/omni-agent-setup — Connect an Agent to a Channel

Step-by-step guide to route messages from any Omni channel (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack) to an AI agent backend.

When to Use

• Setting up a new bot/agent on a channel for the first time
• Switching which agent handles a channel
• Configuring how/when an agent replies (reply filters)
• Setting up per-chat or per-user routing to different agents

Architecture

Channel (WhatsApp/Telegram/...)
  → Instance (connected account)
    → Reply Filter (when to activate agent)
      → Route Resolver (which agent handles this chat/user)
        → Provider (how to talk to the agent backend)
          → Agent processes message
            → Agent replies via omni send

Flow

1. Choose a Provider Schema

Schema	Backend	Use Case
genie	Claude Code team inbox	Fire-and-forget to genie agents. Agent replies via omni send.
claude-code	Claude Code SDK	Native SDK integration. Runs agents in isolated sessions.
agno	AgnoOS platform	Self-hosted or cloud Agno agents.
openclaw	WebSocket gateway	Real-time WebSocket agent communication.
webhook	Any HTTP endpoint	Generic REST/webhook backends.
a2a	Agent-to-Agent	One Omni agent calling another Omni agent.

2. Create the Provider

Genie Provider (Claude Code teams)

omni providers create \
  --name "Genie Team" \
  --schema genie \
  --schema-config '{
    "agentName": "omni",
    "targetAgent": "team-lead",
    "teamName": "genie"
  }' \
  --json

• agentName: identity of this provider when writing to inbox (appears as sender)
• targetAgent: which agent inbox to deliver to (e.g. team-lead, ideias)
• teamName: Claude Code team name (default: genie)

Claude Code Provider (SDK)

omni providers create \
  --name "My Project Agent" \
  --schema claude-code \
  --project-path /home/user/myproject \
  --max-turns 10 \
  --permission-mode acceptEdits \
  --model claude-sonnet-4-20250514 \
  --json

Agno Provider

omni providers create \
  --name "Support Agent" \
  --schema agno \
  --base-url https://api.agno.com \
  --api-key sk_xxx \
  --schema-config '{"agentId": "support-bot"}' \
  --json

Webhook Provider (generic HTTP)

omni providers create \
  --name "Custom Backend" \
  --schema webhook \
  --schema-config '{
    "url": "https://api.example.com/webhook",
    "method": "POST",
    "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer xxx"},
    "waitForResponse": true,
    "timeoutMs": 30000
  }' \
  --json

OpenClaw Provider

omni providers create \
  --name "Sofia Gateway" \
  --schema openclaw \
  --base-url ws://127.0.0.1:18789 \
  --default-agent-id sofia \
  --json

Save the returned provider ID for the next step.

3. Select or Create an Instance

# List existing instances
omni instances list --json | jq '.[] | {id, name, channelType, status}'

# Or create a new one
omni instances create --channel telegram --name "My Telegram Bot" --json
omni instances create --channel whatsapp --name "My WhatsApp" --json

For WhatsApp, scan the QR code:

omni instances qr <instance-id> --watch

4. Assign Provider to Instance

omni instances update <instance-id> \
  --agent-provider <provider-id> \
  --json

Optional settings:

omni instances update <instance-id> \
  --agent-provider <provider-id> \
  --session-strategy per_chat \
  --stream true \
  --prefix-sender-name true \
  --json

• --session-strategy: per_chat (one session per conversation) or per_user (one per person)
• --stream: enable streaming responses
• --prefix-sender-name: prepend sender name to messages (useful in groups)

5. Configure Reply Filter

Controls when the agent responds.

# Reply to everything (DMs + groups)
omni instances update <instance-id> \
  --reply-filter-mode all \
  --json

# Reply only to DMs, mentions, and replies
omni instances update <instance-id> \
  --reply-filter-mode filtered \
  --on-dm true \
  --on-mention true \
  --on-reply true \
  --json

# Reply only when name patterns match (groups)
omni instances update <instance-id> \
  --reply-filter-mode filtered \
  --on-mention true \
  --name-patterns "@bot,hey bot" \
  --json

6. Advanced: Per-Chat or Per-User Routes

Override the instance default for specific chats or users:

# Route a specific chat to a different agent
omni routes create \
  --instance <instance-id> \
  --scope chat \
  --chat <chat-id> \
  --provider <other-provider-id> \
  --agent <agent-id> \
  --label "VIP Support" \
  --priority 10 \
  --json

# Route all conversations from a person
omni routes create \
  --instance <instance-id> \
  --scope user \
  --person <person-id> \
  --provider <provider-id> \
  --agent <agent-id> \
  --json

# Test which route resolves for a chat
omni routes test --instance <instance-id> --chat <chat-id> --json

Route priority: chat route > user route > instance default.

7. Test the Setup

# Test provider health
omni providers test <provider-id> --json

# Send a test message to yourself
omni send --to <your-number-or-chat> \
  --text "Testing agent setup" \
  --instance <instance-id>

# Check events to see if message was routed
omni events list --instance <instance-id> --type message.received --limit 5 --json

# Check agent task events
omni events list --type agent.task.completed --limit 5 --json

Genie Provider: Complete Example

End-to-end setup for a genie agent on Telegram:

# 1. Create provider
PROVIDER=$(omni providers create \
  --name "Genie Team Lead" \
  --schema genie \
  --schema-config '{"agentName":"omni-telegram","targetAgent":"team-lead","teamName":"genie"}' \
  --json | jq -r '.id')

# 2. Assign to existing Telegram instance
omni instances update <telegram-instance-id> \
  --agent-provider $PROVIDER \
  --json

# 3. Reply to DMs only
omni instances update <telegram-instance-id> \
  --reply-filter-mode filtered \
  --on-dm true \
  --json

# 4. Test
omni providers test $PROVIDER --json

Messages flow: Telegram → Omni → ~/.claude/teams/genie/inboxes/team-lead.json → Agent reads from inbox → Agent replies via omni send.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
Agent not responding	omni providers test <id> — is provider healthy?
Agent responds to everything	Check reply filter: omni instances get <id> --json | jq '.agentReplyFilter'
Wrong agent answers	Check routes: omni routes test --instance <id> --chat <chat-id>
Messages not arriving	Check events: omni events list --instance <id> --type message.received --limit 5
Provider create fails	Verify schema-config JSON matches the schema requirements

Notes

• The genie provider is fire-and-forget: it writes to the inbox and returns immediately. The agent replies asynchronously via omni send.
• Provider schemas are validated at creation time. Invalid schema-config will be rejected.
• Reply filters are instance-level. For per-chat control, use routes with --gate for LLM-based filtering.
• Always use --json + jq for automation-safe parsing in agent workflows.