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Telegram Bot Setup

Step-by-step guide to connect your Claw Buff agent to Telegram

Connect your Claw Buff AI agent to Telegram so users can chat with it via DM or in group chats. Setup takes about 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

A Telegram account
A deployed Claw Buff agent (Getting Started)

Step 1: Create a Bot with BotFather

Open BotFather

Open Telegram and search for @BotFather (look for the verified blue checkmark). This is Telegram's official bot for creating and managing bots.

Create your bot

Send /newbot to BotFather and follow the prompts:

Bot name — A display name for your bot (e.g., "My AI Assistant")
Bot username — Must end in bot (e.g., my_claw_bot)

Save your Bot Token

BotFather will reply with a Bot Token that looks like:

123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11

Copy this token — you'll need it in the next step.

Keep your Bot Token secret. Anyone with the token can control your bot. Never share it in public chats or commit it to Git.

Step 2: Connect to Claw Buff

Open the Claw Buff Console → Channels page
Find the Telegram card and click Connect
Paste your Bot Token from Step 1
Click Save & Activate

Your agent will connect to Telegram within seconds. You'll see the status change to Connected.

Step 3: Authorize Access

By default, your bot uses pairing mode — new users must be approved before they can chat. When someone messages your bot for the first time, they'll see:

OpenClaw: access not configured.
Your Telegram user id: 1234567890
Pairing code: ABCD1234
Ask the bot owner to approve with:
openclaw pairing approve telegram ABCD1234

Approve via Pending Requests

Go to your Claw Buff Console → Channels page. When someone requests access, a Pending Pairing Requests section appears automatically with the pending code. Click Approve next to the request.

Pairing codes expire after 1 hour. If expired, the user just needs to message the bot again to get a new code.

Manage Authorized Users

You can also manage access directly. Click Manage on the Telegram channel card to:

View all currently authorized users
Add a user by entering their Telegram user ID (proactive authorization)
Remove a user to revoke their access

Step 4: Start Chatting

Open Telegram, find your bot by its username, and send a message. Your AI agent will respond!

Group Chat Setup

To use your bot in Telegram groups:

Add your bot to the group
The bot will respond when @mentioned by default

In groups, the bot only responds when mentioned (e.g., @my_claw_bot what's the weather?). This prevents the bot from responding to every message in busy groups.

Features

Feature	Supported
Direct Messages	Yes
Group Chats	Yes (mention required)
Streaming Responses	Yes (real-time typing)
Rich Formatting	Yes (HTML/Markdown)
Forum Topics	Yes
File Attachments	Yes

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Bot not responding?

Check the token — Make sure you pasted the complete token with no extra spaces
Check the Console — The Channels page shows connection status and error logs
Network issues — Your agent needs outbound access to api.telegram.org on port 443

2. Bot responds slowly?

Streaming is enabled by default. The bot edits its message in real-time as the AI generates a response. If you see delays, check your model configuration in Console → Agent → Model.

3. "Forbidden: bot was blocked by the user"?

The user has blocked your bot on Telegram. They need to unblock it and send /start again.