Gateway vs Relay

lsbot provides two modes for connecting to chat platforms: gateway and relay.

Quick Comparison

Feature	`gateway` (Self-hosted)	`relay` (Cloud)
Architecture	Direct connection to platform APIs	Connect to lsbot cloud (bot.lingti.com)
Server needed	Requires port forwarding / tunnel	No server needed
Platforms	All 19 platforms	feishu, slack, wechat, wecom
Data flow	User → Platform → Your PC → AI	User → Platform → Cloud → Your PC → AI

When to use `gateway`

Use gateway when:

You want full control over the connection
The platform is not supported by relay
You need to run multiple platforms simultaneously
You have a server with public IP or use a tunnel (frp, ngrok, Cloudflare Tunnel)

# Run gateway with any supported platform
lsbot gateway --provider deepseek --api-key sk-xxx \
  --telegram-token 123456:ABC-DEF

lsbot gateway --provider claude --api-key sk-ant-xxx \
  --dingtalk-client-id xxx --dingtalk-client-secret xxx

All 19 platforms are supported in gateway mode.

When to use `relay`

Use relay when:

You don't have a server with public IP
You want the easiest setup (no firewall, no tunnel)
The platform is supported: feishu, slack, wechat, wecom

# Connect to cloud relay - no public server needed
lsbot relay --platform wecom --user-id your-id \
  --provider deepseek --api-key sk-xxx

The cloud relay handles the platform connection for you. Your AI runs locally.

Platform Support by Mode

Platform	gateway	relay
DingTalk (钉钉)	✅ Stream Mode	❌ Not needed*
Feishu (飞书)	✅ WebSocket	✅
Slack	✅ Socket Mode	✅
WeCom (企业微信)	✅ Callback API	✅
WeChat (微信公众号)	❌	✅ Cloud only
Telegram	✅	❌
Discord	✅	❌
WhatsApp	✅	❌
LINE	✅	❌
Teams	✅	❌
Others...	✅	❌

* DingTalk uses Stream Mode (WebSocket) which is inherently "serverless" — same benefit as cloud relay, so relay is not needed.

Why DingTalk has no relay

DingTalk already supports Stream Mode, a native WebSocket connection that works without a public server:

DingTalk Server ←WebSocket→ lsbot (running locally)

This achieves the same goal as cloud relay — no need to buy a server or configure a tunnel. Therefore, DingTalk doesn't need relay support.

How each mode works

Gateway (Self-hosted)

User → Platform API → lsbot gateway (your machine) → AI
                    ↑                              ↓
              Direct connection              Response back

You run lsbot gateway locally. The bot connects directly to the platform's API.

Relay (Cloud)

User → Platform → lsbot Cloud (bot.lingti.com) ←WebSocket→ lsbot relay (your machine) → AI

You run lsbot relay locally. The cloud server handles the platform connection and forwards messages to your local instance via WebSocket.

After `channels add` — which command to run?

lsbot channels add saves platform credentials to ~/.lingti.yaml. After that:

Platform	Command
Telegram, Discord, DingTalk, WhatsApp, LINE, Teams, etc.	`lsbot gateway`
WeCom (企业微信)	`lsbot relay --platform wecom`
WeChat (微信公众号)	`lsbot relay --platform wechat`
Feishu (飞书)	`lsbot gateway` or `lsbot relay --platform feishu`
Slack	`lsbot gateway` or `lsbot relay --platform slack`

gateway reads all credentials from ~/.lingti.yaml automatically — no extra flags needed:

lsbot gateway

relay requires --platform because the cloud relay needs to know which platform to connect:

lsbot relay --platform wecom

If you've also run lsbot agents add, you don't need --provider or --api-key flags — the default agent's config is used automatically.

Summary

gateway: Full control, all platforms, may need a server/tunnel
relay: Easiest setup for supported platforms, no server needed
DingTalk: Uses Stream Mode = no server needed = gateway only