Configure the Channel in Intelligence

Open the Channels area#

In CopilotKit Intelligence, open your project, go to Channels, and click Add channel. In an empty project, the action is Create channel.

The wizard has three phases: Name & platforms, Setup, and Review.

Set the Display name and Code#

Enter a human-readable Display name. Intelligence derives the Code automatically; click Edit only if you need to change it.

The Code is part of the runtime contract:

• 3–64 characters
• starts with a lowercase letter
• lowercase letters and numbers separated by single hyphens
• project-unique
• cannot be channels

Your SDK declaration must use that exact Code:

import { createChannel } from "@copilotkit/channels";
import { makeAgent } from "./agent.js";

const channel = createChannel({
  name: "support",
  identifyUser: "platform",
  agent: makeAgent,
});

A mismatch leaves the Channel at Waiting for runtime.

Choose providers#

Select Slack, Microsoft Teams, or both. Each connection has its own setup and installation steps but shares this Channel's Code and runtime declaration.

Configure Slack for this guide. You can attach Teams to the same Channel now or later without changing the Code.

Slack and Teams use the same managed delivery path. If a provider says Not on your plan, change the project entitlement before continuing.

Managed Intelligence support for Discord and WhatsApp shows Coming soon. The Channels SDK already exports developer-operated direct adapters for those providers.

Connect Slack#

1. Copy the generated manifest, open Slack's app-creation flow, and create the app From a manifest using the YAML.
2. In OAuth & Permissions, click Install to Workspace. Approve the complete scope set from the current manifest, reinstall after any scope update, and paste the current xoxb-… Bot User OAuth Token into Bot token. Slack can issue a new token after reinstall.
3. In Basic Information → App Credentials, copy the Signing Secret into Intelligence.
4. Invite the app to a channel with /invite @<app-handle>, or open a direct message with it.

Slack sends signed Events API requests to the public Intelligence URL in the generated manifest. Hosted Intelligence provides that URL; a self-hosted deployment must expose it. Managed slash commands are not part of the Channels product surface.

Review and create#

In the Review phase, confirm the Display name, Code, and selected platform, then click Create channel.

Credential validation is not an end-to-end message test.

A valid but mismatched Slack token pair can still fail at runtime.

Configure the runtime handoff#

On the new Channel page, open Connect a runtime. The Environment file (.env) block names the Intelligence variables with blank values.

Store the project-scoped API key in your secret manager and configure your long-running Channels process with:

INTELLIGENCE_API_KEY=<project-api-key>
CHANNEL_CODE=<your-channel-code>

# Optional paired overrides for self-hosted or non-production Intelligence:
# INTELLIGENCE_API_URL=https://intelligence.example.com
# INTELLIGENCE_GATEWAY_WS_URL=wss://realtime.intelligence.example.com

Hosted Intelligence supplies both managed base URLs by default. If you override them for a self-hosted or non-production deployment, replace both together. The REST and realtime planes use separate hosts, so do not derive the WebSocket URL by changing the API URL's scheme. Pass bare base URLs: the client appends /api/..., /runner, /client, or /channels itself. Do not append /api, /socket, /runner, /client, or /channels.

Open API Keys in the project sidebar to create and copy the project-scoped runtime key.

You choose CHANNEL_CODE from the exact Code above, and the selected agent framework adds its own backend variables. The SDK receives the Intelligence values through the apiKey constructor property and optional apiUrl / wsUrl overrides shown in the platform connection guides.

Never expose the Intelligence key, Slack tokens, or Teams client secret in browser code or source control.