Telegram Integration Complete Guide: Turn OpenClaw Into Your Personal AI Assistant

Why Is Telegram the Best AI Entry Point?

You’ve already installed OpenClaw and it runs great on your computer. But you can’t sit in front of your computer all day.

Telegram lets your AI follow you everywhere:

Scenario	What You Do
See a good article while commuting	Send the link to your Bot → automatically organized into your knowledge base
Need a quick translation	Send text to the Bot → instant translation reply
Need to look up info during a meeting	Secretly message the Bot → quietly receive the answer
Get an idea before bed	Voice message to the Bot → auto-transcribed and saved as a note

Why Telegram Instead of Other Messaging Apps?

Feature	Telegram	LINE
Bot API	Free, unlimited	500 free messages per month
Webhook	Native support	Requires extra setup
Message format	Markdown, HTML	More limited
Group features	Can be admin	No Bot admin
API documentation	Very comprehensive	Relatively basic
Developer friendliness	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐

---

Step 1: Create a Bot on Telegram

1.1 Find BotFather

Search for @BotFather in Telegram (look for the blue verification checkmark).

1.2 Create a New Bot

Chat with BotFather:

You: /newbot
BotFather: Alright, a new bot. How are we going to call it?
You: My OpenClaw AI (enter whatever name you want)
BotFather: Good. Now let's choose a username...
You: my_openclaw_bot (must end with _bot)
BotFather: Done! ... Use this token to access the HTTP API:
         7123456789:AAHxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

⚠️ That Token is extremely important! Don’t share it with anyone. It’s like a password.

1.3 Configure Bot Info (Optional)

/setdescription  → Set the Bot's description
/setabouttext    → Set the "About" text
/setuserpic      → Set the avatar
/setcommands     → Set the command list

Recommended command setup:

/setcommands
start - Get started
help - Usage instructions
ask - Ask a question
capture - Save an article
status - Check status

---

Step 2: Install the Telegram MCP Server

2.1 Installation

# Install via npm
npm install -g @openclaw/mcp-server-telegram

# Or use OpenClaw's built-in command
openclaw mcp install telegram

2.2 Set Environment Variables

Add to OpenClaw’s .env:

# Telegram Bot Token (obtained in Step 1)
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=7123456789:AAHxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

# Your Telegram User ID (restricts usage to you only)
TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS=123456789

How to find your User ID? Chat with @userinfobot and it will tell you.

2.3 Configure config.yaml

mcp_servers:
  telegram:
    command: mcp-server-telegram
    env:
      TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}
      TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS: ${TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS}
    
    # Choose connection mode
    mode: webhook  # or polling

    # Webhook settings (recommended)
    webhook:
      url: "https://your-domain.com/telegram/webhook"
      port: 8443
    
    # Polling settings (for development)
    # polling:
    #   interval: 2  # Check every 2 seconds

Webhook vs Polling

Method	Pros	Cons	Best For
Webhook	Real-time, resource-efficient	Requires public URL + HTTPS	Production
Polling	No public URL needed	Has latency, consumes resources	Local development

Use Polling during development, switch to Webhook for production.

---

Step 3: Set Up the AI Agent

Create a dedicated Agent for Telegram:

AGENTS.md

## Telegram Agent

You are a Telegram AI assistant that interacts with users through messages.

### Capabilities
- Use all installed Skills
- Access the knowledge base (MCP: Google Drive / Notion)
- Search the web (MCP: Web Search)

### Behavior Rules
- Keep replies concise (Telegram is best for short messages)
- Break long replies into sections, each no more than 200 words
- Use Markdown formatting (bold, lists, code)
- When receiving a link → automatically use the capture Skill to organize and save
- When receiving voice → automatically transcribe + reply with summary

### Security
- Only respond to messages from TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS
- Never execute high-risk operations like deletion or transfers

---

Step 4: Testing

4.1 Start Up

# Start OpenClaw (automatically connects all MCP Servers)
openclaw start

# Confirm Telegram is connected
openclaw mcp status
# ✅ telegram: Connected (Bot: @my_openclaw_bot)

4.2 Chat with the Bot

Open Telegram, find your Bot, and start a conversation:

You: /start
Bot: 👋 Hi there! I'm your OpenClaw AI assistant.
     You can ask me questions, send links for me to organize,
     or give me direct commands.
     Type /help to see all features.

