Telegram Setup

Telegram Setup

Telegram is the fastest messaging integration — about 30 seconds to set up.

Create a Telegram bot

1. Open Telegram on your phone or desktop
2. Search for @BotFather (the official bot-creation tool)
3. Send /newbot
4. BotFather asks for a name — the display name (e.g. "My AI Assistant")
5. BotFather asks for a username — must end in "bot" (e.g. myai_assistant_bot)
6. BotFather gives you a token like 123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz
7. Copy this token

Connect in the wizard

1. On the wizard's Connect your messaging apps screen, select Telegram
2. Paste the bot token from BotFather
3. The wizard verifies it works

Test your bot

After deployment:

1. Open Telegram and search for your bot by its username
2. Click Start or send any message
3. If ChatGPT or Claude still needs sign-in, follow the secure sign-in link the bot sends first
4. Once AI setup finishes, send a message and your agent responds

Finish AI setup from Telegram

If Telegram is connected before ChatGPT or Claude sign-in finishes, the bot shows a command menu and inline buttons after deploy. Open the bot, then tap Connect ChatGPT or Connect Claude — or use the /connectchatgpt / /connectclaude commands. The bot replies even before AI is connected, so you can start right away.

For ChatGPT, the bot sends a browser sign-in link.

Customize your bot

Use BotFather to customize:

• /setdescription — what users see before they start chatting
• /setabouttext — the bot's profile bio
• /setuserpic — upload a profile picture
• /setcommands — add custom command buttons

Group chats

Your bot can work in Telegram groups too:

1. Add the bot to a group
2. Make it an admin so it can read messages
3. The bot responds when mentioned or when specific keywords are used

Privacy mode

By default, Telegram bots in groups only see messages that mention them. To let your bot see all messages:

1. Send /setprivacy to BotFather
2. Choose your bot
3. Select Disable

Only do this if your bot needs to respond to every message in a group.