Telegram Channel

Connect a Telegram bot to your agent — setup guide, group chats, bot commands, and tips.

Tip: Your agent handles Telegram messages exactly like dashboard chat — same tools, same skills, same context.

Connecting Telegram

Step 1: Create a Bot via BotFather

  1. Open @BotFather on Telegram
  2. Send /newbot
  3. Follow the prompts — choose a name and username for your bot
  4. BotFather gives you a bot token (looks like 123456789:ABCdefGHI...)

Step 2: Connect in Communa

  1. Go to your agent → Channels tab
  2. Click Connect Channel
  3. Paste your bot token in the setup drawer
  4. Click Connect Bot

The system validates the token and shows the connection as Active. That's it — your bot is live.

Step 3: Enable Group Chat Access (Optional)

If you want your bot to work in group chats (not just private 1:1 conversations):

  1. Open @BotFather on Telegram
  2. Send /mybots → select your bot
  3. Go to Bot Settings → Group Privacy
  4. Click Turn off

Why? By default, Telegram bots run in Privacy Mode — they can only see /commands in groups, not regular messages. Disabling group privacy allows the bot to receive all group messages, including @mentions. Without this, your bot literally never sees group messages and won't respond.

Telegram Features

Group Chats

Your agent works in Telegram group chats, not just private conversations. Add the bot to any group and interact with it naturally.

How the bot responds in groups — The bot doesn't respond to every group message, only when directly addressed:

TriggerExample
@mention@YourBot summarize today's updates
Reply to botReply to any message the bot sent

When you @mention the bot, the @YourBot tag is automatically stripped from the message before the agent processes it — so the agent sees clean text.

Group context — When responding in a group, your agent knows it's in a group chat, sees the group name and sender's name, and tailors its responses accordingly.

Commands in groups — Telegram appends the bot username to disambiguate when multiple bots are present:

CommandWhat It Does
/start@YourBotWelcome message
/stop@YourBotCancel the active task
/help@YourBotShow help

Important: Make sure you've disabled Group Privacy in BotFather (Step 3 in setup). Without this, Telegram blocks all non-command messages in groups.

Bot Commands

Your Telegram bot automatically registers these commands (visible when typing / in the chat):

CommandWhat It Does
/startSends a welcome message introducing the bot
/stopCancels the currently active task
/helpShows a brief help message

Voice Messages

Send a voice message to your bot and it's automatically transcribed — the agent reads it as regular text and responds naturally.

  • Works in both private chats and group chats
  • Language is auto-detected (Hebrew, English, Arabic, and 50+ more)
  • Audio files sent as documents (.mp3, .m4a, .wav, etc.) are also transcribed
  • Cost: ~$0.003 per minute of audio, billed from your credits

Info: If transcription fails for any reason, the audio file is still delivered as an attachment.

Stopping from Telegram

  • /stop command — Type /stop to cancel the active task. You'll see "⏹ Task stopped."
  • Inline Stop button — The first message of each agent response includes a ⏹ Stop button. Tap it to cancel. The button is removed when the task completes.

Tips & Best Practices

  • Test with /start first — After connecting, send /start to your bot to verify everything is working
  • Bot not responding in groups? — Make sure Group Privacy is disabled in BotFather (/mybots → Bot Settings → Group Privacy → Turn off)
  • Keep messages concise — Add to your agent's custom instructions: "When responding via Telegram, keep messages concise and well-formatted for mobile reading"
  • Use the dashboard for complex tasks — Telegram is great for quick interactions; for tasks that require watching the desktop preview, use the dashboard

What's Next?

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