OpenClaw on Telegram

Telegram is the channel the OpenClaw docs call the fastest to set up: a bot token from BotFather and nothing else. It is also the channel with the most silent-group threads, because Telegram’s own privacy mode and OpenClaw’s mention gating both decide what the bot sees. Here is the setup, the access model, and the four reasons a Telegram bot stops answering.

Setup in four steps

• Create the bot in BotFather, in chat or in its web app, and save the token.
• Give OpenClaw the token with one channels add command, or write it into the config by hand. There is no login step for Telegram.
• Probe the channel status. A running Gateway applies the new channel through hot reload; an offline one needs starting.
• Send the bot any message, then approve the pairing request that message created. Codes expire after an hour.

Groups add two identifiers: your numeric user ID for the allowlists, and the group chat ID as the key under the groups section, where supergroup IDs start with minus one hundred. By default a group requires a mention, and Telegram’s privacy mode limits what the bot receives until you disable it in BotFather or make the bot an admin, then remove and re-add it so Telegram applies the change.

Who may talk to it

Direct messages follow a policy: pairing by default, an allowlist of numeric user IDs, open with an explicit wildcard for deliberately public bots, or disabled. Pairing approval grants DM access only; it does not authorise a sender everywhere, and command authorisation still applies even in an open group. For a one-owner bot the docs recommend the allowlist with your own numeric ID over old pairing approvals, and a per-chat tool policy can deny the write and edit tools in every DM except yours.

DM pairing approval does not mean “this sender is authorized everywhere.” Pairing grants DM access only.

Four reasons it goes quiet

• Privacy mode: with mention gating off, the bot still sees nothing until privacy mode is disabled in BotFather and the bot is removed and re-added.
• The group is not listed: once a groups section exists, an unlisted group is dropped before routing, and the logs show the skip reason.
• The token is rejected at startup: a 401 on the identity call means the token is wrong. Re-copy or regenerate it.
• Polling stalls: IPv6-first hosts with broken egress, proxies and Node’s address selection produce intermittent failures. The docs give a proxy setting and an IPv4-only switch, and the Gateway restarts polling after two minutes without a completed poll.

The general ladder for a silent agent, across every channel, is in OpenClaw not responding.

On Diali

The Diali dashboard walks through the BotFather step with screenshots, keeps the token in the vault, and the Gateway, its hot reload and its polling are looked after. Pairing, allowlists and mention gating remain yours, because they decide who can command your assistant. Telegram on Diali is the channel page, and Hosted OpenClaw on Diali is the assistant it connects to.

• Token, config, probe, approve.
• Pairing is DM access only; groups need IDs and, usually, a mention.
• Privacy mode and polling explain most silences.