Channels SDK

Channels SDK is an open-source MIT-licensed library from CopilotKit that connects AG-UI-compatible AI agents to the communication platforms where teams already work — Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and more. It ships as the @copilotkit/channels npm package and is designed to run as a long-running Node.js process in your own infrastructure, while CopilotKit Intelligence manages the platform credentials and event delivery.

What It Is

Channels SDK is a developer toolkit that bridges AI agents and workplace chat platforms. Rather than building separate bots for each platform, developers write one agent and one channel listener; the SDK handles rendering native Slack Block Kit messages, Microsoft Teams Adaptive Cards, and other platform-specific UI from a single description. The core SDK is open source under the MIT license, while CopilotKit Intelligence — the managed connection layer — can be hosted by CopilotKit or self-hosted for enterprise deployments.

How the Architecture Works

Every conversation turn follows a defined path through the system:

• A person messages the bot in Slack or Microsoft Teams.
• CopilotKit Intelligence receives the platform event and delivers it to the developer's long-running Channels process.
• The Channels process runs the agent over the AG-UI protocol, executes tools, and renders the result.
• Intelligence sends native platform UI back into the conversation thread.

Developers own and run the agent, model credentials, tools, business logic, application state, and deployment. CopilotKit Intelligence manages platform credentials, ingress, runtime registration, health checks, and reconnects.

Agent Framework Compatibility

Channels is built around the AG-UI protocol, which means it works with a wide range of agent frameworks without requiring changes to the agent's tools, model, or business logic. The README lists compatible frameworks including:

• CopilotKit's built-in agent
• LangGraph
• CrewAI
• Mastra
• Pydantic AI
• Google ADK
• Any other AG-UI-compatible agent

Swapping the agent factory does not change the channel lifecycle code.

Setup Path

The SDK provides two setup paths. The fastest is a CLI command — npx copilotkit@latest channels setup — that installs a channels-setup skill, prints a prompt, and copies it to the clipboard for pasting into a coding agent. The coding agent then drives the Slack and Intelligence consoles in the developer's own signed-in session. A manual path is also documented: install the packages, create a Channel in CopilotKit Intelligence, write a listener file, and start the process with environment variables for the OpenAI API key, Intelligence API key, and channel code. Node.js 22 or later is required.

OpenTag Reference Application

The README points to OpenTag, an open-source self-hosted on-call triage assistant built with Channels, as a complete reference application. It demonstrates a Python LangGraph agent connected over AG-UI, native Slack and Microsoft Teams experiences, file-aware prompts, generative UI, human approval gates before writing to Linear or Notion, and a production-shaped Node runtime and agent service.

Current Status

The repository was created in July 2026 and last pushed in August 2026, indicating active early development. The GitHub project had 644 stars and 44 forks as of the last update. Managed connections for Slack and Microsoft Teams are available through CopilotKit Intelligence at launch, with additional channels described as "on the way."