Novu Connect - Agent Communication Infrastructure (ACI)

Novu Connect is based on the Agent Communication Infrastructure (ACI). It ingests channel webhooks, normalizes events, maintains conversation state, and delivers replies so you can run one agent across Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Telegram, and email without rebuilding each integration.

ACI separates two layers:

• Communication infrastructure: Webhook ingestion, message normalization, conversation state, identity resolution, and delivery. Owned by ACI.

• Agent intelligence: Your LLM, prompts, tools, managed agent config, business logic, or custom runtime. Owned by you.

Common patterns

Inbound conversations

Users message the agent on a connected channel (DM, @mention, or email). Novu loads the conversation history and forwards it to your agent brain with the current turn. Replies go back to the same thread.

Tool approval

Before a sensitive tool runs, the agent can pause and post Approve / Deny in the channel. The turn resumes after the user decides. See Tool approval.

Connect your agent

Choose how the agent brain runs:

<Columns cols={3}> <Card title="Custom code" icon="plug" href="/agents/get-started/ai-sdk"> AI SDK, LangChain, Mastra, or custom handlers on your bridge. </Card> <Card title="Claude managed agent" icon="sparkles" href="/agents/get-started/claude-managed"> Anthropic Claude. No bridge server. </Card> <Card title="AWS Claude managed agent" icon="cloud" href="/agents/get-started/aws-claude"> Claude Platform on AWS. No bridge server. </Card> </Columns>

Frameworks

<Columns cols={3}> <Card title="AI SDK" icon="sparkles" href="/agents/get-started/ai-sdk"> `@novu/framework/ai-sdk` + Vercel AI SDK. </Card> <Card title="LangChain" icon="link" href="/agents/get-started/langchain"> `@novu/framework/langchain`. </Card> <Card title="Mastra" icon="boxes" href="/agents/get-started/mastra"> `@novu/framework` calling Mastra `generate()`. </Card> </Columns>

Channels

<Columns cols={3}> <Card title="Slack" icon="hash" href="/agents/channels/slack"> Typing, plan cards, Block Kit, tool approval. </Card> <Card title="Microsoft Teams" icon="users" href="/agents/channels/microsoft-teams"> Adaptive Cards, typing, tool approval. </Card> <Card title="WhatsApp" icon="message-circle" href="/agents/channels/whatsapp"> Quick-reply buttons, session context. </Card> <Card title="Telegram" icon="send" href="/agents/channels/telegram"> Inline keyboards, typing, edit-in-place. </Card> <Card title="Email" icon="mail" href="/agents/channels/email"> Threaded HTML, action-link approvals. </Card> </Columns>

Platform differences are listed in Channels overview.

Message flow

1. A user sends a message on a connected channel.
2. Novu ingests the webhook, normalizes the event, and resolves identity.
3. Novu forwards the event and conversation history to your agent brain.
4. Your agent returns a reply (and may wait on tool approval).
5. Novu delivers the reply to the correct thread.
6. The conversation is stored and visible in the Novu dashboard.

Learn more

<Columns cols={3}> <Card href="/agents/get-started/what-is-aci" title="What is ACI?" icon="circle-question-mark"> Architecture and scope of the communication layer. </Card> <Card href="/agents/get-started/mental-model" title="Mental model" icon="brain-circuit"> Inbound path from channel to agent and back. </Card> <Card href="/agents/get-started/agents-and-providers" title="Agents and providers" icon="blocks"> Agent entities and provider connections. </Card> <Card href="/agents/channels/overview" title="Channels overview" icon="table"> Feature support by platform. </Card> <Card href="/agents/custom-code-agent/building-blocks/tool-approval" title="Tool approval" icon="shield-check"> Pause the turn until the user approves a tool call. </Card> <Card href="/agents/conversations" title="Conversation observability" icon="messages-square"> Inspect live conversations in the dashboard. </Card> </Columns>