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Create the bot in BotFather, give OpenClaw its token, approve the first DM, and add the bot to a group.

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Quick setup

1

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.
2

Configure token and DM policy

The fastest option is the CLI. It writes the token into your config for you:
To edit config by hand instead, put this in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:
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.
3

Restart the gateway

A new channel is only picked up after the Gateway loads the new config:
Use openclaw gateway instead when no Gateway service is installed. That command runs the Gateway in the foreground of this terminal.
4

Approve your first DM

Open Telegram and send any message to your bot. That message creates the pairing request the next command lists:
Pairing codes expire after 1 hour.
5

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.
Token resolution is account-aware. tokenFile beats botToken, and botToken beats env. Config always wins over TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, which only resolves for the default account. After a successful startup, OpenClaw caches the bot identity for up to 24 hours, so restarts skip an extra getMe call. Changing or removing the token clears that cache.

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Telegram side settings

Telegram bots default to Privacy Mode, which limits which group messages they receive.To see all group messages, either:
  • disable privacy mode via /setprivacy, or
  • make the bot a group admin.
After toggling privacy mode, remove and re-add the bot in each group so Telegram applies the change.
Admin status is controlled in Telegram group settings. Admin bots receive all group messages, useful for always-on group behavior.
  • /setjoingroups — allow/deny group adds
  • /setprivacy — group visibility behavior
The same settings are available in BotFather’s web app if you prefer a UI over chat commands.