OpenClaw Telegram Integration: Setup, Automation & Complete Guide

Telegram is one of the most popular platforms for bot-driven automation, and the OpenClaw Telegram Integration skill takes full advantage of that. With over 145,000 installs on ClawHub, it is the second most popular skill in the entire ecosystem --- trailing only the web browsing skill. This guide covers everything from initial BotFather setup to advanced group automation workflows.

Whether you want your AI agent to respond to customer queries, broadcast updates, or manage community groups, this skill gives OpenClaw direct access to the Telegram Bot API with a clean, high-level interface.

What the Telegram Skill Does

The Telegram skill connects your OpenClaw agent to one or more Telegram bots, allowing it to:

• Receive messages --- Listen for incoming messages in DMs and groups
• Send messages --- Reply to users, send to specific chats, or broadcast to channels
• Handle commands --- Respond to slash commands like /help or /status
• Send media --- Share images, documents, and files
• Manage groups --- Pin messages, moderate content, manage members
• Inline queries --- Respond to inline bot mentions in any chat
• Webhooks --- Trigger agent workflows based on incoming Telegram events

The skill wraps the Telegram Bot API into MCP tools that your agent can call naturally during conversations, making it feel like your agent natively understands Telegram.

How to Install

Via ClawHub CLI

openclaw skill install telegram

Prerequisites

Before the skill can function, you need a Telegram bot token from BotFather. If you have never created a Telegram bot before, the next section walks through it step by step.

Setup and Configuration

Step 1: Create a Bot with BotFather

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
2. Send /newbot
3. Choose a display name for your bot (e.g., "My Company Assistant")
4. Choose a username ending in bot (e.g., mycompany_assist_bot)
5. BotFather will reply with your bot token --- a string like 7123456789:AAF...

Keep this token secure. Anyone with it can control your bot.

Step 2: Configure the Skill

Add your bot token to the skill configuration:

{
  "telegram": {
    "bot_token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE",
    "allowed_users": [],
    "allowed_groups": [],
    "polling_interval": 1000,
    "message_handling": {
      "respond_to_dms": true,
      "respond_to_groups": false,
      "respond_to_mentions": true,
      "command_prefix": "/"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Set Bot Permissions

For group functionality, you need to configure bot settings in BotFather:

• /setprivacy --- Set to Disabled if you want the bot to see all group messages (not just commands)
• /setjoingroups --- Set to Enabled if you want users to add the bot to groups
• /setcommands --- Define your bot's command menu

Security: Restricting Access

The allowed_users and allowed_groups arrays let you restrict who can interact with your bot. When empty, the bot responds to everyone. For production use, always populate these:

{
  "allowed_users": [123456789, 987654321],
  "allowed_groups": [-1001234567890]
}

User and group IDs are numeric. You can find them by sending a message to your bot and checking the incoming webhook data.

Key Features Walkthrough

1. Direct Message Handling

When respond_to_dms is enabled, your agent receives every message sent directly to the bot. The agent can process the message, run tools, and send a reply --- all within the same conversation turn.

A typical flow looks like this: a user sends "What is the status of order #4521?" to the bot. The agent receives the message, queries your order database (using another skill like the SQL toolkit), and sends back a formatted response.

2. Group vs DM Behavior

This is where configuration matters. In groups, you usually do not want the bot responding to every single message. The skill offers three group modes:

• Mentions only --- Bot responds only when @mentioned
• Commands only --- Bot responds only to slash commands
• All messages --- Bot processes every message (use carefully in active groups)

For most deployments, "mentions only" strikes the right balance between usefulness and noise.

3. Command Routing

Define custom commands that trigger specific agent behaviors:

{
  "commands": {
    "/status": "Check the current system status and report back",
    "/help": "List available commands and their descriptions",
    "/report": "Generate and send the daily summary report"
  }
}

Each command maps to a prompt that guides the agent's response. This gives users a predictable interface while still leveraging the agent's reasoning capabilities.

