Telegram

Overview

Telegram is the recommended starting channel for ArgentOS. Setup takes under 5 minutes and the Bot API is reliable and well-documented.

Prerequisites

A Telegram account
ArgentOS gateway running (argent gateway start)

Setup

Create a Bot with BotFather

Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
Send /newbot
Choose a display name (e.g., “My Argent Agent”)
Choose a username ending in bot (e.g., my_argent_bot)
Copy the HTTP API token BotFather gives you

Add the Channel

argent channels add telegram

When prompted, paste your bot token. The CLI will verify the token and save it to your config.

Configure (Optional)

Edit argent.json to customize Telegram-specific settings:

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrSTUvwxYZ",
      "allowedUsers": [],
      "polling": true,
      "webhook": {
        "enabled": false,
        "url": "https://your-domain.com/webhook/telegram",
        "port": 8443
      }
    }
  }
}

Test

Send a message to your bot on Telegram. You should see it appear in the gateway logs and receive a response.

argent gateway logs --follow

Polling vs Webhook

Polling (Default)
Webhook

The bot periodically checks for new messages. Simpler setup, works behind NAT.

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "polling": true
    }
  }
}

Telegram pushes messages to your server. Lower latency, requires a public HTTPS endpoint.

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "polling": false,
      "webhook": {
        "enabled": true,
        "url": "https://your-domain.com/webhook/telegram",
        "port": 8443
      }
    }
  }
}

Security

Restricting Access

By default, anyone who finds your bot can message it. Use allowedUsers to restrict access.

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "allowedUsers": [123456789, 987654321]
    }
  }
}

Supported Features

Feature	Supported
Text messages	Yes
Photos/images	Yes
Documents/files	Yes
Voice messages	Yes
Inline keyboards	Yes
Group chats	Partial
Threads/topics	No

Getting Started

Installation

Channels

Agents

Connectors

Tools

Concepts

Memory

Model Router

Overview

Prerequisites

Setup

Polling vs Webhook

Security

Restricting Access

Supported Features

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Setup

​Polling vs Webhook

​Security

​Restricting Access

​Supported Features

Overview

Prerequisites

Setup

Polling vs Webhook

Security

Restricting Access

Supported Features