OpenClaw Telegram Integration: The Complete Configuration Guide

Introduction

In a previous article, we covered the basics of setting up a Telegram bot with OpenClaw. In this article, we go deeper into the advanced configuration options: using bots in group chats, setting up welcome messages, restricting access per user, and optimizing bot responses for different scenarios.

This guide is intended for users who already have a working OpenClaw installation with a connected Telegram bot and now want to get the most out of the integration.

Configuring Telegram Group Bots

By default, an OpenClaw Telegram bot works in private chats — one-on-one conversations with individual users. But the bot can also be deployed in group chats, which is ideal for team communication or community support. Add the bot to a group and configure it to only respond when directly mentioned with @BotName.

In the OpenClaw dashboard, you can set per channel whether the bot should respond to all messages or only to mentions. For groups, mention mode is almost always the right choice — otherwise the bot responds to every message in the group, which quickly becomes annoying for participants.

A useful application is a project bot in a Telegram group that answers questions about project documentation. Team members mention the bot with their question and receive an immediate answer based on the knowledge configured in the system prompt.

Access Control and User Limits

OpenClaw provides the ability to restrict the Telegram bot to specific users or groups. This is essential if you use the bot for internal business purposes and want to prevent unauthorized users from communicating with the bot and generating API costs.

You can set up a whitelist of Telegram user IDs that have access to the bot. Users not on the list receive a polite notification that the bot is not available. Additionally, you can set daily message limits per user to prevent unexpectedly high API costs.

Optimizing Responses for Telegram

Telegram messages are inherently short and informal. Configure your system prompt specifically for this medium: instruct the model to keep responses concise, use Markdown formatting that Telegram supports (bold, italic, code blocks), and avoid generating long paragraphs.

An effective prompt addition for Telegram is: "Keep responses under 200 words. Use bullet points for lists. If the answer requires more explanation, provide a short answer first and offer to give more detail if the user wants it." This prevents walls of text that are unreadable on a mobile screen.

Conclusion

OpenClaw's Telegram integration offers much more than just a simple question-and-answer bot. By configuring group bots, access control, and optimized responses, you create an AI assistant that seamlessly fits into the Telegram experience of your team or customers. Experiment with the settings and optimize based on how your users actually use the bot.