Channels

Channels brings your agent into the conversations where work already happens. Your agent still runs in your infrastructure. CopilotKit Intelligence owns the channel connection (Slack, Teams, Discord, etc.), delivers each turn to your Channels SDK listener, and sends the response back as native channel UI.

How Channels connects your agent

Channels connects the agent and application logic you run to the provider connection managed by CopilotKit Intelligence. The diagram shows the boundaries between those systems and the path each message takes.

<Image src="/images/channels/channels-architecture-light.png" alt="Channels architecture showing agent frameworks connected through AG-UI, CopilotKit Runtime, Enterprise Intelligence, and the Channels SDK to Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and Discord." width={3354} height={2270} className="block dark:hidden my-8 w-full rounded-xl" /> <Image src="/images/channels/channels-architecture-dark.png" alt="Channels architecture showing agent frameworks connected through AG-UI, CopilotKit Runtime, Enterprise Intelligence, and the Channels SDK to Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and Discord." width={4000} height={2400} className="hidden dark:block my-8 w-full rounded-xl" />

<OpsPlatformCTA variant="inline" title="More channels are on the way" body="Slack and Teams are available now. More channels like Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram, and SMS are on the way. Talk to us about what you need." ctaLabel="Book time with an engineer" surface="docs_channels_more_channels_contact" href="https://copilotkit.ai/talk-to-an-engineer" analyticsEvent="talk_to_us_clicked" />

Each message moves through the same five stages:

1. A person messages your app in Slack or Teams.
2. CopilotKit Intelligence receives the platform event using the credentials configured for that Channel.
3. A persistent Intelligence gateway connection delivers the turn to your long-running Channels SDK process.
4. The SDK runs your agent over AG-UI, executes channel tools, and renders the response.
5. Intelligence sends the result back as native Slack Block Kit or Teams Adaptive Card content.

This split keeps platform credentials out of your agent process without moving your agent, tools, or business logic into CopilotKit.

You run	CopilotKit Intelligence manages
The agent and its model credentials	Slack and Teams platform credentials
A long-running Channels SDK listener	Platform ingress and credentialed delivery
Tools and approval business logic	Runtime registration, health, and reconnects
Deployment, logs, and application auth	Conversation-history delivery to the listener

Production self-hosting: Run Enterprise Intelligence in your own infrastructure

Production self-hosting keeps your Channels configuration, provider credentials, delivery state, and platform operations inside your network, giving your organization control over data residency, security, and infrastructure. CopilotKit Engineering helps your team deploy Enterprise Intelligence in your Kubernetes environment. <DocsTrackedLink href="https://copilotkit.ai/talk-to-an-engineer" surface="docs_channels_self_hosting_contact">Book time with a CopilotKit engineer</DocsTrackedLink> to get started.

Next step

<FrontendOnly frontend="slack">

Continue to Configure the Channel in Intelligence to create the managed Slack connection.

</FrontendOnly> <FrontendOnly frontend="teams">

Continue to Configure the Channel in Intelligence to create the managed Microsoft Teams connection.

</FrontendOnly>