Control agent replies in Discord (main vs others) | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

surreal acorn Apr 16, 2026, 8:29 PM

#

@radiant hollow
I have a setup with one main agent and three other agents.
In Discord, I need the main agent to be able to reply to other agents without being mentioned.
The other agents should only be able to reply when they are explicitly mentioned.

is this configuration possible or Not.

austere driftBOT Apr 16, 2026, 8:29 PM

#

To help others find answers, you can mark your question as solved via Right click solution message -> Apps -> ✅ Mark Solution

solar palmBOT Apr 16, 2026, 8:29 PM

#

radiant hollowBOT Apr 16, 2026, 8:34 PM

#

Yep, but only if those agents are separate Discord bot accounts.

allowBots is per Discord account
requireMention is per guild/channel
so the main bot can accept bot-authored messages without a mention
the other bot accounts can stay mention-gated

Minimal shape:

{
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "main", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "main" } },
    { agentId: "a1", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "a1" } },
    { agentId: "a2", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "a2" } },
    { agentId: "a3", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "a3" } },

#

  ],
  channels: {
    discord: {
      accounts: {
        main: {
          allowBots: true,
          guilds: {
            "GUILD_ID": {
              channels: {
                "CHANNEL_ID": {
                  enabled: true, // current key, "allow" is legacy
                  requireMention: false,
                  users: ["BOT_ID_A1", "BOT_ID_A2", "BOT_ID_A3"]
                }
              }

#

            }
          }
        },
        a1: {
          allowBots: "mentions",
          guilds: {
            "GUILD_ID": {
              channels: {
                "CHANNEL_ID": { enabled: true, requireMention: true }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }

#

}
}

Important caveats:

If all 4 agents share one Discord account, then no, not cleanly. These controls are not per-agent.
Discord mention handling can also count reply-to-bot in some cases, so there is not a separate strict “explicit @mention only, never reply context” toggle right now.

Docs:
https://docs.openclaw.ai/channels/discord
https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/multi-agent
https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/configuration-reference

If you want, paste your current bindings and channels.discord.accounts block and I’ll turn it into the exact config.

surreal acorn Apr 17, 2026, 4:21 AM

#

@radiant hollow
"discord":{
"guilds": {
"148592044": {
"requireMention": true,
"ignoreOtherMentions": true,
"users": [ "14890", "14871", "780094", "78094", "149790 ","149701"
],
"channels": {
"5063": {
"enabled": true
},
"6509": {
"enabled": true,
"requireMention": true
},
"240174": {
"enabled": true,
"requireMention": true
},
"38954": {
"enabled": true,
"requireMention": true
},
"43582": {
"enabled": true,
"requireMention": true
}
}
}
},
"accounts": {
"default": {
"token": "MT..Ao",
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"streaming": {
"mode": "off"
},
"allowFrom": [
"14890"
]
},
"ke": {
"enabled": true,
"token": "MT...E",
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"streaming": {
"mode": "off"
},
"allowFrom": [
"14871"
]
},
"Co": {
"enabled": true,
"token": "M...Zg",
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"streaming": {
"mode": "off"
},
"allowFrom": [
"149701"
]
},
"Pi": {
"enabled": true,
"token": "MT..M",
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"streaming": {
"mode": "off"
},
"allowFrom": [
"149790"
]
},
"Sy": {
"enabled": true,
"token": "M..s",
"groupPolicy": "allowlist",
"streaming": {
"mode": "off"
},
"allowFrom": [
"78094"
]
}
}
}

#

@radiant hollow
"bindings": [
{
"type": "route",
"agentId": "dwight",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "default",
"peer": {
"kind": "channel","id": "6509"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "main",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "default",
"peer": {
"kind": "channel","id": "43582"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "main",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "default",
"peer": {
"kind": "channel","id": "38954"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "ke",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "ke",
"peer": {"kind": "channel","id": "6509"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "sy",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "Sy",
"peer": {"kind": "channel","id": "38954"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "sy",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "Sy",
"peer": {"kind": "channel","id": "240174"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "main",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "default",
"peer": {"kind": "channel","id": "240174"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "pi",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "Pi",
"peer": {"kind": "channel","id": "240174"
}
}
},
{
"agentId": "co",
"match": {"channel": "discord","accountId": "Co",
"peer": {"kind": "channel","id": "240174"
}
}
}
],

radiant hollowBOT Apr 17, 2026, 4:22 AM

#

Possible, but not with the config exactly as pasted.

Two key things:

You do not set allowBots anywhere yet, so bot-authored messages are ignored by default.
accounts.*.allowFrom is not the guild-channel reply control. For Discord it is the DM/command allowlist alias. Your guild/channel reply behavior is controlled under guilds.

