Telegram

The easiest OpenClaw channel to set up. Create a bot with BotFather, add your token, and you're running in minutes.

Telegram is the easiest channel to set up and one of the most reliable to run. No Mac required, no unofficial APIs, no QR codes. Just a bot token from BotFather and you're running.

Create Your Bot

Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
Send /newbot
Choose a display name for your bot (e.g., "My Assistant")
Choose a username ending in bot (e.g., myassistant_bot)
Copy the token BotFather provides

Copy it — you'll need it in the next step.

Configuration

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE",
      "dmPolicy": "pairing",
      "groupPolicy": "mention",
      "requireMention": true,
      "allowedUsers": [
        123456789,
        987654321
      ],
      "parseMode": "Markdown"
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE with the token from BotFather.

Finding Your Telegram User ID

Your Telegram user ID is a number, not your @username. To find it:

Message @userinfobot on Telegram
It will reply with your numeric ID

Use this ID in allowedUsers for allowlist-style access.

Important: Bots Are Publicly Discoverable

Telegram bots are publicly searchable by their username. Anyone can find and message your bot. This is why dmPolicy: pairing is recommended — you'll be notified of new users and can approve or deny them before the agent responds.

If you want a stricter setup, use allowedUsers with specific numeric IDs.

Group Chats

To use your bot in a group:

Add the bot to the group (search for its username)
In BotFather, send /setprivacy and select your bot → disable privacy mode (required for group reading)
Set groupPolicy: mention so it only responds when @mentioned

With privacy mode disabled, the bot can read all messages in the group. With requireMention: true, it will only respond when explicitly addressed.

Why Telegram Is Reliable

Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram provides an official Bot API. There's no session that expires, no QR code to re-scan, no unofficial protocol emulation. When the gateway is running, the Telegram channel is running.

It also queues messages during disconnections — if your gateway restarts, it will receive all messages sent while it was offline.

Testing

After saving your configuration and restarting the gateway:

openclaw gateway restart

Open Telegram, find your bot by username, and send it a message. It should respond within a few seconds.

If it doesn't respond:

openclaw logs --filter telegram

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