> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://praison.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Channel Descriptor • AI Agent SDK

> ChannelDescriptor: Optional self-description a channel adapter may expose.

# ChannelDescriptor

> Defined in the [**protocols**](../modules/protocols) module.

<Badge color="blue">AI Agent</Badge>

Optional self-description a channel adapter may expose.

A channel plugin declares — in one place, at registration — everything the
gateway needs to treat it as first-class:

* `config_fields`: its config keys, merged into `ChannelConfigSchema` at
  runtime instead of being dropped;
* `system_prompt_hint`: a hint injected whenever that channel is active so
  the agent knows which platform it is replying on and its constraints.

The YAML schema, the onboarding wizard, and the agent prompt all read this
single contract. Protocol-only (no heavy imports) so it stays in core; the
wrapper subsystems (`_config_schema.py`, `onboard.py`, prompt assembly)
are the consumers.

The two required members above are enough to be first-class: the onboarding
wizard derives its prompts directly from `config_fields` (both env-backed
secrets and plain config keys). A descriptor MAY additionally expose an
optional `setup(io)` hook for bespoke, multi-step flows the field list
cannot express; the wizard calls it when present and merges the returned
values. Because it is optional, a minimal descriptor (like the example
below) omits it — so this Protocol is intentionally *not* used as an
`isinstance` type guard; consumers read attributes with `getattr`
fallbacks instead.

Example (implementation ships in a `praisonai.channels` plugin)::

class IRCDescriptor:
config\_fields = \[
ChannelField("server", required=True, prompt="IRC server host"),
ChannelField("nickserv\_password", secret=True,
env="IRC\_NICKSERV\_PASSWORD"),
]
system\_prompt\_hint = (
"You are replying on IRC: plain text only, one short line."
)

register\_platform("irc", IRCBot, descriptor=IRCDescriptor())

## Properties

<ResponseField name="config_fields" type="List[ChannelField]">
  No description available.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="system_prompt_hint" type="str">
  No description available.
</ResponseField>

## Methods

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="setup()" icon="function" href="../functions/ChannelDescriptor-setup">
    Optional interactive setup returning collected config/env values.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Source

<Card title="View on GitHub" icon="github" href="https://github.com/MervinPraison/PraisonAI/blob/main/src/praisonai-agents/praisonaiagents/bots/protocols.py#L208">
  `praisonaiagents/bots/protocols.py` at line 208
</Card>