Telegram

Connect OpenCrabs to Telegram for DMs and group chats.

Setup

Step 1: Create a Bot with BotFather

1. Message @BotFather on Telegram
2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts
3. Copy the bot token (format: 123456:ABC-DEF...)

Step 2: Configure via the Onboarding Wizard

Run /onboard:channels (or /onboard and navigate to the Channels step):

1. Use ↑/↓ to focus Telegram
2. Press Space to toggle it on
3. Press Enter to open the Telegram setup screen
4. Fill in the fields:
   • Bot Token — paste the token from BotFather
   • Owner User ID — your numeric Telegram chat ID
   • Respond To — all, dm_only, or mention (when to respond in groups)
5. Press Enter on Test Connection to verify the bot works
6. Press Enter to save and return to the channel list

Get your chat ID by messaging @userinfobot on Telegram.

Manual Configuration (advanced)

If you prefer editing files directly, the wizard writes to ~/.opencrabs/keys.toml and ~/.opencrabs/config.toml:

# keys.toml
[channels.telegram]
bot_token = "123456:ABC..."

# config.toml
[channels.telegram]
enabled = true
allowed_users = ["123456789"]
respond_to = "all"

Features

• DMs and groups — Works in private chats and group conversations
• Forum topic routing (v0.3.31) — In supergroups with topics enabled, the bot tracks thread_id through the full pipeline. Use list_topics action to map topic names (e.g. #announcements) to numeric IDs, then pass thread_id to send / reply / send_photo to route into a specific topic
• Context-aware pre-tool status (v0.3.31) — While a tool runs, the bot shows a live status message naming the tool, elapsed time, and either a reasoning excerpt or an anchored phrase from the user’s request
• follow_up_question polish (v0.3.34) — Telegram keyboard is now single-column with a 40-character label cap (longer options rejected with a clear error). The rolling “Running follow_up_question (16s)” status is suppressed while the keyboard is pending so buttons don’t get visually buried. The LLM is instructed to call the tool silently without echoing the question text in surrounding prose
• Inline buttons — Provider picker, model picker, session switcher use Telegram inline keyboards
• Image support — Send images to the bot, receive generated images
• Voice messages — STT transcription + TTS response
• All slash commands — /help, /models, /new, /sessions, custom commands
• Owner vs non-owner — Owner uses the shared TUI session, non-owners get per-user sessions
• Onboarding overhaul (v0.3.30) — Auto-detects owner user ID from getUpdates, persists partial config on cancel, only Enter on the last step commits (Tab no longer silently rewrites ~30 config keys)

Agent Tools

The agent can use telegram_send with 20+ actions. The thread_id field on send / reply / send_photo targets a specific forum topic in supergroups with topics enabled.

Group Chat Behavior

In groups, the agent:

• Responds when mentioned by name or replied to
• Stays quiet when the conversation doesn’t involve it
• Tracks context from group messages passively