Telegram channel plugin: MCP notifications not surfacing in conversation

Summary

The Telegram channel plugin's MCP server connects successfully (tools work — can send outbound messages), and the bot receives inbound messages (typing indicator appears in Telegram), but notifications/claude/channel events never surface as <channel> tags in the conversation.

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.1.81
• Platform: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0)
• Plugin: telegram@claude-plugins-official v0.0.2
• Shell: zsh

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install and enable the Telegram plugin (telegram@claude-plugins-official)
2. Configure bot token via /telegram:configure <token> — token validates successfully via getMe
3. Pair user — user ID is in access.json allowlist
4. Start a Claude Code session
5. Send a message to the bot from Telegram

Expected Behavior

Inbound Telegram messages should appear in the Claude Code conversation as <channel source="telegram" ...> tags.

Actual Behavior

• Bot shows a "typing" indicator in Telegram (confirming the MCP server receives and processes the message through the access gate)
• Outbound messages via the reply tool work (confirmed — bot sends messages to user successfully)
• getUpdates returns 409 Conflict, confirming the MCP server is actively long-polling
• No <channel> tag ever appears in the conversation
• Restarting Claude Code sessions (5+ attempts) does not resolve the issue

Diagnosis

The MCP server is connected for tool calls but notifications/claude/channel events are not being delivered to the conversation. This may be gated behind a feature flag that is not enabled for this account.

Relevant feature flags from .claude.json:

• tengu_glacier_2xr: false
• tengu_coral_whistle: false
• tengu_bridge_poll_interval_ms: 0
• tengu_ccr_bridge: true
• tengu_ccr_bridge_multi_session: true
• tengu_copper_bridge: true