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Message

docs/cli/message.md

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openclaw message

Single outbound command for sending messages and channel actions (Discord/Google Chat/iMessage/Matrix/Mattermost (plugin)/Microsoft Teams/Signal/Slack/Telegram/WhatsApp).

Usage

openclaw message <subcommand> [flags]

Channel selection:

  • --channel required if more than one channel is configured.
  • If exactly one channel is configured, it becomes the default.
  • Values: discord|googlechat|imessage|matrix|mattermost|msteams|signal|slack|telegram|whatsapp (Mattermost requires plugin)
  • openclaw message resolves the selected channel to its owning plugin when --channel or a channel-prefixed target is present; otherwise it loads configured channel plugins for default-channel inference.

Target formats (--target):

  • WhatsApp: E.164, group JID, or WhatsApp Channel/Newsletter JID (...@newsletter)
  • Telegram: chat id, @username, or forum topic target (-1001234567890:topic:42, or --thread-id 42)
  • Discord: channel:<id> or user:<id> (or <@id> mention; raw numeric ids are treated as channels)
  • Google Chat: spaces/<spaceId> or users/<userId>
  • Slack: channel:<id> or user:<id> (raw channel id is accepted)
  • Mattermost (plugin): channel:<id>, user:<id>, or @username (bare ids are treated as channels)
  • Signal: +E.164, group:<id>, signal:+E.164, signal:group:<id>, or username:<name>/u:<name>
  • iMessage: handle, chat_id:<id>, chat_guid:<guid>, or chat_identifier:<id>
  • Matrix: @user:server, !room:server, or #alias:server
  • Microsoft Teams: conversation id (19:[email protected]) or conversation:<id> or user:<aad-object-id>

Name lookup:

  • For supported providers (Discord/Slack/etc), channel names like Help or #help are resolved via the directory cache.
  • On cache miss, OpenClaw will attempt a live directory lookup when the provider supports it.

Common flags

  • --channel <name>
  • --account <id>
  • --target <dest> (target channel or user for send/poll/read/etc)
  • --targets <name> (repeat; broadcast only)
  • --json
  • --dry-run
  • --verbose

SecretRef behavior

  • openclaw message resolves supported channel SecretRefs before running the selected action.
  • Resolution is scoped to the active action target when possible:
    • channel-scoped when --channel is set (or inferred from prefixed targets like discord:...)
    • account-scoped when --account is set (channel globals + selected account surfaces)
    • when --account is omitted, OpenClaw does not force a default account SecretRef scope
  • Unresolved SecretRefs on unrelated channels do not block a targeted message action.
  • If the selected channel/account SecretRef is unresolved, the command fails closed for that action.

Actions

Core

  • send

    • Channels: WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord/Google Chat/Slack/Mattermost (plugin)/Signal/iMessage/Matrix/Microsoft Teams
    • Required: --target, plus --message, --media, or --presentation
    • Optional: --media, --presentation, --delivery, --pin, --reply-to, --thread-id, --gif-playback, --force-document, --silent
    • Shared presentation payloads: --presentation sends semantic blocks (text, context, divider, buttons, select) that core renders through the selected channel's declared capabilities. See Message Presentation.
    • Generic delivery preferences: --delivery accepts delivery hints such as { "pin": true }; --pin is shorthand for pinned delivery when the channel supports it.
    • Telegram only: --force-document (send images and GIFs as documents to avoid Telegram compression)
    • Telegram only: --thread-id (forum topic id)
    • Slack only: --thread-id (thread timestamp; --reply-to uses the same field)
    • Telegram + Discord: --silent
    • WhatsApp only: --gif-playback; WhatsApp Channels/Newsletters are addressed with their native @newsletter JID.

  • poll

    • Channels: WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord/Matrix/Microsoft Teams
    • Required: --target, --poll-question, --poll-option (repeat)
    • Optional: --poll-multi
    • Discord only: --poll-duration-hours, --silent, --message
    • Telegram only: --poll-duration-seconds (5-600), --silent, --poll-anonymous / --poll-public, --thread-id

  • react

    • Channels: Discord/Google Chat/Slack/Telegram/WhatsApp/Signal/Matrix
    • Required: --message-id, --target
    • Optional: --emoji, --remove, --participant, --from-me, --target-author, --target-author-uuid
    • Note: --remove requires --emoji (omit --emoji to clear own reactions where supported; see /tools/reactions)
    • WhatsApp only: --participant, --from-me
    • Signal group reactions: --target-author or --target-author-uuid required

  • reactions

    • Channels: Discord/Google Chat/Slack/Matrix
    • Required: --message-id, --target
    • Optional: --limit

  • read

    • Channels: Discord/Slack/Matrix
    • Required: --target
    • Optional: --limit, --message-id, --before, --after
    • Slack only: --message-id reads a specific Slack message timestamp; combine with --thread-id to read an exact thread reply.
    • Discord only: --around

  • edit

    • Channels: Discord/Slack/Matrix
    • Required: --message-id, --message, --target

  • delete

    • Channels: Discord/Slack/Telegram/Matrix
    • Required: --message-id, --target

  • pin / unpin

    • Channels: Discord/Slack/Matrix
    • Required: --message-id, --target

  • pins (list)

