Roblox custom chat: channels, tabs, cross-server

Modern games use TextChatService (ChatVersion = TextChatService). Here's how to get real, switchable channel tabs and cross-server delivery — the non-obvious parts.

Two channels shown as TABS (the key that's OFF by default)

The modern default chat merges everything into one window UNLESS you enable channel tabs. Two settings, best set as place properties in Edit mode (setting them at runtime is too late — the chat server boots first — and can break the default wiring):

• TextChatService.CreateDefaultTextChannels = false — drop the default RBXGeneral/System tabs so you get EXACTLY your channels.
• TextChatService.ChannelTabsConfiguration.Enabled = true — this is the switch that makes channels appear as tabs. ChannelTabsConfiguration is an auto-created child of TextChatService. Once on, each custom TextChannel auto-becomes a tab labelled by its Name — no per-channel config needed.

⚠️ Both are place properties → they need a place SAVE to persist across sessions. Also set them in ChatService.start() at runtime as a fallback, but the Edit-mode/place value is what reliably takes effect on boot.