Feature request: Channels support in Cowork (Claude Desktop)

Summary

Cowork (Claude Desktop) currently has no support for channels. For non-technical users who benefit from push-based event handling (CI notifications, chat bridges, webhook receivers), this is a significant gap.

Problem

Channels are a valuable research preview feature for integrating external systems (Telegram, Discord, webhooks) into Claude Code sessions. However:

1. Channels are CLI-only — require --channels plugin:name at startup
2. Cowork is terminal-free — designed for users without shell access
3. No workaround exists — channels cannot be enabled in Cowork at all

This blocks non-technical users who want event-driven workflows (e.g., "notify me on Slack when CI fails, and I'll debug directly in Claude").

What would be needed

To enable channels in Cowork, the architecture would require:

1. VM-to-channel bridge — Cowork's sandbox spawns and manages MCP channel server processes (Bun plugins)
2. Auto-startup channels — Settings UI to enable channels on session start (GUI equivalent of --channels flag)
3. Pairing flow in Desktop — Telegram/Discord pairing (test message → pairing code) without terminal commands
4. Push notification relay — Route channel messages from the VM back to Claude Desktop UI

Use case

A non-technical user wants to:

• Have Telegram notifications for CI/CD failures
• Receive the failure message directly in their Cowork session
• Debug and fix the issue without leaving Cowork

Currently, this requires dropping into a terminal and running Claude Code CLI with --channels — defeating the purpose of Cowork's accessibility.

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Requested for evaluation as part of research preview feedback. Channels are valuable enough that parity with CLI should be considered for general availability.