Telegram
Team & CommunityPutting your agent on Telegram is like giving it its own contact in the app — people search for it, start a chat, and your agent answers every message automatically. This page walks you through creating the bot on Telegram and connecting it to your Nirvai agent.
Image: Telegram channel export showing a connected bot
Before you start
- A saved agent in the Agent Control Panel (at least the Profile step completed).
- A Telegram account on your phone or computer.
- A bot token — a secure access pass that lets Nirvai control your bot. You'll get this from Telegram in the next step.
Step-by-step
1. Create the bot on Telegram
Telegram has a built-in helper called BotFather that creates bots for you.
- Open Telegram and search for @BotFather.
- Start a chat with BotFather and send the command
/newbot. - Follow BotFather's prompts:
- Pick a display name for your bot (for example, "My Support Agent").
- Pick a username ending in
bot(for example,my_support_agent_bot).
- BotFather replies with your bot token — a long secure access pass. Copy it.
Image: Creating a Telegram bot with BotFather
Keep your bot token private. Anyone who has it can control your bot — treat it like a password.
2. Connect the bot to Nirvai
- Open your agent in the Agent Control Panel.
- Click the Channels node.
- Select Telegram from the Team & Community section.
- Paste your bot token into the field.
- Click Connect.
Your Telegram bot is now powered by your Nirvai agent. Anyone can find it by searching for the bot's username in Telegram and start chatting right away.
Image: Entering the Telegram bot token in Nirvai
3. Test it
Open Telegram, search for your bot's username, send a quick "hi", and watch your agent reply.
What happens after you connect
- Every message sent to your bot arrives in your agent and gets an automatic reply.
- The agent handles one message per chat at a time — if someone sends a burst of messages while it's still thinking, they line up and get processed in order.
- If a user sends a photo, document, or voice note, the agent just answers — there's no separate "uploaded" confirmation message.
What your agent can do on Telegram
| Capability | Supported |
|---|---|
| Reply to messages | ✓ |
| Send text messages | ✓ |
| Send images | ✓ |
| Send files and documents | ✓ |
| Send audio | ✓ |
| Send tappable buttons | ✓ |
Managing your connection
- Remove disconnects the Telegram bot from your agent. The bot still exists on Telegram but stops replying until you reconnect it.
- To rotate the bot token, generate a new one in BotFather, then paste the new one into Nirvai — the old one stops working as soon as you regenerate it.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| The bot doesn't reply | Check that the bot token is correct and hasn't been regenerated in BotFather. A new token replaces the old one — paste the latest one into Nirvai. |
| "Bot token already in use" | Each bot token can power only one agent. Disconnect it from the other agent first, or create a new bot in BotFather. |
| People can't find the bot | Have them search for the exact username, including the bot ending, in Telegram. |
| The bot replies but skips messages | A long reply may still be in progress — the next message will be picked up as soon as the agent finishes. |
What's next
- See every place your agent can show up in the Channels overview.
- Set up a teammate-style assistant in Slack or a community bot in Discord.