    • Channels: Discord/Slack/Matrix
    • Required: --target

  • permissions

    • Channels: Discord/Matrix
    • Required: --target
    • Matrix only: available when Matrix encryption is enabled and verification actions are allowed

  • search

    • Channels: Discord
    • Required: --guild-id, --query
    • Optional: --channel-id, --channel-ids (repeat), --author-id, --author-ids (repeat), --limit

Threads

  • thread create

    • Channels: Discord
    • Required: --thread-name, --target (channel id)
    • Optional: --message-id, --message, --auto-archive-min

  • thread list

    • Channels: Discord
    • Required: --guild-id
    • Optional: --channel-id, --include-archived, --before, --limit

  • thread reply

    • Channels: Discord
    • Required: --target (thread id), --message
    • Optional: --media, --reply-to

Emojis

  • emoji list

    • Discord: --guild-id
    • Slack: no extra flags

  • emoji upload

    • Channels: Discord
    • Required: --guild-id, --emoji-name, --media
    • Optional: --role-ids (repeat)

Stickers

  • sticker send

    • Channels: Discord
    • Required: --target, --sticker-id (repeat)
    • Optional: --message

  • sticker upload

    • Channels: Discord
    • Required: --guild-id, --sticker-name, --sticker-desc, --sticker-tags, --media

Roles / Channels / Members / Voice

  • role info (Discord): --guild-id
  • role add / role remove (Discord): --guild-id, --user-id, --role-id
  • channel info (Discord): --target
  • channel list (Discord): --guild-id
  • member info (Discord/Slack): --user-id (+ --guild-id for Discord)
  • voice status (Discord): --guild-id, --user-id

Events

  • event list (Discord): --guild-id
  • event create (Discord): --guild-id, --event-name, --start-time
    • Optional: --end-time, --desc, --channel-id, --location, --event-type

Moderation (Discord)

  • timeout: --guild-id, --user-id (optional --duration-min or --until; omit both to clear timeout)
  • kick: --guild-id, --user-id (+ --reason)
  • ban: --guild-id, --user-id (+ --delete-days, --reason)
    • timeout also supports --reason

Broadcast

  • broadcast
    • Channels: any configured channel; use --channel all to target all providers
    • Required: --targets <target...>
    • Optional: --message, --media, --dry-run

Examples

Send a Discord reply:

openclaw message send --channel discord \
  --target channel:123 --message "hi" --reply-to 456

Send a message with semantic buttons:

openclaw message send --channel discord \
  --target channel:123 --message "Choose:" \
  --presentation '{"blocks":[{"type":"buttons","buttons":[{"label":"Approve","value":"approve","style":"success"},{"label":"Decline","value":"decline","style":"danger"}]}]}'

Core renders the same presentation payload into Discord components, Slack blocks, Telegram inline buttons, Mattermost props, or Teams/Feishu cards depending on channel capability. See Message Presentation for the full contract and fallback rules.

Send a richer presentation payload:

bash
openclaw message send --channel googlechat --target spaces/AAA... \
  --message "Choose:" \
  --presentation '{"title":"Deploy approval","tone":"warning","blocks":[{"type":"text","text":"Choose a path"},{"type":"buttons","buttons":[{"label":"Approve","value":"approve"},{"label":"Decline","value":"decline"}]}]}'

Create a Discord poll:

openclaw message poll --channel discord \
  --target channel:123 \
  --poll-question "Snack?" \
  --poll-option Pizza --poll-option Sushi \
  --poll-multi --poll-duration-hours 48

Create a Telegram poll (auto-close in 2 minutes):

openclaw message poll --channel telegram \
  --target @mychat \
  --poll-question "Lunch?" \
  --poll-option Pizza --poll-option Sushi \
  --poll-duration-seconds 120 --silent

Send a Teams proactive message:

openclaw message send --channel msteams \
  --target conversation:19:[email protected] --message "hi"

Create a Teams poll:

openclaw message poll --channel msteams \
  --target conversation:19:[email protected] \
  --poll-question "Lunch?" \
  --poll-option Pizza --poll-option Sushi

React in Slack:

openclaw message react --channel slack \
  --target C123 --message-id 456 --emoji "✅"

React in a Signal group:

openclaw message react --channel signal \
  --target signal:group:abc123 --message-id 1737630212345 \
  --emoji "✅" --target-author-uuid 123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000

Send Telegram inline buttons through generic presentation:

openclaw message send --channel telegram --target @mychat --message "Choose:" \
  --presentation '{"blocks":[{"type":"buttons","buttons":[{"label":"Yes","value":"cmd:yes"},{"label":"No","value":"cmd:no"}]}]}'

Send a Teams card through generic presentation:

bash
openclaw message send --channel msteams \
  --target conversation:19:[email protected] \
  --presentation '{"title":"Status update","blocks":[{"type":"text","text":"Build completed"}]}'

Send a Telegram image as a document to avoid compression:

bash
openclaw message send --channel telegram --target @mychat \
  --media ./diagram.png --force-document