Connecting to Telegram

Supported Message Types

Version v4.15.0.

Message Type	Receive Support	Send Support	Notes
Text	Yes	Yes
Image	Yes	Yes
Voice	Yes	Yes
Video	Yes	Yes
File	Yes	Yes

Proactive message push: Supported.

1. Create a Telegram Bot

First, open Telegram and search for BotFather. Click Start, then send /newbot and follow the prompts to enter your bot's name and username.

After successful creation, BotFather will provide you with a token. Please keep it secure.

If you need to use the bot in group chats, you must disable the bot's Privacy mode. Send the /setprivacy command to BotFather, select your bot, and then choose Disable.

2. Configure AstrBot

1. Enter the AstrBot admin panel
2. Click Bots in the left sidebar
3. In the interface on the right, click + Create Bot
4. Select telegram

Fill in the configuration fields that appear:

• ID: Enter any value to distinguish between different messaging platform instances.
• Enable: Check this option.
• Bot Token: Your Telegram bot's token.

Please ensure your network environment can access Telegram. You may need to configure a proxy using Configuration -> Other Settings -> HTTP Proxy.

Streaming Output

The Telegram platform supports streaming output. Enable the "Streaming Output" switch in "AI Configuration" -> "Other Settings".

Private Chat Streaming

In private chats, AstrBot uses the sendMessageDraft API (added in Telegram Bot API v9.3) for streaming output. This displays a "typing" draft preview animation in the chat interface, creating a more natural "typewriter" effect. It avoids issues with the traditional approach such as message flickering, push notification interference, and API edit frequency limits.

Group Chat Streaming

In group chats, since the sendMessageDraft API only supports private chats, AstrBot automatically falls back to the traditional send_message + edit_message_text approach.

:::warning sendMessageDraft requires python-telegram-bot>=22.6. :::