Broadcast groups

# Overview

Broadcast Groups enable multiple agents to process and respond to the same message simultaneously. This allows you to create specialized agent teams that work together in a single WhatsApp group or DM — all using one phone number.

Current scope: WhatsApp only (web channel).

Broadcast groups are evaluated after channel allowlists and group activation rules. In WhatsApp groups, this means broadcasts happen when OpenClaw would normally reply (for example: on mention, depending on your group settings).

# Use cases

Group: "Development Team"
Agents:
  - CodeReviewer (reviews code snippets)
  - DocumentationBot (generates docs)
  - SecurityAuditor (checks for vulnerabilities)
  - TestGenerator (suggests test cases)

Group: "International Support"
Agents:
  - Agent_EN (responds in English)
  - Agent_DE (responds in German)
  - Agent_ES (responds in Spanish)

Group: "Customer Support"
Agents:
  - SupportAgent (provides answer)
  - QAAgent (reviews quality, only responds if issues found)

Group: "Project Management"
Agents:
  - TaskTracker (updates task database)
  - TimeLogger (logs time spent)
  - ReportGenerator (creates summaries)

# Configuration

# Basic setup

Add a top-level broadcast section (next to bindings). Keys are WhatsApp peer ids:

• group chats: group JID (e.g. [email protected])
• DMs: E.164 phone number (e.g. +15551234567)

{
  "broadcast": {
    "[email protected]": ["alfred", "baerbel", "assistant3"]
  }
}

Result: When OpenClaw would reply in this chat, it will run all three agents.

# Processing strategy

Control how agents process messages:

{
  "broadcast": {
    "strategy": "parallel",
    "[email protected]": ["alfred", "baerbel"]
  }
}

{
  "broadcast": {
    "strategy": "sequential",
    "[email protected]": ["alfred", "baerbel"]
  }
}

# Complete example

{
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "code-reviewer",
        "name": "Code Reviewer",
        "workspace": "/path/to/code-reviewer",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
      },
      {
        "id": "security-auditor",
        "name": "Security Auditor",
        "workspace": "/path/to/security-auditor",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
      },
      {
        "id": "docs-generator",
        "name": "Documentation Generator",
        "workspace": "/path/to/docs-generator",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
      }
    ]
  },
  "broadcast": {
    "strategy": "parallel",
    "[email protected]": ["code-reviewer", "security-auditor", "docs-generator"],
    "[email protected]": ["support-en", "support-de"],
    "+15555550123": ["assistant", "logger"]
  }
}

# How it works

# Message flow

# Session isolation

Each agent in a broadcast group maintains completely separate:

• Session keys (agent:alfred:whatsapp:group:120363... vs agent:baerbel:whatsapp:group:120363...)
• Conversation history (agent doesn't see other agents' messages)
• Workspace (separate sandboxes if configured)
• Tool access (different allow/deny lists)
• Memory/context (separate IDENTITY.md, SOUL.md, etc.)
• Group context buffer (recent group messages used for context) is shared per peer, so all broadcast agents see the same context when triggered

This allows each agent to have:

• Different personalities
• Different tool access (e.g., read-only vs. read-write)
• Different models (e.g., opus vs. sonnet)
• Different skills installed

# Example: isolated sessions

In group [email protected] with agents ["alfred", "baerbel"]:

Session: agent:alfred:whatsapp:group:[email protected]
History: [user message, alfred's previous responses]
Workspace: /Users/user/openclaw-alfred/
Tools: read, write, exec

Session: agent:baerbel:whatsapp:group:[email protected]
History: [user message, baerbel's previous responses]
Workspace: /Users/user/openclaw-baerbel/
Tools: read only

# Best practices

{
  "broadcast": {
    "DEV_GROUP": ["formatter", "linter", "tester"]
  }
}

{
  "agents": {
    "security-scanner": { "name": "Security Scanner" },
    "code-formatter": { "name": "Code Formatter" },
    "test-generator": { "name": "Test Generator" }
  }
}

{
  "agents": {
    "reviewer": {
      "tools": { "allow": ["read", "exec"] }
    },
    "fixer": {
      "tools": { "allow": ["read", "write", "edit", "exec"] }
    }
  }
}

Message → [Agent A ✓, Agent B ✗ error, Agent C ✓]
Result: Agent A and C respond, Agent B logs error

# Compatibility

# Providers

Broadcast groups currently work with:

• ✅ WhatsApp (implemented)
• 🚧 Telegram (planned)
• 🚧 Discord (planned)
• 🚧 Slack (planned)

# Routing

Broadcast groups work alongside existing routing:

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "match": { "channel": "whatsapp", "peer": { "kind": "group", "id": "GROUP_A" } },
      "agentId": "alfred"
    }
  ],
  "broadcast": {
    "GROUP_B": ["agent1", "agent2"]
  }
}

• GROUP_A: Only alfred responds (normal routing).
• GROUP_B: agent1 AND agent2 respond (broadcast).

# Troubleshooting

tail -f ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.log | grep broadcast

# Examples

{
  "broadcast": {
    "strategy": "parallel",
    "[email protected]": [
      "code-formatter",
      "security-scanner",
      "test-coverage",
      "docs-checker"
    ]
  },
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "code-formatter",
        "workspace": "~/agents/formatter",
        "tools": { "allow": ["read", "write"] }
      },
      {
        "id": "security-scanner",
        "workspace": "~/agents/security",
        "tools": { "allow": ["read", "exec"] }
      },
      {
        "id": "test-coverage",
        "workspace": "~/agents/testing",
        "tools": { "allow": ["read", "exec"] }
      },
      { "id": "docs-checker", "workspace": "~/agents/docs", "tools": { "allow": ["read"] } }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "broadcast": {
    "strategy": "sequential",
    "+15555550123": ["detect-language", "translator-en", "translator-de"]
  },
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      { "id": "detect-language", "workspace": "~/agents/lang-detect" },
      { "id": "translator-en", "workspace": "~/agents/translate-en" },
      { "id": "translator-de", "workspace": "~/agents/translate-de" }
    ]
  }
}

# API reference

# Config schema

interface OpenClawConfig {
  broadcast?: {
    strategy?: "parallel" | "sequential";
    [peerId: string]: string[];
  };
}

# Fields

# Limitations

1. Max agents: No hard limit, but 10+ agents may be slow.
2. Shared context: Agents don't see each other's responses (by design).
3. Message ordering: Parallel responses may arrive in any order.
4. Rate limits: All agents count toward WhatsApp rate limits.

# Future enhancements

Planned features:

• [ ] Shared context mode (agents see each other's responses)
• [ ] Agent coordination (agents can signal each other)
• [ ] Dynamic agent selection (choose agents based on message content)
• [ ] Agent priorities (some agents respond before others)

# Related

• Channel routing
• Groups
• Multi-agent sandbox tools
• Pairing
• Session management