# Channels

Channels are how people reach your workspace. Each channel connects a different communication platform to your AI agents, so conversations flow naturally wherever your users already are — and every conversation ends up in the same [Chats](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/chats/.md) interface for your team to monitor and manage.

The key insight: **a phone call, a text message, a web chat, an email, and a Discord command all produce the same thing** — a chat running through a workflow. The channel determines how the conversation starts and what medium it uses, but the AI follows the same workflow regardless.

## [Phone & Voice](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/channels/phone-and-voice.md)[​](#phone--voice "Direct link to phone--voice")

AI-powered phone calls and SMS messaging through provisioned phone numbers.

* Inbound and outbound voice calls with real-time AI responses
* SMS conversations with automatic threading
* Work modes: always on, forward off-hours, voicemail, or always forward
* Call transcription, logging, and escalation to humans

## [Voice](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/channels/voice.md)[​](#voice "Direct link to voice")

Deep dive on the voice stack — models, speech recognition, barge-in, and troubleshooting.

* Native realtime vs. pipeline (STT + LLM + TTS) architectures
* Voice model catalog across ElevenLabs, Polly, OpenAI, Google, Deepgram, xAI
* Deepgram and ElevenLabs speech-to-text, keyterm prompting, language detection
* Barge-in and interruption tuning; call summaries and transcripts

## [Call Recordings](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/channels/call-recordings.md)[​](#call-recordings "Direct link to call-recordings")

Listen to recorded phone and web voice calls inside chat, with transcript-synced playback.

* Enable workspace audio recording and open the in-chat player
* PHI handling, audit logging, and access controls
* Troubleshooting when audio is missing or out of sync

## [Email & Inboxes](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/channels/email-inboxes.md)[​](#email--inboxes "Direct link to email--inboxes")

Centralized email management with AI-powered triage and response. *Requires feature flag: `email`.*

* Shared inbox addresses for your workspace (e.g., `support@workspace.mailrelay.io`)
* Incoming emails trigger workflows automatically
* Email rules for filtering and routing
* Reply directly from the inbox with proper threading

## [Sites](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/channels/sites.md)[​](#sites "Direct link to sites")

Customer-facing portals, help centers, and booking pages with built-in AI chat.

* Embeddable chat widgets and full portal pages
* Custom domains, themes, and access control
* Public sites, member-only portals, and self-service signup
* Web crawling to import existing documentation

## [Discord Bots](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/channels/discord-bots.md)[​](#discord-bots "Direct link to discord-bots")

AI bots that operate directly in Discord servers. *Requires feature flag: `discord`.*

* Custom slash commands mapped to workflows
* Respond in channels, threads, and DMs
* Account linking between Discord and workspace members
* Response modes: mentions only, auto, or slash commands only

## [Slack Bots](https://docs.gravityrail.com/user-guide/channels/slack.md)[​](#slack-bots "Direct link to slack-bots")

AI bots that operate directly in Slack workspaces. *Requires feature flag: `slack`.*

* @mention responses with streaming "Thinking..." indicators
* Thread-based conversations with full context
* Account linking for personalized responses
* Auto mode with customizable decision criteria

## Choosing the Right Channel[​](#choosing-the-right-channel "Direct link to Choosing the Right Channel")

| If your users...                         | Use                              |
| ---------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| Need immediate, real-time help           | **Web Chat** or **Phone Voice**  |
| Prefer async communication               | **SMS**, **Email**, or **Slack** |
| Are already in a community platform      | **Discord** or **Slack**         |
| Need a self-service portal               | **Sites** with AI chat           |
| Are in healthcare / high-touch verticals | **Phone + SMS** combo            |
| Need formal correspondence               | **Email Inboxes**                |

Most workspaces use multiple channels. The same workflow handles all of them, so there's no extra configuration — just connect the channel and point it at your workflow.