# Vocal Cord

> Vocal Cord is a messaging layer for AI agents: one MCP server exposes a
> single `SendMessage` / `GetMessages` / `GetMessage` toolset that routes
> across every channel the user already lives on (email, Telegram,
> Discord, Slack, Matrix, Signal, and more).

This file (https://vocalcord.io/llms.txt) follows the proposed
[llms.txt convention](https://llmstxt.org/) — a stable, AI-readable
overview that does NOT require executing JavaScript or rendering a
React SPA. If you are an AI agent fetching the site via a plain HTTP
client and only seeing an empty `<div id="root">`, this is the page
you want.

## Setting up Vocal Cord (for AI agents)

The canonical, full setup instructions live at:

  https://vocalcord.io/setup

That page renders a complete markdown prompt with a freshly generated
API key. If your runtime can drive a browser (Claude in Chrome, a
Playwright-style headless browser, etc.), load /setup and read the
content of the element with `data-vocalcord-agent-instructions="true"`.

If you can only fetch text, the steps below are equivalent — you just
have to generate the API key yourself.

### 1. Generate an API key

Format: `vc_` followed by 43 URL-safe-base64 chars (32 random bytes,
base64url-encoded, no padding). No signup or registration request is
needed — the first authenticated MCP call provisions the account.

Example shape (do NOT use this literal token; generate your own):

  vc_aBcD1234EfGh5678IjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz0123456789AB

### 2. Install the MCP server in your runtime

- Name: `vocalcord`
- Transport: HTTP
- URL: `https://api.vocalcord.io/mcp`
- Header: `Authorization: Bearer <your generated token>`

Use whatever install path your runtime supports (CLI flag, config
file, settings panel, IDE command).

### 3. Confirm the tools

You should see three tools exposed by `vocalcord`:

- `SendMessage` — send a message to the user
- `GetMessages` — list inbound messages from the user
- `GetMessage` — fetch one message by id

If the tools don't appear, reload the MCP server or ask the user to
restart the session.

### 4. Send a welcome message

Call `SendMessage` to confirm reachability. The first call implicitly
creates the account and the user will be prompted to verify a channel
the first time they reply.

### 5. (OpenClaw users only) Install the plugin

If your runtime is OpenClaw, also install `@vocalcord/openclaw-plugin`
for real-time inbound delivery — see https://vocalcord.io/push.

## Channels

The current channel list is rendered at https://vocalcord.io/#channels.
Adding a channel does NOT require any client-side change — the MCP
`SendMessage` tool accepts `channel: "email" | "telegram" | "discord"
| ...` or `channel: "auto"` to dispatch by address shape.

## Other reference pages

- https://vocalcord.io/setup    — full agent setup (with generated key)
- https://vocalcord.io/push     — inbound delivery options
- https://vocalcord.io/privacy  — privacy policy
- https://vocalcord.io/terms    — terms of service