Build a Channel with the MCP¶
The build_channel prompt starts a model building a channel from a description of what it should do. In Claude Code, with the server added under the name qie, it runs as /qie:build_channel. Other clients start a prompt in their own way, where they support prompts. Codex does not support prompts, so ask it for the same work in your own words (see Connecting Codex).
Arguments¶
| Argument | Required | Holds |
|---|---|---|
description |
Yes | What the channel should receive, change and send. |
zone |
No | The zone to build it in. |
What the model is asked to do¶
- Read the channel guide, the guides to mapping functions and conditions, and the channel's field descriptions, so it knows the rules every channel must pass and what each kind of function and condition is for.
- Create the channel with
create_channel, unless it already exists. It starts with an HL7 MLLP receiver and a Discard destination, which the model changes to what the channel needs. - Add nodes, link them and set their scripts, one change at a time, giving every condition's fail branch somewhere to go, a Discard destination when nothing else should happen to the message, and using a built-in mapping function or a Standard condition where one does the job rather than a script. Each change is saved only if the channel still passes the rules.
- Check node paths and scripts before saving them.
- Lay the channel out with
arrange_channelonce every node is in place (see Laying a channel out). - Test the finished channel with a sample it adds, one with no patient data, stepping each test through to its destination, and report what each step did. A destination ends a test without sending, but the nodes before it run for real, including web service calls and database queries, so the model tests against test connections.
The model does not start the channel. It tells you when the channel is ready and what it could not do.
Each change the model makes to the channel is saved as a revision, so it can be undone with restore_revision (see MCP Revision History Tools). A sample the model added stays until it is deleted with delete_sample or in the console.