[Bug] Channels unavailable at startup despite feature flag enabled and MCP server connected

Bug Description
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Environment:

• Claude Code v2.1.92 (latest), Windows 11, CLI
• Max plan, personal account (claude.ai auth)
• Plugin: telegram@claude-plugins-official v0.0.4

Symptoms:

• claude --channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official prints --channels ignored / Channels are not currently available at startup
• Outbound works fine (reply tool sends to Telegram successfully)
• Inbound notifications are silently dropped
• Was working previously; stopped without any config changes on my end

What I've ruled out:

• tengu_harbor is true in ~/.claude.json cached GrowthBook features
• tengu_harbor_ledger includes the telegram plugin
• DISABLE_TELEMETRY is not set
• CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC is not set
• CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK, CLAUDE_CODE_USE_VERTEX, CLAUDE_CODE_USE_FOUNDRY are all unset
• Bot token is valid, access.json is correct, MCP server starts and connects successfully
• npm view @anthropic-ai/claude-code version confirms 2.1.92 is latest

Summary:
This doesn't match either population from the PV() analysis in #36460 comment — the feature flag is cached and enabled, no telemetry/provider env vars are set, yet channels still evaluates as unavailable. Something else in the startup path is gating it.

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Environment Info

• Platform: win32
• Terminal: windows-terminal
• Version: 2.1.92
• Feedback ID: cc8161d0-326a-4887-9008-7ae54a455583

Errors

[{"error":"Error: Request was aborted.\n    at makeRequest (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:50:3447)\n    at processTicksAndRejections (native:7:39)","timestamp":"2026-04-04T16:12:52.989Z"},{"error":"Error: Request was aborted.\n    at makeRequest (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:50:3447)\n    at processTicksAndRejections (native:7:39)","timestamp":"2026-04-04T16:17:16.339Z"}]