How to Connect OpenClaw to Telegram: Step-by-Step

Introduction

Telegram is OpenClaw's recommended first channel for good reasons: it's free, it has an excellent bot API, it works on every platform, it supports group chats for shared agent access, and BotFather makes the setup process accessible to anyone in under 10 minutes. This guide walks you through every step from creating your Telegram bot to sending your first agent command.

Why Telegram Is the Best Starting Channel

Compared to other OpenClaw channel options:

• vs WhatsApp: WhatsApp's bot API requires a business account and phone number verification. Telegram bot creation requires only a Telegram account and takes 5 minutes.
• vs Slack: Slack requires a workspace and app approval process. Telegram requires nothing beyond a phone number.
• vs iMessage: iMessage integration requires a Mac with specific Apple Silicon setup. Telegram works from any machine.
• vs Discord: Discord requires server creation and bot permissions. Telegram's DM-based bot model is simpler for personal use.

Telegram also has genuinely excellent mobile apps on iOS and Android, making the "send a quick task to your agent from your phone while commuting" use case work smoothly.

Creating Your Telegram Bot

Telegram bots are created through BotFather — Telegram's official bot for managing bots. The process takes under 5 minutes:

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather (with the verified checkmark)
2. Start a conversation and send /newbot
3. BotFather asks for a name — this is the display name, e.g., "My Personal Agent"
4. BotFather asks for a username — this must end in "bot" and be globally unique, e.g., "mypersonalagent_bot"
5. BotFather sends your bot token — it looks like: 1234567890:ABCdefGHIjklmNOPqrstUVWxyz
6. Save this token securely — treat it like a password

Your bot now exists on Telegram. It won't respond to anything yet — that only happens after you configure it in OpenClaw.

Configuring OpenClaw

Open your OpenClaw configuration file (~/.openclaw/config.yaml) and add your Telegram configuration:

channels:
  telegram:
    token: "1234567890:ABCdefGHIjklmNOPqrstUVWxyz"
    allowed_users:
      - your_telegram_username  # Replace with your @username (without the @)
    # Optional: allow specific chat IDs instead of usernames
    # allowed_chat_ids:
    #   - 123456789

The allowed_users list is critical for security. Only the Telegram accounts listed can send commands to your agent. Without this restriction, anyone who finds your bot could send it commands. Your Telegram username can be found in Telegram Settings → My Account.

After saving the config, restart OpenClaw:

openclaw restart

Now find your bot in Telegram (search for the username you created), press Start, and send any message. Your agent should respond.

Privacy & Security Settings

Configure your Telegram bot's privacy settings via BotFather:

/setprivacy  [in BotFather]
Choose your bot
Select "Disable"  # Allow the bot to read all messages in groups

Or keep privacy mode enabled (the default) — this means the bot only receives messages that start with "/" or that explicitly mention the bot's username in group chats. For personal DM use, privacy mode doesn't matter.

Important: Never share your bot token. Anyone with your token can control your bot and send commands to your OpenClaw agent. If you accidentally expose it (e.g., in a public GitHub repo), immediately revoke it via BotFather:

/revoke  [in BotFather]
Choose your bot

This invalidates the old token and generates a new one that you update in your config.yaml.

Adding the Bot to a Group

Adding your OpenClaw bot to a Telegram group allows multiple people (family members, team members) to interact with the same agent. This is useful for shared household automation or small team workflows.

1. Create a Telegram group (or use an existing one)
2. Open the group, tap the group name → Add Members → search for your bot username
3. Add your bot to the group
4. The bot needs to be promoted to admin if you want it to read all messages (not just commands): Group Settings → Administrators → Add Administrator → select your bot

Update your config.yaml to include the group's chat ID in the allowed list. Get the chat ID by sending /chatid to your bot while in the group (requires the bot to be running).

Security note: all group members can send commands to the agent. Set appropriate system prompt restrictions on what the agent can do from group commands vs. personal DM commands if you want different permission levels.

First Commands to Try

Once your bot is configured and running, try these commands to verify everything is working:

Hello!

A simple greeting — the agent should respond conversationally.

What time is it?

Tests that the agent has access to basic system information.

Remember that my favorite color is blue.

Tests memory write functionality — the agent should acknowledge storing this.

What do you know about my preferences?

Tests memory read — the agent should reference what it stored.

Search the web for today's top AI news and summarize it for me.

Tests web access (if configured). If you don't have a web search Skill, the agent will let you know it can't access the internet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I have multiple Telegram bots for one OpenClaw instance? Yes. You can create multiple bots in BotFather and configure each in your config.yaml with different channel names. This allows different bots for different purposes (one personal, one for a team group) with separate permission levels.

Is Telegram secure for sending sensitive information to my agent? Telegram encrypts messages between your phone and Telegram's servers, and between Telegram's servers and your bot. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted in the same way Signal is. For very sensitive communications, consider Signal integration (more complex to set up) instead of Telegram.

My bot shows as "offline" in Telegram. Is something wrong? Bot "online" status in Telegram is not meaningful — bots don't have an online indicator the same way users do. Simply send a message and see if it responds. If it doesn't respond, check that OpenClaw is running (openclaw status) and that the token in your config matches the token from BotFather.

Can the agent send photos or files via Telegram? Yes. OpenClaw supports sending images, documents, and voice messages via Telegram. The agent can generate charts, take screenshots, and send them as Telegram photo messages. Configure this capability in your system prompt: "When you generate visual content, send it as a Telegram photo message."

Wrapping Up

Connecting OpenClaw to Telegram is the fastest path from "installed OpenClaw" to "actually using OpenClaw." The 10-minute setup produces an always-available AI assistant accessible from any device with Telegram installed — your phone while commuting, your tablet on the couch, your laptop at your desk. Once you have this working, explore adding additional channels (WhatsApp, Slack) and installing Skills that unlock the full range of OpenClaw's capabilities.