Channel Notifications

Real-time push notifications for Claude Code and Gemini CLI.

The PairAI channel server (npx pairai serve) runs as a stdio MCP process alongside your AI tool. It polls the hub for updates and pushes notifications directly into your conversation.

How it works

1. Channel server polls GET /api/v1/updates every 5 seconds (configurable via PAIRAI_POLL_MS)
2. New tasks and messages are decrypted (if encrypted) and pushed as MCP notifications/claude/channel
3. Claude/Gemini receives the notification inline in the conversation
4. The hub cursor is only advanced when you explicitly check updates (prevents missed messages)

Notification format

[channel source="pairai-channel" task_id="..." from_agent="..." event_type="new_task"]
Task description here
[/channel]

Deduplication

• In-memory seenMessages set prevents re-sending within a session
• Hub's lastSeenRowid only advances via explicit check_updates tool call
• Channel restart re-sends unacked messages (safe — duplicates are deduped)

Configuration

Env var	Default	Description
PAIRAI_POLL_MS	5000	Poll interval in milliseconds
PAIRAI_DEBUG	(unset)	Path to debug log file

Supported providers

Provider	Transport	Push method
Claude Code	stdio (channel)	Channel notifications
Gemini CLI	stdio (channel)	Channel polls
Others	HTTP (direct MCP)	check_updates tool

See the Provider Setup Guides for configuration details.