Telegram channel plugin: inbound MCP notifications not delivered to session

Bug

Inbound Telegram messages are not delivered to the Claude Code session, even though the plugin is fully configured and running correctly.

Setup

• Telegram plugin (telegram@claude-plugins-official v0.0.1) installed and enabled
• Bot token set, bot is polling successfully (getUpdates returns 409 confirming active polling)
• access.json configured with dmPolicy: "allowlist" and two allowed sender IDs
• Pairing was completed successfully in a prior session

What works

• Outbound messages work: calling the reply tool successfully sends messages to Telegram users (confirmed received)
• Bot process is running (bun server.ts, PID active)
• MCP server connection is up (tools are callable)

What doesn't work

• When an allowed user sends a DM to the bot on Telegram, the message never appears in the Claude Code conversation
• The notifications/claude/channel MCP notification sent by handleInbound() in server.ts (line 792) does not surface in the session
• No error is visible to the user — messages are silently lost

Diagnosis

• Bot is actively polling (confirmed via competing getUpdates returning 409 Conflict)
• No webhook is set (confirmed via getWebhookInfo)
• Token is valid (getMe succeeds)
• Sender IDs are in the allowlist (pairing was completed in a prior session)
• The gate() function should return { action: 'deliver' } for these senders
• The issue appears to be that Claude Code is not processing/surfacing inbound notifications/claude/channel MCP notifications from the plugin server

Environment

• macOS (Darwin 25.2.0)
• Bun runtime
• Claude Code with Opus model

Impact

Outbound-only communication makes the Telegram channel effectively unusable for interactive use. User spent ~2 hours troubleshooting before determining this is a platform-side issue.