You: Give me a summary of the latest AI Agent trends
Bot: 🔍 Searching...

     📊 AI Agent Trends in 2026:
     
     1. **Multi-Agent collaboration** is becoming mainstream
        - No longer a single Agent doing everything
        - Specialized division of labor + result aggregation
     
     2. **MCP protocol** is rapidly gaining adoption
        - Tool connection standardization
        - Ecosystem expanding quickly
     
     3. **Local deployment** demand is increasing
        - Growing privacy awareness
        - Corporate intranet requirements
     
     Want me to dive deeper into any topic?

4.3 Auto-Capture from Links

You: https://openai.com/blog/some-article
Bot: 📰 Article captured:
     
     **Title:** Some Important AI Article
     **Summary:** OpenAI released...
     **Tags:** #AI #OpenAI #LLM
     
     ✅ Saved to Notion knowledge base

---

Advanced Features

Group Usage

Add the Bot to a group and have it respond only when mentioned or replied to:

# config.yaml
mcp_servers:
  telegram:
    group_mode:
      trigger: mention  # Only respond when @mentioned
      # Other options: always, command (only accept /commands)

Multimedia Processing

You: [send an image] What does this image say?
Bot: 📷 Image recognition result:
     This is a product spec sheet containing the following information...

Supported: Images (OCR + understanding), Voice (transcription), Documents (PDF extraction)

Scheduled Pushes

Combined with the PKM system, have the Bot send scheduled updates:

# Push a news digest every day at 8 AM
name: telegram-daily-digest
trigger:
  - schedule: "0 8 * * *"
steps:
  - action: run_skill
    skill: daily-knowledge-feed
    output: digest
  - action: mcp_call
    server: telegram
    tool: send_message
    input:
      chat_id: "{{user_telegram_id}}"
      text: "{{digest}}"

Access Control

# Restrict to specific users
telegram:
  allowed_users:
    - 123456789  # yourself
    - 987654321  # your partner
  
  # Or restrict to specific groups
  allowed_groups:
    - -100123456789  # your work group
  
  # Per-user hourly limit
  rate_limit:
    messages_per_hour: 60

---

Troubleshooting

Bot is created but doesn’t respond

Checklist:

1. Is the Token correct?

   # Test the Token
   curl https://api.telegram.org/botYOUR_TOKEN/getMe
   # Should return Bot info

2. Is OpenClaw running?

   openclaw status

3. Is the Webhook configured correctly?

   curl https://api.telegram.org/botYOUR_TOKEN/getWebhookInfo

4. Is your User ID in the allowed list?

Webhook setup failed

Common causes:

• URL is not HTTPS → Must have an SSL certificate
• Wrong port → Telegram only supports 443, 80, 88, 8443
• Firewall blocking → Open the corresponding port

Just use Polling during development:

telegram:
  mode: polling

Response delay

• Polling mode: 1-3 seconds delay is normal
• Webhook mode: Should be within 1 second
• If over 5 seconds: Check model response speed, the AI inference might be taking longer

Use a faster model (like Gemini Flash) to reduce latency.

Bot blocked by Telegram

• Sending more than 30 messages per second will cause temporary restrictions
• No more than 20 messages per minute in groups
• Set up rate limits properly and you won’t have to worry

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Next Steps

With your Telegram Bot set up, you can:

• 📚 Build a PKM system — let the Bot auto-collect and organize for you
• 🧩 Write Skills to have the Bot execute automated tasks
• 🔗 Connect more tools via MCP
• ⚙️ Choose a fast and affordable model for your Bot
• 💬 Share your Bot setup in the homepage discussion