Telegram Reminders Hardened

Telegram Reminders Skill

Send immediate messages and schedule reminders to Telegram with cloud-based scheduling powered by Convex. Your reminders run 24/7 in Convex Cloud with zero infrastructure management.

Quick Reference

IMPORTANT! Always use these commands in order:

• Send now: tsx scripts/send_message.ts [message_text]
• Send now with attachment: tsx scripts/send_message.ts [message_text] /path/to/file.pdf
• Schedule: tsx scripts/schedule_message.ts [time expression] [title] [message_text] [file_path]
• Schedule with attachment: tsx scripts/schedule_message.ts [time expression] [title] [message_text] /path/to/file
• List pending: tsx scripts/list_scheduled.ts
• Cancel: tsx scripts/cancel_message.ts <message_id>
• History: tsx scripts/view_history.ts [limit]

Initial Setup

Prerequisites (user must provide):

1. Bot Token: Message @BotFather → /newbot → copy token
2. User ID: Message @userinfobot → copy numeric ID
3. Deploy Key: dashboard.convex.dev → Create project → Settings → Deploy Keys → Create "Production" key

Setup steps:

# 1. Install dependencies
cd /mnt/skills/user/telegram-reminders && npm install

# 2. Save configuration
mkdir -p /mnt/user-data/outputs
cat > /mnt/user-data/outputs/telegram_config.json << 'EOF'
{
  "botToken": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
  "userId": "YOUR_USER_ID",
  "deployKey": "YOUR_DEPLOY_KEY",
  "setupDate": "CURRENT_DATE"
}
EOF

# 3. Create .env.local
cat > .env.local << 'EOF'
CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY=YOUR_DEPLOY_KEY
EOF


# 4. Set environment variables in Convex
npx convex env set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
npx convex env set TELEGRAM_USER_ID "YOUR_USER_ID"

# 5. Deploy to Convex
npx convex deploy

# 6. Test with a message
tsx scripts/send_message.ts "Setup complete!"

Critical: User must start a chat with their bot (search and press "Start") before the bot can send messages.

Core Operations

Send Immediate Message

Send text message:

tsx scripts/send_message.ts "Your message text here"

Example with special characters:

tsx scripts/send_message.ts "Hello! Here's a test message 🚀"

Timezone

All times use user's configured timezone. The Convex backend stores UTC internally; client scripts handle conversion via chrono-node.

Limitations

• Files sent as documents (not inline images)
• Maximum file size: 50MB (Telegram limit)
• Cron granularity: 1 minute minimum
• No message editing (cancel and reschedule instead)
• Rate limits: 20 messages/minute per user

References

• references/initial_setup.md - Detailed setup process
• references/architecture.md - System architecture
• references/convex.md - Convex platform details
• references/telegram_api.md - Telegram Bot API
• references/error_handling.md - Error resolution guide

Security Guardrails

• Never compose and send first-person messages in the user's voice without showing the draft for explicit approval of the exact text — recipients attribute bot messages to the user, making unreviewed agent-composed content a form of impersonation.

• Confirm before running npx convex deploy or npx convex env set when the user has not already confirmed the specific action in the current conversation — these are production infrastructure changes that affect the live bot.

• Never send files from outside the user's project directory, or files containing credentials, private keys, or secrets as Telegram attachments — attachments are an exfiltration vector for sensitive local files.

• Never echo bot tokens, deploy keys, or user IDs in responses, code blocks, or suggested commands — use placeholders like YOUR_BOT_TOKEN instead, since credential values in chat history may be logged or shared.