New in Claude Code: Telegram and Discord remote control

TL;DR Highlight

Claude Code Channels — a new feature letting you control Claude Code sessions from your phone via Telegram or Discord. Direct work and approve requests without being at your terminal.

Who Should Read

Developers who actively use Claude Code in their workflow and want to give Claude tasks or handle approval requests while away from the terminal.

Core Mechanics

Claude Code Channels creates a bridge between your running Claude Code session and a Telegram or Discord bot, enabling mobile control of ongoing coding sessions.
You can send instructions, review proposed changes, approve or reject actions, and get progress updates — all from your phone.
The feature is particularly valuable for long-running agent tasks: you can kick off a task at your desk, then monitor and guide it from your phone while away.
Approval workflows are supported: Claude Code can pause and send a confirmation request to your phone before taking a high-impact action, adding a human-in-the-loop safety layer.
The integration works with existing Telegram and Discord accounts — no new app installation required beyond the Claude Code CLI update.

Evidence

Developers in the thread reported using it to manage overnight coding tasks — kick off a large refactor before bed, approve checkpoints from phone, wake up to a completed task.
The approval workflow feature was specifically called out as useful for agentic tasks that touch production systems — having an explicit phone confirmation before destructive operations adds confidence.
Some noted latency is higher than desktop interaction, which is fine for approval workflows but less ideal for rapid back-and-forth iteration.
Integration with Telegram specifically was praised for its reliable notification delivery compared to other messaging platforms.

How to Apply

Set up a dedicated Telegram bot or Discord server for Claude Code Channels — keep it separate from personal chats for cleaner workflow.
Use it specifically for long-running tasks: start the task with detailed instructions at your desk, then switch to mobile monitoring.
Configure approval prompts for high-impact operations: any file deletion, database migration, or production deployment should require phone confirmation.
Set up notifications so your phone alerts you when Claude Code needs input — the value is being available for approval without being chained to the terminal.

Code Example

snippet

# Execute shell commands within Claude Code (using ! prefix)
! git status
! git add . && git commit -m "feat: add new feature"
! git push origin main

# Browse and install Claude Code plugins
/plugin

# Run Claude in the background (session must be maintained when using channels)
nohup claude &

Terminology

Claude Code ChannelsA feature that connects Claude Code sessions to messaging platforms (Telegram, Discord) for remote monitoring and control.

Human-in-the-loopA workflow design where a human must approve certain AI actions before they execute, preventing fully autonomous operation for high-stakes decisions.

Agentic TaskA long-running AI-directed task where the agent takes multiple actions autonomously, potentially over minutes or hours.