Channel Capabilities

Feature Supported Notes
Direct Messages ✓ Full support for 1:1 conversations
Group Chats ✓ Participate in group conversations
Media Messages ✓ Send and receive images, files
Voice Messages ✓ Audio message support
Reactions ✓ React to messages with emoji
Threads — Not available
Native Commands ✓ Platform-specific slash commands

Access Control Policies

DM Policies

Control who can send direct messages to your bot:

allowlist

Only senders in the allowFrom list can interact with the bot.

pairing

Unknown senders receive a pairing code that admin must approve before access is granted.

open

All direct messages are processed (requires allowFrom: ["*"]).

Group Policies

Control which groups your bot participates in:

allowlist

Only groups in groupAllowFrom are processed.

open

Bot responds in all groups it is added to.

Setup Guide

  1. Create a bot with @BotFather on Telegram
  2. Copy the bot token provided
  3. Set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN environment variable
  4. Add telegram configuration to openclaw.json
  5. Start the gateway and message your bot

Configuration Example

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "botToken": "${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}",
      "dmPolicy": "pairing",
      "allowFrom": ["alice", "bob"],
      "historyLimit": 20,
      "reactionNotifications": "own"
    }
  }
}

Use Telegram with AI Providers

Connect Telegram to your preferred AI model provider:

Anthropic

Creator of Claude AI models with advanced reasoning capabilities

View Guide →

OpenAI Codex

GPT models with broad capabilities and wide ecosystem support

View Guide →

Google Gemini

Multimodal AI with competitive pricing and speed

View Guide →

OpenRouter

Unified API gateway to multiple AI providers

View Guide →

Ollama

Run open-source LLMs locally with no API costs

View Guide →

AWS Bedrock

Enterprise AI through AWS with compliance and security

View Guide →

OpenAI (Standard)

Standard OpenAI API for GPT models

View Guide →

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I set up Telegram with OpenClaw?
To set up Telegram: Create a bot with @BotFather on Telegram. Copy the bot token provided. Set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN environment variable. Full configuration options are available in the openclaw.json file.
How do I control who can message my Telegram bot?
Telegram supports allowlist, pairing, open for DM access control and allowlist, open for groups. Use allowlists for maximum security or pairing mode for easy onboarding.
Does Telegram support media messages?
Telegram supports media including images, audio, video, documents. Maximum media size is configurable via mediaMaxMb setting (default: 4.096MB).
Can I use OpenClaw in Telegram groups?
Telegram supports group chats with configurable access policies. Groups and DMs are supported.