deer-flow/backend/docs/IM_CHANNEL_CONNECTIONS.md

IM Channel Connections

DeerFlow supports user-owned IM channel bindings for Telegram, Slack, and Discord. The feature reuses the existing channels.* runtime configuration, so it works in local and private deployments with the same outbound transports already supported by DeerFlow.

No public IP, OAuth callback URL, or provider webhook is required in this implementation.

Configuration

Configure the actual IM bots under the existing channels block:

channels:
  telegram:
    enabled: true
    bot_token: $TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN

  slack:
    enabled: true
    bot_token: $SLACK_BOT_TOKEN
    app_token: $SLACK_APP_TOKEN

  discord:
    enabled: true
    bot_token: $DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN

Then enable user bindings in channel_connections:

channel_connections:
  enabled: true

  telegram:
    enabled: true
    bot_username: $TELEGRAM_BOT_USERNAME

  slack:
    enabled: true

  discord:
    enabled: true

channel_connections does not duplicate provider secrets. It only controls the browser-facing connect UI and stores per-user binding records. Telegram needs bot_username only so the frontend can open a deep link.

Connect Flow

Telegram:

• The frontend creates a short one-time code.
• The Connect button opens https://t.me/<bot_username>?start=<code>.
• The existing Telegram long-polling worker receives /start <code> and binds that Telegram chat/user to the current DeerFlow user.

Slack:

• The frontend creates a short one-time code.
• The UI shows Send /connect <code> to the DeerFlow Slack bot.
• The existing Slack Socket Mode worker receives the message and binds the Slack user/team to the current DeerFlow user.

Discord:

• The frontend creates a short one-time code.
• The UI shows Send /connect <code> to the DeerFlow Discord bot.
• The existing Discord Gateway worker receives the message and binds the Discord user/guild to the current DeerFlow user.

Codes expire after 10 minutes and are single-use.

Runtime Model

Connection records live in SQL tables under deerflow.persistence.channel_connections:

• channel_connections: owner user, provider identity, workspace/guild/team, status, metadata.
• channel_oauth_states: one-time connect codes and Telegram deep-link state.
• channel_conversations: connection-scoped IM conversation to DeerFlow thread mapping.
• channel_credentials: reserved for future provider-token flows, not used by the local/private binding flow.

Incoming messages that resolve to a connection carry connection_id, owner_user_id, and workspace_id. ChannelManager uses owner_user_id as the DeerFlow run user id and preserves the raw platform user id as channel_user_id.

Security Notes

• Browser APIs remain authenticated and CSRF-protected.
• Connect codes are random, short-lived, and single-use.
• Provider bot tokens remain in channels.* and are never returned to the browser.
• This implementation does not add public provider callback or webhook routes.