So for your setup, assuming default is the main agent:

discord: {
  guilds: {
    "148592044": {
      requireMention: true, // keep global default for everyone else
      ignoreOtherMentions: true,
      channels: {

#

        "5063": { enabled: true },
        "6509": { enabled: true, requireMention: true },
        "240174": { enabled: true, requireMention: true },
        "38954": { enabled: true, requireMention: true },
        "43582": { enabled: true, requireMention: true }
      }
    }
  },
  accounts: {
    default: {
      token: "...",
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowBots: true,
      guilds: {
        "148592044": {

#

          channels: {
            "5063": {
              enabled: true,
              requireMention: false,
              users: ["14871", "149701", "149790", "78094"] // other agent bot IDs only
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    ke: {
      enabled: true,
      token: "...",
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowBots: "mentions"

#

    },
    Co: {
      enabled: true,
      token: "...",
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowBots: "mentions"
    },
    Pi: {
      enabled: true,
      token: "...",
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowBots: "mentions"
    },
    Sy: {
      enabled: true,

#

      token: "...",
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowBots: "mentions"
    }
  }
}

What this does:

main/default can respond to the other bot accounts in channel 5063 without a mention
the other accounts only accept bot-authored messages when mentioned (allowBots: "mentions")
global requireMention: true still keeps the non-main bots mention-gated

Small caveat: Discord mention gating can also count reply-to-bot in some cases, so this is not a perfect “only literal @mention and nothing else” mode.

#

Docs:
https://docs.openclaw.ai/channels/discord
https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/multi-agent
https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/configuration-reference

If you want, I can rewrite your full block exactly as valid JSON5 for copy-paste.

#

Yep, these bindings are compatible with what you want.

The important bit is:

bindings only route account/channel -> agent
they do not control mention behavior
mention behavior still comes from accounts.*.allowBots + guilds/channels.*.requireMention

So for your layout, I’d do this:

accounts.default.allowBots: true
accounts.ke.allowBots: "mentions"
accounts.Co.allowBots: "mentions"
accounts.Pi.allowBots: "mentions"
accounts.Sy.allowBots: "mentions"

Then, because default is also used for dwight in channel 6509, do not make the whole guild unmentioned for default.

#

Instead, only override the channels where main should talk without mention:

accounts: {
  default: {
    allowBots: true,
    guilds: {
      "148592044": {
        channels: {
          "38954": { enabled: true, requireMention: false },
          "43582": { enabled: true, requireMention: false },
          "240174": { enabled: true, requireMention: false }
        }
      }
    }
  },

#

  ke: { allowBots: "mentions" },
  Co: { allowBots: "mentions" },
  Pi: { allowBots: "mentions" },
  Sy: { allowBots: "mentions" }
}

That gives you:

main/default can answer other bot accounts in 38954, 43582, 240174 without ping
dwight/default in 6509 still stays mention-gated
ke, Co, Pi, Sy only wake on bot messages when mentioned

One caveat: Discord can also treat reply-to-bot as a mention in some cases, so it’s not a perfect “literal @mention only” switch.

If you want, I can merge your discord + bindings into one clean copy-paste JSON5 block.

surreal acorn Apr 17, 2026, 4:41 AM

#

@radiant hollow please merge discord + bindings into one clean copy-paste JSON5 block.

radiant hollowBOT Apr 17, 2026, 4:43 AM

#

Here’s a cleaned-up merged block. I replaced tokens with placeholders on purpose.

{
  bindings: [
    {
      agentId: "dwight",
      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "default",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "6509" },
      },
    },
    {
      agentId: "main",
      match: {

#

        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "default",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "43582" },
      },
    },
    {
      agentId: "main",
      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "default",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "38954" },
      },
    },
    {
      agentId: "ke",

#

      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "ke",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "6509" },
      },
    },
    {
      agentId: "sy",
      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "Sy",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "38954" },
      },
    },
    {

#

      agentId: "sy",
      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "Sy",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "240174" },
      },
    },
    {
      agentId: "main",
      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "default",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "240174" },
      },
    },

#

    {
      agentId: "pi",
      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "Pi",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "240174" },
      },
    },
    {
      agentId: "co",
      match: {
        channel: "discord",
        accountId: "Co",
        peer: { kind: "channel", id: "240174" },
      },

#

    },
  ],

  channels: {
    discord: {
      guilds: {
        "148592044": {
          requireMention: true,
          ignoreOtherMentions: true,
          users: ["14890", "14871", "780094", "78094", "149790", "149701"],
          channels: {
            "5063": { enabled: true },
            "6509": { enabled: true, requireMention: true },
            "240174": { enabled: true, requireMention: true },
            "38954": { enabled: true, requireMention: true },

