Telegram channel plugin: "Channels are not currently available" for Teams subscribers

Resolved 💬 5 comments Opened Mar 20, 2026 by griffinwork40 Closed Apr 19, 2026

Description

The Telegram channel plugin (telegram@claude-plugins-official) is installable and fully configurable, but the --channels CLI flag is gated behind a server-side feature flag (tengu_harbor) that appears to not be enabled for Claude Teams accounts.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install the Telegram plugin: claude plugin install telegram@claude-plugins-official
  2. Configure bot token: /telegram:configure <token>
  3. Configure access: /telegram:access (set up allowlist)
  4. Run: claude --channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official

Expected Behavior

Channel should connect and receive Telegram messages.

Actual Behavior

--channels ignored (server:telegram)
Channels are not currently available

The CLI parses the --channels flag but then skips channel registration because the feature check returns false.

Additional Context

  • Version: Claude Code v2.1.80
  • Account: Claude Teams
  • Plugin version: telegram@claude-plugins-official 0.0.1
  • Plugin status: Installed, enabled, bot token configured, access.json configured
  • OS: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0, arm64)

Additionally, once the feature flag gate is bypassed, a second gate (tengu_harbor_ledger — the channels allowlist) also blocks the plugin since the allowlist is empty. The --dangerously-load-development-channels flag is documented in the error message as a workaround but requires both flags to work:

claude --channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official \
  --dangerously-load-development-channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official

Request

Please either:

  1. Enable the --channels feature for Teams subscribers, or
  2. Document the expected rollout timeline and any prerequisites for channel support

The plugin infrastructure is solid — MCP server boots, bot connects, access control works. The only blocker is the server-side feature flag.

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