Chat Providers

OpenPact supports multiple chat platforms simultaneously through a unified provider interface. Each provider connects your AI assistant to a different platform while sharing the same engine, MCP tools, and context files.

Supported Providers

Provider	Library	Connection	Commands
Discord	discordgo	WebSocket	Slash commands (/new, /sessions, /switch, /context, /mode-*)
Telegram	go-telegram-bot-api	Long polling	Bot commands (/new, /sessions, /switch, /context)
Slack	slack-go	Socket Mode	Slash commands (/openpact-new, /openpact-context, etc.)

Architecture

All providers implement the same chat.Provider interface, which the orchestrator uses to manage message routing and session tracking.

┌─────────────┐   ┌─────────────┐   ┌─────────────┐
│   Discord    │   │  Telegram   │   │    Slack    │
│   Client     │   │   Client    │   │   Client    │
└──────┬───────┘   └──────┬──────┘   └──────┬──────┘
       │                  │                  │
       ▼                  ▼                  ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Chat Provider Interface              │
│  SetMessageHandler() / SetCommandHandler()        │
│  Start() / Stop() / SendMessage()                 │
└──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                       │
                       ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 Orchestrator                      │
│  Per-channel session management                   │
│  Source context injection                         │
│  Unified command handling                         │
└──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                       │
                       ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              AI Engine (OpenCode)                 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Per-Channel Sessions

Each (provider, channelID) pair gets its own independent session. This means:

• A Discord channel #general has a separate conversation from Telegram group MyChat
• Two Discord channels each maintain their own session and history
• The /switch command only affects the channel where it was issued

Session mappings are persisted to <DataDir>/channel_sessions.json, and detail mode settings to <DataDir>/channel_modes.json:

{
  "sessions": {
    "discord:123456789": "ses_abc123",
    "telegram:98765432": "ses_def456",
    "slack:C12345678": "ses_ghi789"
  }
}

Automatic Session Creation

If a channel has no active session when a message arrives, one is created automatically. You don't need to run /new before chatting.

Session Commands

All providers support the same commands:

Command	Discord	Telegram	Slack	Description
New session	/new	/new	/openpact-new	Start a fresh conversation
List sessions	/sessions	/sessions	/openpact-sessions	Show all sessions
Switch session	/switch <id>	/switch <id>	/openpact-switch <id>	Switch to existing session
Context usage	/context	/context	/openpact-context	Show context window usage
Detail mode	/mode-simple, /mode-thinking, /mode-tools, /mode-full	/mode-simple, etc.	—	Control response detail level (Discord docs)

Source Context

When a message arrives from any provider, the orchestrator prepends source information before sending it to the AI engine:

[via telegram, channel:98765432, user:12345]
What's the weather like today?

This lets the AI know which platform and channel a message came from, enabling provider-aware responses.

Unified chat_send MCP Tool

The AI can proactively send messages to any connected provider using the chat_send MCP tool:

{
  "name": "chat_send",
  "arguments": {
    "provider": "telegram",
    "target": "98765432",
    "message": "Reminder: Your meeting starts in 15 minutes!"
  }
}

The provider parameter determines which platform to send through. The target format depends on the provider:

Provider	Target Format	Examples
Discord	Channel ID or user:<id> for DMs	123456789, user:987654321
Telegram	Chat ID (numeric)	98765432, -100123456789
Slack	Channel ID or user ID	C12345678, U12345678

Enabling Multiple Providers

Configure each provider in openpact.yaml:

discord:
  enabled: true
  allowed_users:
    - "123456789012345678"

telegram:
  enabled: true
  allowed_users:
    - "987654321"

slack:
  enabled: true
  allowed_users:
    - "U12345678"
  allowed_chans:
    - "C12345678"

Set the corresponding environment variables:

DISCORD_TOKEN=your_discord_bot_token
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_telegram_bot_token
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-your-slack-bot-token
SLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-your-slack-app-token

If a provider is enabled but its token is missing, OpenPact logs a warning and skips that provider. The remaining providers still start normally.

Admin UI Sessions

The Admin UI can create, view, and chat with any session — including those created by chat providers. Each chat provider channel tracks its own session independently, so actions in the Admin UI have no effect on which session a Discord channel or Telegram group is using, and vice versa.

Related Documentation

• Discord Integration - Discord setup and configuration
• Telegram Integration - Telegram setup and configuration
• Slack Integration - Slack setup and configuration
• MCP Tools Reference - chat_send tool documentation
• Configuration Overview - General configuration