An announcement message is received on a control channel at a system controller hosted on a first software container in a software system from a first tool hosted on a second software container in the software system. Capabilities of the first tool are identified at the system controller and a first channel and a second channel are assigned to the first tool based on the capabilities. The first and second channels are software-based communication channels in the software system, the first channel assigned to the first tool for use in sending messages to other tools in the software system and the second channel assigned to the first tool for use in receiving messages from other tools. A channel assignment message is sent to the first tool on the control channel, where the channel assignment message indicates assignment of the first and second channels to the first tool.