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Channels define when your agent starts running. Connect your agent to external events so it responds automatically to messages, emails, or other events.
To trigger an agent on a recurring basis, use schedules.

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Add a channel

To add a channel:
1

Edit your agent

Open your agent in the Fleet inbox. Next to the agent name, click the Edit Agent icon.
2

Add the channel

  1. In the Channels section, click + Add and select the channel you want to add.
  2. Follow the prompts to add the channel and authenticate.

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Add a Gmail channel

The Gmail channel activates your agent when new emails arrive in your inbox. To let your agent read and respond to emails, add Gmail tools in the Tools section. Available Gmail tools include reading emails, sending replies, creating drafts, managing labels, and marking messages as read. See Tool integrations for more information.
The Gmail channel only monitors your primary inbox. The following emails do not activate the channel:
  • Alias emails: Messages sent to an email alias rather than your primary address.
  • Mailing list emails: Messages received through a mailing list or group.
  • Emails outside the inbox: Messages that skip the inbox due to filters, or that land in spam, trash, or other folders.

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Add a Slack channel

The default Slack bot activates your agent when messages are posted in a connected Slack channel. It triggers on every message in the channel and cannot receive DMs. To let your agent respond in Slack, add Slack tools.
For tag-only triggering or DM support, create a custom Slack bot instead. See Custom vs. default bot for a comparison.

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Add a Microsoft Teams channel

The Teams channel activates your agent when messages are sent in Microsoft Teams conversations. For full setup instructions including Azure Bot creation, credential registration, and tool configuration, see Integrate Teams with an agent.

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Pause and resume channels

You can pause and resume channels without removing them. To pause all channels:
  1. In the Fleet inbox, open your agent.
  2. Next to the agent name, click the Edit Agent icon.
  3. In the Channels section, click Pause channels button to pause all channels.
To resume all channels, click Resume channels button.

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Thread behavior

How threads are marked depends on whether the agent uses channels:
  • Chat agents (no channel): Responses mark the thread as unread. Viewing the thread marks it as read.
  • Channel-based agents: Responses keep the thread as read by default.
You can manually mark any thread as read or unread at any time.
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