Today Anthropic rolled out Claude Code Channels — and the first two channels are Telegram and Discord. Not Slack, not Teams, not a VS Code extension.
Here's how it works. You launch Claude Code with the `channels` flag, create a bot via @BotFather, and then just message it in Telegram. The message arrives at the active Claude Code session on your computer, Claude processes the task — writes code, runs tests, fixes bugs — and replies back in the chat. You can even send photos.
Previously Claude Code was only in the terminal and desktop app. Mobile access via Remote Control was flaky. Now you can assign tasks from your phone, go grab coffee, and get results in the same chat.
The Telegram channel plugin essentially does three things: replies to messages, adds reactions, and edits its responses. Minimal, but enough for a full working dialogue.
Limitations are expected: the bot only sees real-time incoming messages — no history or search. If the session was off, messages are lost. Requires Bun runtime and Claude Code 2.1.80+. But it's a research preview.