Telegram Channel
Overview
The Telegram channel connects a Telegram bot so the people who message it appear in the Team Inbox next to your other channels. Telegram is fast, free to message, and great for support and communities — and it runs the same auto-reply, flows and AI agent as the rest of WaDesk. Unlike WhatsApp and Instagram, there's no 24-hour window: once a user has started your bot, you can reply any time.
Good news: Telegram needs no platform-admin app setup and no review. Any workspace user with the channel on their plan can create a bot and connect it in two minutes.
How the Channel Works
- Telegram bots run on the official Bot API. Each bot is identified by a secret token.
- WaDesk registers a webhook with Telegram for your bot, so every incoming update (message, button tap, etc.) is pushed to WaDesk instantly.
- Replies are sent with the Bot API
sendMessage/sendPhoto/ etc. methods using your token. - People reach your bot by opening
t.me/YourBotUsernameand pressing Start, or by adding it to a group.
Creating a Bot & Getting the Token
The bot token is issued by Telegram's official BotFather. Step by step:
- Open BotFather. In any Telegram app, search for
@BotFather(the one with the blue verified tick) and open the chat. - Create the bot. Send
/newbot. - Name it. Reply with a display name (e.g. “Acme Support”).
- Choose a username. Reply with a unique username ending in
bot(e.g.acme_support_bot). - Copy the token. BotFather replies with a token like
123456789:AAExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. This is your bot's password — keep it secret. - (Optional) polish the bot. Still in BotFather you can set a profile photo (
/setuserpic), a description (/setdescription), an about text (/setabouttext), and command hints (/setcommands).
If the token leaks, anyone can control your bot. Revoke and reissue it in BotFather with /revoke, then paste the new token into WaDesk.
Connecting in WaDesk
- Open the Telegram page — Channels → Telegram in the menu.
- Paste the bot token and save.
- WaDesk registers the webhook with Telegram automatically — no URLs to copy. It also fetches the bot's username so links work.
- Test it. Open
t.me/YourBotUsername, press Start, and send a message — it appears in the Team Inbox within seconds.
One webhook per bot. A Telegram bot can point its webhook at only one place at a time. Don't run the same token in another tool simultaneously, or updates will be split.
API Limits & Rules
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| User must start the bot | A bot cannot message someone who hasn't started it (or added it to a group). There is no cold-messaging on Telegram. |
| No 24-hour window | Once started, you can reply to a chat any time — there's no session expiry like WhatsApp. |
| Send rate | Telegram allows roughly 30 messages/second overall and about 1 message/second to a single chat; bulk sends to a group of users are limited (around 20/minute per chat for groups). WaDesk paces broadcasts to respect this. |
| Blocking | A user can block the bot at any time; sends to them then fail silently. Keep messages relevant to avoid blocks. |
Using the Inbox
- One thread per chat. Each Telegram user (or group) that reaches your bot gets a thread, labelled with their Telegram name/username.
- Media. Photos, documents, stickers and voice notes render inline and can be replied to.
- Buttons. Inline and reply keyboards from your flows render as tappable buttons in Telegram.
Auto-Reply, Flows & AI
- Auto-reply. Scope Welcome / Away / Out-of-hours / Keyword rules to your Telegram bot in Auto Reply.
- Flows. Set the Trigger node's channel to Telegram in the Flow Builder. Buttons, quick replies, media and question steps run on Telegram.
- AI agent. Assign an agent to the bot for automatic replies with hand-off.
Telegram Broadcasts
The Telegram broadcast composer sends to every chat that has started your bot. Choose the bot, select recipients, write your message with a live preview, and send. Because there's no 24-hour window, you can reach your whole bot audience — WaDesk paces the send to stay within Telegram's rate limits, and any user who blocked the bot is skipped.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause & fix |
|---|---|
| No messages arriving | The token is wrong, revoked, or the webhook is owned by another tool. Re-paste a fresh token; WaDesk re-registers the webhook. |
| “Bot was blocked by the user” | That user blocked the bot; you can't message them until they unblock and restart it. |
| Can't message a new person | They haven't started the bot. Share your t.me/… link and ask them to press Start. |
| Broadcast slow | Expected — WaDesk paces to Telegram's per-second limits so the bot isn't throttled or banned. |