4. Media and File Handling

The skill can send images, documents, and other media types:

• Send generated charts or reports as images
• Share CSV exports as document attachments
• Forward files between Telegram and other systems

5. Automation Workflows

The real power emerges when you combine the Telegram skill with other tools. For example:

• A user sends a message to the bot requesting a report
• The agent queries a database using the SQL toolkit skill
• The agent formats the results and sends them back via Telegram
• The agent also sends a summary email via Inbounter to the user's registered email

This kind of cross-channel workflow is where OpenClaw's skill ecosystem shines.

Real-World Use Cases

Customer Support Bot

A small SaaS company deploys a Telegram bot as their primary support channel. The agent answers common questions using a knowledge base, escalates complex issues to human agents, and logs all interactions. When a ticket is created, the agent uses Inbounter to send a confirmation email to the customer.

Team Notifications

A DevOps team uses the bot to receive deployment notifications, respond to incident alerts, and run quick status checks. Team members can type /deploy staging to trigger a deployment pipeline, and the bot reports back with results.

Community Management

A crypto project uses the bot to moderate their Telegram group --- answering FAQs, removing spam, welcoming new members, and summarizing daily discussions.

Personal Assistant

An individual user sets up a private bot as a personal AI assistant accessible from their phone. They send voice notes (transcribed by Telegram), ask questions, and receive research summaries throughout the day.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Massive install base --- 145K+ installs means well-tested, reliable, and actively maintained
• Full Bot API coverage --- DMs, groups, channels, inline queries, commands
• Flexible access control --- Restrict by user ID or group ID
• Cross-platform --- Telegram works on mobile, desktop, and web
• Rich media support --- Send and receive images, documents, and files
• Low latency --- Polling-based with sub-second response times

Cons

• Telegram dependency --- Your bot is subject to Telegram's terms of service and API limits
• No end-to-end encryption --- Telegram bots cannot participate in secret chats
• Rate limits --- Telegram limits bots to ~30 messages per second to individual chats
• Group privacy --- Accessing all group messages requires disabling privacy mode, which some users find concerning
• Token security --- Bot tokens must be stored securely; compromise gives full bot control

Verdict and Rating

Rating: 4.5 / 5

The OpenClaw Telegram Integration is a polished, feature-complete skill that makes Telegram one of the best channels for interacting with your AI agent. The setup process through BotFather is simple, the configuration options cover virtually every use case, and the skill's maturity (145K+ installs) means you are unlikely to hit uncharted bugs.

The main consideration is whether Telegram is the right channel for your audience. For developer communities, crypto projects, and tech-savvy users, Telegram is often the preferred platform. For business communications, you might want to combine this with the Slack integration or use Inbounter for email-based workflows.

Alternatives

• Inbounter Email & SMS API --- For professional outreach where email or SMS is more appropriate than chat
• OpenClaw WhatsApp Integration (Wacli) --- For audiences that prefer WhatsApp over Telegram
• OpenClaw Slack Integration --- Better for internal team communications
• OpenClaw Discord Bot --- Better for gaming and community-focused use cases

FAQ

Q: Can I run multiple Telegram bots with one OpenClaw instance? A: Yes. You can configure multiple bot tokens in the skill configuration, each with its own settings and access controls. The agent will handle messages from all configured bots.

Q: Does the skill support Telegram's inline keyboard buttons? A: Yes. The skill supports inline keyboards, reply keyboards, and callback queries. Your agent can create interactive message flows with buttons that trigger different actions.

Q: How do I handle high message volumes in popular groups? A: Use the "mentions only" or "commands only" mode for groups to avoid processing every message. You can also set rate limits in the skill configuration to throttle responses during traffic spikes.

Q: Can the bot send scheduled messages? A: The skill itself does not have built-in scheduling, but you can combine it with OpenClaw's task scheduling features to send messages at specific times. For scheduled email and SMS delivery, Inbounter offers native scheduling support.

Q: Is it possible to forward Telegram messages to email? A: Yes. A common pattern is using this skill to receive Telegram messages and then forwarding them via Inbounter's email API --- useful for logging conversations or escalating support requests to email-based ticketing systems.

Explore more OpenClaw integrations: WhatsApp Integration, Discord Bot, and Web Browsing Skill.