Channels feedback: session management & multi-backend gaps for phone-first workflows

Context

I built telegram-ai-bridge — a self-hosted Telegram bridge for controlling local AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini) from my phone. I've been using it daily: walking down the street, opening Telegram, spinning up Claude Code sessions, reviewing code, switching between agents.

When Channels shipped as a research preview, I was excited — official Telegram support! After testing it, I found it covers a different (narrower) job than what I need. Sharing this as constructive feedback from a heavy mobile-first user.

What Channels does well

• Clean plugin architecture, easy to install
• Permission prompt relay is a great idea — I don't have this
• Integration with the Claude Code session lifecycle is tight

Gaps I hit in practice

These are things I do daily via my bridge that Channels (and Remote Control) don't support:

| Capability | Channels | Remote Control | What I need |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create new sessions from phone | No — pushes into existing session | No — continues existing terminal session | /new to start fresh anytime |
| Browse & resume past sessions | No | No | /sessions to list, /resume <id> to switch, /peek <id> to read-only preview |
| Multiple AI backends | Claude only | Claude only | Claude + Codex in the same Telegram interface, separate bots |
| Multi-agent collaboration | No | No | Two bots in one group, shared context so they see each other's replies, /relay for cross-agent fact-checking |
| Background daemon mode | Session must be open | Terminal must stay open | LaunchAgent / Docker, survives reboots |

Why these matter for phone-first users

When I'm away from my desk, I don't have a terminal open. I need to:

1. Start new work — not just continue an existing session. /new is the most-used command.
2. Context-switch — jump between sessions for different projects. /resume makes this instant.
3. Cross-check — ask Codex to review what Claude just said. /relay codex Do you agree? in a DM, or just @mention both in a group.
4. Not worry about uptime — the bridge runs as a LaunchAgent. I never think about whether my terminal is open.

Not a feature request — just sharing the use case

I'm not asking for all of this to be built into Channels. The plugin architecture is the right abstraction. I'm sharing what a daily phone-first workflow looks like so the Channels design can account for these patterns as it evolves.

Happy to discuss any of these in more detail. The comparison table is in my project's README.