Sending Messages Across Every Platform with OpenClaw

I’ve lost count of how many times I had to rewrite notification logic because one team uses Slack while another prefers Discord. Swapping between different SDKs and authentication methods for every small project is a massive time sink.

I want a single way to talk to any chat app without relearning the syntax every time. That is where openclaw message comes in. It acts as a unified interface for almost every major messaging platform.

What You’ll Need

Before you start sending commands, make sure you have your accounts set up for these supported channels:

• WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal
• Discord, Slack, or MS Teams
• Google Chat, iMessage, or Mattermost (requires plugin)

Quick Start

The fastest way to get a message out is the send action. If you only have one channel configured, OpenClaw defaults to it. Otherwise, use the --channel flag.

Send a Simple Message

Here is how I send a reply in Discord:

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

Create a Poll

If you need to gather feedback, you can trigger a poll on Discord or MS Teams. Here is a Discord example:

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

React to Messages

Adding an emoji reaction works across most platforms. For Slack, it looks like this:

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

Troubleshooting

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Here are a few specific requirements to check:

• Telegram Buttons: If you want to use --buttons, you must enable channels.telegram.capabilities.inlineButtons in your config.
• Signal Group Reactions: Unlike other platforms, Signal requires either --target-author or --target-author-uuid when reacting in a group.
• Mattermost: This channel is not native; it requires the OpenClaw plugin to be active.
• Channel Selection: If you have more than one channel configured and forget the --channel flag, the command will fail.

If you hit a wall with your specific configuration, check out the AI Setup Assistant.

What’s Next

• Reaction Tools Documentation
• Advanced Channel Configuration
• Working with Media Attachments
• Message Search and Filtering