Telegram

GolemBot connects to Telegram via Long-Polling — no public URL required. The bot responds to private messages and group @mentions.

Prerequisites

• A Telegram account
• Node.js ≥ 18

Install the SDK

npm install grammy

Create a Bot

1. Open Telegram and message @BotFather.
2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts. You'll receive a Bot Token in the format 123456:ABCdef....
3. Required for group @mention support: send /setprivacy to @BotFather → select your bot → Disable. This allows the bot to receive group messages.

Privacy mode affects existing groups

After disabling privacy mode, the change only applies to groups the bot joins after the change. For groups the bot is already in, you must remove the bot and re-invite it for the new setting to take effect.

Configure golem.yaml

name: my-assistant
engine: claude-code

channels:
  telegram:
    botToken: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}   # 123456:ABCdef...

Set environment variables before running:

export TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456:ABCdef...
golem gateway

How It Works

Chat type	Behavior
Private chat	Always responds
Group @mention (@YourBot message)	Strips @botname, then responds
Group message without @mention	Ignored

Each conversation (private chat or group) maintains its own session context.

Message Format

The adapter automatically converts standard Markdown to Telegram HTML format:

Markdown	Telegram HTML
**bold**	<b>bold</b>
*italic*	<i>italic</i>
~~strike~~	<s>strike</s>
`code`	<code>code</code>
```lang	<pre><code class="language-lang">
[text](url)	<a href="url">text</a>
# Heading	<b>Heading</b>
> quote	<blockquote>quote</blockquote>
- item	• item

Messages are sent with parse_mode: 'HTML'. Special characters are automatically escaped inside and outside code blocks.

Message Limits

Telegram messages are split at 4,096 characters per chunk if the response is longer.