#

            "43582": { enabled: true, requireMention: true },
          },
        },
      },

      accounts: {
        default: {
          token: "YOUR_DEFAULT_BOT_TOKEN",
          groupPolicy: "allowlist",
          streaming: { mode: "off" },
          allowFrom: ["14890"],
          allowBots: true,

          guilds: {
            "148592044": {

#

              channels: {
                // Main/default can respond to the other bot accounts here without @mention.
                // Remove `users` if you also want humans to wake main without a mention.
                "240174": {
                  enabled: true,
                  requireMention: false,
                  users: ["14871", "78094", "149790", "149701"],
                },
                "38954": {
                  enabled: true,
                  requireMention: false,
                  users: ["14871", "78094", "149790", "149701"],
                },
                "43582": {
                  enabled: true,

#

                  requireMention: false,
                  users: ["14871", "78094", "149790", "149701"],
                },
              },
            },
          },
        },

        ke: {
          enabled: true,
          token: "YOUR_KE_BOT_TOKEN",
          groupPolicy: "allowlist",
          streaming: { mode: "off" },
          allowFrom: ["14871"],
          allowBots: "mentions",

#

        },

        Co: {
          enabled: true,
          token: "YOUR_CO_BOT_TOKEN",
          groupPolicy: "allowlist",
          streaming: { mode: "off" },
          allowFrom: ["149701"],
          allowBots: "mentions",
        },

        Pi: {
          enabled: true,
          token: "YOUR_PI_BOT_TOKEN",
          groupPolicy: "allowlist",

#

          streaming: { mode: "off" },
          allowFrom: ["149790"],
          allowBots: "mentions",
        },

        Sy: {
          enabled: true,
          token: "YOUR_SY_BOT_TOKEN",
          groupPolicy: "allowlist",
          streaming: { mode: "off" },
          allowFrom: ["78094"],
          allowBots: "mentions",
        },
      },
    },

#

  },
}

If this fixed it, please right-click the solution message -> Apps -> ✅ Mark Solution, so Answer Overflow can index it.

surreal acorn Apr 17, 2026, 5:32 AM

#

@radiant hollow agent dwight is a subagent i see you removed "type": "route",
any reason for that

radiant hollowBOT Apr 17, 2026, 5:33 AM

#

No special reason, I removed it only because type is optional here, and missing type defaults to route.

So these are equivalent:

{ type: "route", agentId: "dwight", match: { ... } }

and

{ agentId: "dwight", match: { ... } }

If dwight is just another configured agent, then route is still the correct type, even if you think of it as a subagent.

Only use type: "acp" if that binding is for an ACP session/harness, which is a different thing.

#

So short answer:

type: "route" = totally fine
omitted type = same behavior
I can put it back for clarity, and honestly that may be nicer

If you want, I’ll repost the merged block with type: "route" on every binding.

surreal acorn Apr 17, 2026, 5:50 AM

#

@radiant hollow how can i also control this: if i mention two agents at the same time. both of them will message and send at the same time, this leads the gateway to crush or restart itself. also it creates noise

radiant hollowBOT Apr 17, 2026, 5:51 AM

#

Short version, not cleanly with multiple public Discord bot accounts in the same channel.

If you mention 2 bots, both accounts get a valid trigger, so both will reply.
ignoreOtherMentions does not solve that, because each bot still sees itself mentioned.

Best options:

Recommended: one public bot in shared channels, route internally to subagents
This is the cleanest. Only one visible reply path, much less noise.
Separate channels/threads per agent
Keep one bot/account per channel or thread. Then only that agent can answer there.
Keep multi-bot same channel
Then there is no real dedupe/arbitration knob today. If 2 bots are mentioned, both will wake.

Also, the gateway restarting/crashing is not expected. That part sounds like a bug, not just noisy config.

#

Can you paste these after reproducing it once?

openclaw --version
openclaw status --all
openclaw logs --follow

If the logs show things like:

Listener DiscordMessageListener timed out ...
discord inbound worker timed out ...

then we can also tune:

channels.discord.accounts.<accountId>.eventQueue.listenerTimeout
channels.discord.accounts.<accountId>.inboundWorker.runTimeoutMs

#

But first, I’d recommend architecture-wise: one visible bot per shared channel. That’s the setup I’d trust most here.

If you want, I can sketch the “one public bot + internal subagents” layout for your exact setup.

#Control agent replies in Discord (main vs others)