Telegram Bot Development
Bot API Basics
// Polling approach (simpler, no public URL needed)
import TelegramBot from 'node-telegram-bot-api';
const bot = new TelegramBot(process.env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN!, { polling: true });
bot.on('message', async (msg) => {
const chatId = msg.chat.id;
const text = msg.text;
await bot.sendMessage(chatId, `You said: ${text}`);
});
Message Formatting (MarkdownV2)
// Escape special chars for MarkdownV2
const escape = (s: string) => s.replace(/[_*[\]()~`>#+\-=|{}.!]/g, '\\$&');
await bot.sendMessage(chatId, `*Bold* _italic_ \`code\`\n[Link](https://example.com)`, {
parse_mode: 'MarkdownV2'
});
Inline Keyboards
await bot.sendMessage(chatId, 'Choose an option:', {
reply_markup: {
inline_keyboard: [[
{ text: '✅ Approve', callback_data: 'approve' },
{ text: '❌ Reject', callback_data: 'reject' }
]]
}
});
bot.on('callback_query', async (query) => {
await bot.answerCallbackQuery(query.id);
await bot.sendMessage(query.message!.chat.id, `You chose: ${query.data}`);
});
File Sending
await bot.sendDocument(chatId, fs.createReadStream('./report.pdf'), {
caption: 'Daily security report'
});
await bot.sendPhoto(chatId, 'https://example.com/image.png');
Julia/OpenClaw Integration
- OpenClaw handles the Telegram connection natively
- Julia communicates via
julia-relay skill → POST /incoming on the bridge
- Never directly call the Telegram API from the orchestrator — go through OpenClaw
- For escalations, use:
POST http://localhost:3001/incoming with Julia's chatId
abzhaw