frontmcp-channels

FrontMCP Channels

Build push-based notification channels that stream real-time events into Claude Code. Channels let your MCP server forward webhooks, application errors, agent completions, job results, and chat messages directly into Claude's context, with optional two-way reply support.

When to Use This Skill

Must Use

• You need Claude Code to react to external events (CI failures, monitoring alerts, deploy status)
• You are building a chat bridge (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord) for Claude Code
• You want agents or background jobs to notify Claude Code upon completion

Recommended

• You want to forward application errors to Claude for debugging assistance
• You need a messaging interface where remote users can interact with Claude via chat platforms

Skip When

• You only need standard MCP resource subscriptions (use @Resource with resources/subscribe)
• Your client is not Claude Code and does not support experimental['claude/channel']
• You need request-response patterns (use @Tool instead)

Decision: Use channels when you need server-initiated push notifications into Claude Code. Use resources when the client pulls data on demand.

Prerequisites

• @frontmcp/sdk >= 1.0.0
• Basic understanding of @FrontMcp, @App, and @Tool decorators
• For webhook sources: HTTP transport (not stdio-only)
• For chat bridges: external API credentials (WhatsApp Business API, Telegram Bot Token, etc.)

Steps

1. Choose your channel source type from the Scenario Routing Table
2. Create a channel class or function
3. Register it in your app
4. Enable channels in @FrontMcp config
5. Test with Claude Code using --dangerously-load-development-channels

Scenario Routing Table

Common Patterns

Verification Checklist

Server Setup

• @FrontMcp({ channels: { enabled: true } }) is set
• Channel classes extend ChannelContext with @Channel() decorator
• Channels are listed in @App({ channels: [...] })
• onEvent() returns { content: string, meta?: Record<string, string> }

Capability

• Server advertises experimental: { 'claude/channel': {} } in capabilities
• Only sessions with matching capability receive notifications
• instructions field mentions <channel> tags when channels are active

Two-Way

• twoWay: true is set on channels that need replies
• channel-reply tool appears in tool list
• onReply() is implemented and forwards to external system
• Sender authentication is enforced before emitting events

Sources

• Webhook endpoints return 200 on success
• Event bus subscriptions are cleaned up on scope teardown
• Agent/job completion filters match expected IDs

Troubleshooting

Examples

Each reference has matching examples under examples/<reference>/:

channel-sources

channel-two-way

Accessing This Skill

Skills are distributed as plain SKILL.md files plus a sibling references/ and examples/ tree, so consumers can pick whichever access mode fits:

The catalog itself is not an MCP server. The skill:// URIs only resolve when a server has been configured to host this skill.

Reference

• Claude Code Channels Reference
• MCP Specification - Notifications
• Related skills: frontmcp-development, frontmcp-testing, frontmcp-deployment