claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix --channels flag and channelsEnabled: true managed setting both ignored on personal Max account — inbound MCP channel notifications silently dropped

Summary

CC 2.1.138 silently drops inbound MCP notifications/claude/channel events on my personal Max account despite the documented opt-in (channelsEnabled: true in system-path managed-settings.json + --channels <server> launch flag). The MCP log shows "Channel notifications skipped: channels feature is not currently available" at handshake regardless of the managed setting being present and the launch flag being passed.

Environment

• Claude Code: 2.1.138
• macOS: 26.3 (25D125)
• Plugin: telegram@claude-plugins-official 0.0.6
• Account: claude.ai, subscriptionType: max
• Org: auto-assigned, name "<email>'s Organization", apiProvider: firstParty

Repro

1. Plugin enabled in ~/.claude/settings.json.
2. System-path managed settings created with sudo:

   $ ls -la '/Library/Application Support/ClaudeCode/managed-settings.json'
   -rw-r--r--  1 root  admin  30 May 12 14:06 /Library/Application Support/ClaudeCode/managed-settings.json
   $ cat '/Library/Application Support/ClaudeCode/managed-settings.json'
   {"channelsEnabled": true}

3. User-path managed-settings.json removed to eliminate ambiguity.
4. Launched with claude --channels plugin_telegram_telegram.
5. Inspected newest MCP log at ~/Library/Caches/claude-cli-nodejs/<cwd>/mcp-logs-plugin-telegram-telegram/<latest>.jsonl.

Actual

{"debug":"Connection established with capabilities: {...,\"serverVersion\":{\"name\":\"telegram\",\"version\":\"1.0.0\"}}",...}
{"debug":"Channel notifications skipped: channels feature is not currently available",...}
{"debug":"Channel notifications skipped: channels feature is not currently available",...}

Expected

Per the channels documentation and the 2.1.128 release notes that introduced channelsEnabled, the expected handshake line is "Listening for channel messages from: plugin_telegram_telegram" and inbound Telegram messages should surface in the CC session as <channel source="telegram" ...> blocks.

What I've ruled out

• Plugin functionality: outbound mcp__plugin_telegram_telegram__reply works, typing indicator fires on inbound, photos write to ~/.claude/channels/telegram/inbox/. End-to-end works except CC's notification handler.
• Allowlist: ~/.claude/channels/telegram/access.json contains my Telegram user_id in allowFrom.
• Plugin disable/reload cycle (/plugin disable + /reload-plugins): doesn't re-negotiate capability.
• Cold session restart alone: doesn't open the gate.
• User-path ~/Library/Application Support/ClaudeCode/managed-settings.json: confirmed not read for this gate.
• Wrong schema for allowedChannelPlugins: skipped entirely so Anthropic's default plugin allowlist applies.

Suspected cause

Personal Max accounts get an auto-assigned Team/Enterprise-style org (orgName follows the "<email>'s Organization" pattern) that does not honor the channelsEnabled managed setting. The --channels flag and managed setting are both accepted at launch but the binary's capability-negotiation step still treats the feature as unavailable.

Asks

1. Confirm whether channelsEnabled is honored for subscriptionType: max accounts with auto-assigned orgs.
2. If not, document the supported path for enabling channels on personal Max accounts, or fix the gate to honor the managed setting regardless of org type.