Telegram (Bot API)

Updated: 2025-12-07

Status: ready for bot-mode use with grammY (long-polling by default; webhook supported when configured). Text + media send, mention-gated group replies with per-group overrides, and optional proxy support are implemented.

Goals

Let you talk to Clawdis via a Telegram bot in DMs and groups.
Share the same main session used by WhatsApp/WebChat; groups stay isolated as telegram:group:<chatId>.
Keep transport routing deterministic: replies always go back to the surface they arrived on.

How it will work (Bot API)

Create a bot with @BotFather and grab the token.
Configure Clawdis with TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN (or telegram.botToken in ~/.clawdis/clawdis.json).
Run the gateway; it auto-starts Telegram only when a telegram config section exists and a bot token is set (unless telegram.enabled = false).
- If you prefer env vars, still add telegram: { enabled: true } to ~/.clawdis/clawdis.json and set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN.
- Long-polling is the default.
- Webhook mode is enabled by setting telegram.webhookUrl (optionally telegram.webhookSecret / telegram.webhookPath).
  - The webhook listener currently binds to 0.0.0.0:8787 and serves POST /telegram-webhook by default.
  - If you need a different public port/host, set telegram.webhookUrl to the externally reachable URL and use a reverse proxy to forward to :8787.
Direct chats: user sends the first message; all subsequent turns land in the shared main session (default, no extra config).
Groups: add the bot, disable privacy mode (or make it admin) so it can read messages; group threads stay on telegram:group:<chatId> and require mention/command by default (override via telegram.groups).
Optional allowlist: use telegram.allowFrom for direct chats by chat id (123456789 or telegram:123456789).

Capabilities & limits (Bot API)

Sees only messages sent after it’s added to a chat; no pre-history access.
Cannot DM users first; they must initiate. Channels are receive-only unless the bot is an admin poster.
File size caps follow Telegram Bot API (up to 2 GB for documents; smaller for some media types).
Typing indicators (sendChatAction) supported; native replies are off by default and enabled via telegram.replyToMode + reply tags.

Planned implementation details

Library: grammY is the only client for send + gateway (fetch fallback removed); grammY throttler is enabled by default to stay under Bot API limits.
Inbound normalization: maps Bot API updates to MsgContext with Surface: "telegram", ChatType: direct|group, SenderName, MediaPath/MediaType when attachments arrive, Timestamp, and reply-to metadata (ReplyToId, ReplyToBody, ReplyToSender) when the user replies; reply context is appended to Body as a [Replying to ...] block (includes id: when available); groups require @bot mention by default (override per chat in config).
Outbound: text and media (photo/video/audio/document) with optional caption; chunked to limits. Typing cue sent best-effort.
Config: TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN env or telegram.botToken required; telegram.groups, telegram.allowFrom, telegram.mediaMaxMb, telegram.replyToMode, telegram.proxy, telegram.webhookSecret, telegram.webhookUrl, telegram.webhookPath supported.
- Mention gating precedence (most specific wins): telegram.groups.<chatId>.requireMention → telegram.groups."*".requireMention → default true.

Example config:

{
  telegram: {
    enabled: true,
    botToken: "123:abc",
    replyToMode: "off",
    groups: {
      "*": { requireMention: true },
      "123456789": { requireMention: false } // group chat id
    },
    allowFrom: ["123456789"], // direct chat ids allowed (or "*")
    mediaMaxMb: 5,
    proxy: "socks5://localhost:9050",
    webhookSecret: "mysecret",
    webhookPath: "/telegram-webhook",
    webhookUrl: "https://yourdomain.com/telegram-webhook"
  }
}

Tests: grammY-based paths in src/telegram/*.test.ts cover DM + group gating; add more media and webhook cases as needed.

Group etiquette

Keep privacy mode off if you expect the bot to read all messages; with privacy on, it only sees commands/mentions.
Make the bot an admin if you need it to send in restricted groups or channels.
Mention the bot (@yourbot) or use commands to trigger; per-group overrides live in telegram.groups if you want always-on behavior.

Reply tags

To request a threaded reply, the model can include one tag in its output:

[[reply_to_current]] — reply to the triggering Telegram message.
[[reply_to:<id>]] — reply to a specific message id from context. Current message ids are appended to prompts as [message_id: …]; reply context includes id: when available.

Behavior is controlled by telegram.replyToMode:

off: ignore tags.
first: only the first outbound chunk/attachment is a reply.
all: every outbound chunk/attachment is a reply.

Roadmap

✅ Design and defaults (this doc)
✅ grammY long-poll gateway + text/media send
✅ Proxy + webhook helpers (setWebhook/deleteWebhook, health endpoint, optional public URL)
⏳ Add more grammY coverage (webhook payloads, media edge cases)

Safety & ops

Treat the bot token as a secret (equivalent to account control); prefer TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN or a locked-down config file (chmod 600 ~/.clawdis/clawdis.json).
Respect Telegram rate limits (429s); grammY throttling is enabled by default.
Use a test bot for development to avoid hitting production chats.

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