🦞OpenClaw Guide
📱 Telegram Integration

OpenClaw + Telegram

Chat with your AI assistant from your phone, anywhere in the world. Set up in 5 minutes.

What You Can Do

💬

Text Chat

Send messages from any device

🎤

Voice Messages

Talk to your AI with voice notes

📎

File Sharing

Send images, docs, code files

🔔

Notifications

Get alerts and reminders pushed to you

👥

Group Support

Add OpenClaw to group chats

⚡

Inline Buttons

Interactive UI with button responses

Setup Guide

1
Create a Telegram Bot
Get your bot token from BotFather
3 min
  1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
  2. Send /newbot
  3. Choose a name (e.g., "My AI Assistant")
  4. Choose a username ending in "bot" (e.g., "myai_assistant_bot")
  5. Copy the token (looks like 123456789:ABCdef...)

Example response from BotFather:

Done! Your bot is created.
Use this token to access the HTTP API:
7123456789:AAH2s-KxxxxxYYYYYzzzzz123456789
Keep this token secure!
2
Get Your Telegram ID
Find your user ID for security
1 min
  1. Search for @userinfobot on Telegram
  2. Send any message
  3. Copy your numeric ID (e.g., 123456789)

This ID ensures only you can use your OpenClaw bot.

3
Configure OpenClaw
Add your Telegram credentials
1 min

Edit your openclaw.yaml config:

# ~/.openclaw/openclaw.yaml

channels:
  telegram:
    enabled: true
    token: "7123456789:AAH2s-KxxxxxYYYYYzzzzz123456789"
    allowedUsers:
      - "123456789"  # Your Telegram ID

Or run openclaw setup to configure interactively.

4
Start & Test
Verify the connection
1 min
# Restart OpenClaw to apply changes
openclaw restart

# Check status
openclaw status

You should see:

✓ Telegram: connected (polling)

Now message your bot on Telegram — it should respond!

Advanced Settings

channels:
  telegram:
    enabled: true
    token: "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
    
    # Security
    allowedUsers:
      - "123456789"      # Your ID
      - "987654321"      # Another person's ID
    allowedGroups:
      - "-1001234567890" # Group chat ID (negative number)
    
    # Features
    voice:
      enabled: true       # Allow voice messages
      transcribe: true    # Convert speech to text
    
    # Notifications
    notifyOnStart: true   # Message you when OpenClaw starts
    
    # Behavior
    typingIndicator: true # Show "typing..." while thinking
    parseMode: "Markdown" # Format responses as Markdown
    
    # Webhooks (advanced - for high traffic)
    # webhook:
    #   enabled: true
    #   url: "https://your-domain.com/telegram/webhook"
    #   port: 3001

Using in Group Chats

  1. Add your bot to a group
  2. Get the group ID by adding @getidsbot temporarily
  3. Add the group ID (starts with -100) to allowedGroups
  4. In groups, mention the bot to trigger it: @your_bot_name what's the weather?
allowedGroups:
  - "-1001234567890"  # Work team
  - "-1009876543210"  # Family group

Troubleshooting

Bot not responding

Check your token is correct. Run 'openclaw logs' to see errors.

"Not authorized" error

Your Telegram ID isn't in allowedUsers. Get your ID from @userinfobot.

Voice messages not working

Enable voice in config. May need ffmpeg installed: brew install ffmpeg

Group chat not working

Add group ID to allowedGroups. Disable privacy mode with /setprivacy in BotFather.

Want 24/7 Telegram Access?

Host OpenClaw in the cloud so your Telegram bot never goes offline. Use code OPENCLAW15 for 15% off.

Get Always-On Hosting24/7 Setup Guide →