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

# Connect a channel

> Where Add Channel lives, what happens when you click it, and what the red mark means later

A channel is one social account she can post to. Nothing is connected when you start, and until
one is, there is nowhere for a post to go. This is the first thing to do in the app and it takes
about a minute per account.

## Adding one

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Add Channel">
    Your channels live in the **left sidebar**. **Add Channel** sits with them, and it is the same
    button for every network: X, a WordPress blog, a Discord server, all of it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick the network">
    You get the list of everything she can post to. What happens next depends on the network, and
    there are two kinds:

    * **Most networks send you to their own login.** You approve PostQueen there, the browser
      comes back, and the channel appears. Nothing to type.
    * **A smaller group asks for a credential in the form itself.** Bluesky takes an app password,
      WordPress takes a site URL and an application password, Mastodon needs its instance address.
      You paste it and you are done.

    [Providers](/providers/overview) says which kind each network is.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check it arrived">
    The channel appears in the sidebar with its avatar and name. That is the whole confirmation:
    if it is in the list, she can post to it.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  **Self-hosting?** Most networks need an OAuth app that you register with the platform, and its
  keys go in your environment before **Add Channel** can offer that network at all. Each provider
  page walks through creating one. On PostQueen Cloud this is already done for you.
</Note>

## The red exclamation mark

Sooner or later a channel wears a red `!` in the sidebar. It means the connection to that network
has gone stale, usually because the platform expired the token or someone changed the account's
password.

It matters more than it looks: a dead token stops that channel's scheduled posts, and they do not
resume on their own once you fix it. Reschedule anything that was waiting.

To fix it, click the avatar, or open the three dots menu next to the channel and pick
**Reconnect channel**, then walk the same connect flow again. If analytics are what alerted you,
the **Refresh Channel** button under the empty chart does the same job.

[When a post fails](/troubleshooting/post-failed) covers what a dead token does to a week of
scheduled work, and [connect errors](/troubleshooting/oauth-connect) has the message-by-message
list when the reconnect itself refuses.

## Disable or delete

Two different things, both in the three dots menu next to a channel.

**Disable Channel** takes it out of rotation and frees the slot against your plan's channel
limit, without giving up the connection or touching your posts. The same menu turns it back on
later. This is the one you want when you are at a channel limit and expect to come back to the
account.

**Delete Channel** removes it for good.

<Warning>
  Deleting refuses while posts still reference the channel: *"You have to delete all the posts
  associated with this channel before deleting it."* Clear its posts from the calendar first, or
  use Disable instead, which has no such requirement.
</Warning>

[Plans and limits](/using/plans-and-limits) has the caps that make Disable worth knowing about.

## Channels for clients

Running an agency? Channels can be grouped under a customer, and a small person icon joins the
calendar toolbar once your channels span more than one. Picking a customer narrows both the
calendar and the channel list to theirs. [Customers](/using/customers) covers the whole flow,
including the invite link that lets a client connect their own accounts without seeing yours.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Write your first post" icon="pen" href="/using/writing-a-post">
    The editor, per-channel versions and what each network accepts
  </Card>

  <Card title="Set up a network's app" icon="plug" href="/providers/overview">
    The OAuth app each network wants, network by network
  </Card>

  <Card title="The calendar" icon="calendar" href="/using/calendar">
    Where everything you schedule shows up
  </Card>

  <Card title="When a post fails" icon="triangle-exclamation" href="/troubleshooting/post-failed">
    Dead tokens, refused posts and how to tell them apart
  </Card>
</CardGroup>