> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.heylua.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Channels

> Connect the web widget, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Slack, Teams, email, SMS, and voice to one agent from the admin dashboard or the CLI

A [channel](/concepts/channels) is where an end user talks to your agent: the widget on your site, a WhatsApp number, a Slack workspace, an email address, a phone number. One agent answers on every channel it is linked to with the same persona, skills, and knowledge. This section is for whoever owns the provider account as much as for the developer who built the agent.

## Connection steps

Every channel follows the same shape; each guide fills in the provider steps.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Release the agent">
    Channels deliver to the agent's production version. Push, create an agent version, and promote it first; see [Release an agent](/ship/releasing).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Dashboard: add the channel">
    In the [admin dashboard](/get-started/for-operators) open **Agents**, select the agent, and select **+** in its **Channels** section. Pick the channel and follow its wizard. The admin dashboard is the only place to run the Meta sign-in flows (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram), to connect Teams, and to disconnect or reconfigure a channel.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Terminal: or link it with the CLI">
    `lua channels` links five channel types from its **Link new channel** menu when you hold the provider credentials: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, email, Slack (private), and Slack (public). The same menu manages phone numbers. Linking is interactive; `lua channels list` is the only scriptable action. See [`lua channels`](/reference/cli/channels).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send a test message">
    Message the agent on the channel. Each guide ends with the message to send and the reply to expect. For a channel you haven't connected yet, use [Lua's test channels](/channels/quick-testing).
  </Step>
</Steps>

The [channels concept](/concepts/channels) has the matrix of all seventeen inbound channel values, the seven that `Channels.send` can reach, and where each one is set up.

## Channel guides

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Messaging apps" href="/channels/whatsapp">
    Connect WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, RCS, and iMessage.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Team chat" href="/channels/slack">
    Install the agent in Slack or Microsoft Teams and tune when it answers.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Email" href="/channels/email">
    Give the agent a generated inbox or forward your own address to it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Web widget" href="/channels/web-widget/quickstart">
    Embed the chat widget on your site and style it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Phone and voice" href="/channels/sms-and-phone-numbers">
    Buy a number for SMS and voice calls, or join meetings.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Dashboard-only inboxes" href="/channels/front">
    Route Front and MessageBird conversations to the agent.
  </Card>
</Columns>

All guides: [WhatsApp](/channels/whatsapp) · [Messenger](/channels/messenger) · [Instagram](/channels/instagram) · [RCS](/channels/rcs) · [iMessage](/channels/imessage) · [Slack](/channels/slack) · [Teams](/channels/teams) · [Teams with your own Azure Bot](/channels/teams-byo-azure-bot) · [Email](/channels/email) · [SMS and phone numbers](/channels/sms-and-phone-numbers) · [Voice calls](/channels/voice-calls) · [Meetings](/channels/meetings) · [Front](/channels/front) · [MessageBird](/channels/messagebird) · [Chat API over REST](/reference/rest/chat)

## Related pages

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Test on Lua's channels" href="/channels/quick-testing">
    Talk to your agent on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, or Slack before you connect anything.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Send proactive messages" href="/build/send-proactive-messages">
    Reach end users first with `Channels.send` and WhatsApp message templates.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Hand off to a human" href="/build/add-human-handoff">
    Let an end user reach a person and pause the model while a teammate owns the conversation.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Gate messages with a processor" href="/build/add-a-processor">
    Run your code on every message before the model and on every reply after it.
  </Card>
</Columns>

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Response formatting" href="/channels/formatting/overview">
    See which components each channel renders and which it drops.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Channels reference" href="/reference/sdk/channels">
    Read `send`, `whatsapp.sendTemplate`, `email.send`, and delivery status.
  </Card>
</Columns>