Telegram setup

Create the bot token in BotFather

Both flows end with a token you paste into OpenClaw — pick one:

• Chat flow: open Telegram and chat with @BotFather. Confirm the handle is exactly @BotFather. Run /newbot, follow the prompts, and save the token.
• Web flow: open BotFather's web app. It runs in every Telegram client, including web.telegram.org. Create the bot in the UI, then copy its token.

Configure token and DM policy

The fastest option is the CLI. It writes the token into your config for you:

openclaw channels add --channel telegram --token <bot-token>

To edit config by hand instead, put this in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{channels: {telegram: {  enabled: true,  botToken: "123:abc",  dmPolicy: "pairing",  groups: { "*": { requireMention: true } },},},}

Env fallback: TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN (default account only). Named accounts must use botToken or tokenFile. Telegram does not use openclaw channels login telegram. Set the token in config or env, then start the gateway.

Restart the gateway

A new channel is only picked up after the Gateway loads the new config:

openclaw gateway restart

Use openclaw gateway instead when no Gateway service is installed. That command runs the Gateway in the foreground of this terminal.

Approve your first DM

Open Telegram and send any message to your bot. That message creates the pairing request the next command lists:

openclaw pairing list telegramopenclaw pairing approve telegram <CODE>

Pairing codes expire after 1 hour.

Add the bot to a group

Add the bot to your group, then get the two IDs group access needs:

• your Telegram user ID, for allowFrom / groupAllowFrom
• the Telegram group chat ID, as the key under channels.telegram.groups

Get the group chat ID from openclaw logs --follow, a forwarded-ID bot, or Bot API getUpdates. After the group is allowed, /whoami@<bot_username> confirms the user and group IDs.

Negative supergroup IDs starting with -100 are group chat IDs. They go under channels.telegram.groups, not groupAllowFrom.