Connect a Telegram bot

Create a bot with @BotFather, paste its token into the console, then check the webhook the server registers on your behalf for the new Telegram channel.

Telegram is the third-party channel with the fewest moving parts: one token from @BotFather is the whole declaration, and the server handles the webhook.

Goal

A Telegram channel that receives what customers send the bot, plus a link you can hand out so they can open a chat with it.

Before you begin

Permission to write channels, spelled out in Roles and per-feature permissions.
A Telegram account to talk to @BotFather, which is a third-party service.
A public server address Telegram can actually reach. That belongs to whoever deploys the system — see the callout below.

Telegram accepts HTTPS on ports 443, 80, 88 or 8443 only, and will not register a localhost address. That address lives in the API_PUBLIC_URL environment variable, an operations concern described in the installation's README.md. On a development machine, put a public tunnel in front of it.

Steps

Open the Telegram app, message @BotFather and send the /newbot command.

Give the bot a display name and a username. BotFather answers with a token shaped like 123456789:AAE...; treat it as a password.

Back in the console, press Channels in the left column, press Add Channel, then pick the Telegram tile.

Fill in Channel Name and paste the token into Bot token.

Step two for Telegram asks for a channel name and a bot token, nothing else.

Turn on Enable Channel Greeting if the bot should greet customers, then press Create Widget.

The Success! screen carries a Share with customers block with a t.me link and a QR code. Keep the link: Telegram has no embed snippet.

Press Go to Channels, open the new channel and select the Telegram Configuration tab.

Read the badge under Webhook. Registered means Telegram has accepted the server's address.

Whenever the server's public address changes, come back here and press Register webhook again.

Verify

The Telegram Configuration tab shows the Bot username and Bot ID BotFather issued, and the webhook badge reads Registered with the time it was registered.

Open the bot's t.me link on another device, start the chat and send a line. It has to reach the Conversations queue within a few seconds, and a reply written in the console has to arrive back in Telegram.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	What to do
Creating the channel fails immediately	The token is wrong, carries stray spaces, or was revoked	Ask @BotFather for a new token and paste it again
The webhook badge reads Failed with a sentence from Telegram	The public address is not HTTPS on a port Telegram accepts	Ask the deployer to fix `API_PUBLIC_URL`, then press Register webhook again
The badge reads Not registered yet	The channel exists but the first registration never completed	Press Register webhook again
Customers write and nothing arrives	The webhook still points at the previous server address	Press Register webhook again and retry
A send fails: the customer blocked the bot	They blocked it on Telegram's side	Nothing in the console fixes it; reach them another way
A send fails: the bot cannot write first	Telegram forbids a bot from opening a chat	Send the `t.me` link so the customer writes first
No field to replace the token	The token is encrypted server-side and never reaches the browser	Connect the bot again as a new channel