages, edits, reactions and typing indicators a day (a message counts once per 2,000 characters) and 120 a minute, and create 20 workspaces and 300 shared folders a day. Over a limit the action is refused and nothing is saved; the message says whether to wait a minute or, for the daily limit, about how many hours until it resets.