How fast is the Telegram bot?

Very fast. Telegram API delivers messages in under 500 ms. With gpt-4o-mini routing for triage you get answers in 1–2 s.

Can I run multiple Telegram bots in parallel?

Yes. One token per bot, OpenClaw can drive several channels — e.g. one for sales, one for support.

Telegram delivers voice messages as ogg/opus. With voice skill active OpenClaw transcribes automatically.

Guide

Set up OpenClaw with Telegram

Telegram is the most robust channel for OpenClaw — Bot-API native, fast, slash commands built in. Here's the full setup path.

Manuel Streit

/ May 11, 2026 / 3 min read

About this guide

Set up OpenClaw with Telegram: BotFather setup, privacy mode, allowlist, slash commands and group behaviour.

Register the bot with BotFather

In Telegram, talk to @BotFather, send /newbot. Enter bot name and username (must end in bot), get a token back. Keep the token safe.

openclaw channel add telegram --token YOUR_BOT_TOKEN

Decide on privacy mode

Telegram bots have a privacy mode (default: on). Privacy mode on means the bot only sees mentions and slash commands. Privacy mode off lets the bot see all group messages — useful for summariser skills, but more privacy-sensitive.

Recommendation: privacy mode on, the bot only reacts to /triage, /report, /memo or mentions.

Define slash commands

In BotFather send /setcommands and enter:

triage - start inbox triage
report - generate weekly report
memo - voice memo to task
search - run research
status - check bot status

Telegram shows these in autocomplete.

Configure group behaviour

Per group different skills can be active. Example: in #internal all commands are allowed, in #public-support only /search and /status.

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "groups": {
        "-100123456789": { "skills": "*" },
        "-100987654321": { "skills": ["search", "status"] }
      }
    }
  }
}