Channel Capabilities

Feature Supported Notes
Direct Messages ✓ Full support for 1:1 conversations
Group Chats ✓ Participate in group conversations
Media Messages ✓ Send and receive images, files
Voice Messages ✓ Audio message support
Reactions ✓ React to messages with emoji
Threads — Not available
Native Commands — Not available

Access Control Policies

DM Policies

Control who can send direct messages to your bot:

allowlist

Only senders in the allowFrom list can interact with the bot.

pairing

Unknown senders receive a pairing code that admin must approve before access is granted.

open

All direct messages are processed (requires allowFrom: ["*"]).

Group Policies

Control which groups your bot participates in:

allowlist

Only groups in groupAllowFrom are processed.

open

Bot responds in all groups it is added to.

Setup Guide

  1. Install signal-cli on your system
  2. Register or link a Signal account
  3. Start signal-cli daemon
  4. Configure signal in openclaw.json
  5. Start OpenClaw gateway

Configuration Example

{
  "channels": {
    "signal": {
      "account": "+15551234567",
      "dmPolicy": "pairing",
      "allowFrom": ["+15559876543"]
    }
  }
}

Use Signal with AI Providers

Connect Signal to your preferred AI model provider:

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I set up Signal with OpenClaw?
To set up Signal: Install signal-cli on your system. Register or link a Signal account. Start signal-cli daemon. Full configuration options are available in the openclaw.json file.
How do I control who can message my Signal bot?
Signal supports allowlist, pairing, open for DM access control and allowlist, open for groups. Use allowlists for maximum security or pairing mode for easy onboarding.
Does Signal support media messages?
Signal supports media including images, audio, video, documents. Maximum media size is configurable via mediaMaxMb setting (default: 4.096MB).
Can I use OpenClaw in Signal groups?
Signal supports group chats with configurable access policies. Groups and DMs are supported.