OpenClaw Telegram Bot Setup

Every Telegram bot starts with BotFather - Telegram's official meta-bot for creating and managing bots. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather, then start a conversation.

Send the command `/newbot`. BotFather will ask for a name (this is the display name users see, like 'My AI Assistant') and a username (must end in 'bot', like 'myassistant_bot'). Usernames are globally unique across all of Telegram, so common names are taken.

Once created, BotFather gives you a bot token: a string that looks like `6123456789:AAH-abc123...`. This token is the credential OpenClaw uses to send and receive messages as your bot. Treat it like a password - anyone with this token can control your bot.

Copy the token. You'll need it in the OpenClaw configuration. Also note your bot's username - you'll need it to start the pairing process later.

Optional but recommended: use BotFather to set a profile photo for your bot (`/setuserpic`) and a description (`/setdescription`). These make your bot feel more personal and less like a generic setup.

With your bot token, open the `openclaw.json` file in your OpenClaw installation directory. If this file doesn't exist yet, create it. The configuration structure for Telegram looks like this:

`{ "channels": { "telegram": { "token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE", "dmPolicy": "pairing", "streaming": true } } }`

The `token` field is your BotFather token. The `dmPolicy` controls who can message your bot - set this to `pairing` (recommended) so only paired users can interact with your assistant. Setting it to `open` means anyone who finds your bot can talk to it.

The `streaming` setting enables real-time response streaming - messages appear word by word rather than all at once. This makes conversations feel more natural but requires your server to maintain an open connection.

Save the file. OpenClaw will read this configuration on startup. Don't start the service yet - you still need to configure the webhook so Telegram knows where to send messages.

Telegram webhooks require a valid HTTPS endpoint. Your server needs a domain name with a TLS certificate that Telegram can verify. Self-signed certificates won't work.

First, point a domain or subdomain to your server's IP address. If you're on a Hetzner VPS, the IP is in your Hetzner console. Add an A record in your DNS provider pointing `bot.yourdomain.com` to your server IP. DNS propagation takes 2-48 hours.

Next, install and configure Caddy as a reverse proxy. Caddy handles TLS certificate provisioning automatically via Let's Encrypt. A basic Caddyfile for this setup: `bot.yourdomain.com { reverse_proxy localhost:3000 }`. Start Caddy, and it requests a certificate for your domain automatically.

Once your HTTPS endpoint is working, register it as the webhook with Telegram. Make an HTTP GET request to: `https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_TOKEN>/setWebhook?url=https://bot.yourdomain.com/webhook`

Telegram responds with `{"ok": true, "result": true}` on success. If you get an error, it's usually because your domain doesn't have a valid certificate yet or your firewall is blocking port 443. Check that `curl https://bot.yourdomain.com` works from an external machine before attempting webhook registration.

With the token configured and webhook registered, start the OpenClaw service. If you're running it manually: `cd /path/to/openclaw && npm start`. For systemd: `systemctl start openclaw`.

Check the logs for confirmation that Telegram connected successfully. You should see a line like 'Telegram webhook registered' or 'Listening for Telegram messages.' If you see authentication errors, double-check that the token in openclaw.json matches exactly what BotFather provided - even a single extra space will cause failures.

Now open Telegram and find your bot by its username. Send `/start`. If dmPolicy is set to `pairing`, your bot will respond with a pairing code or instructions to complete the pairing process. Follow those instructions to link your Telegram account to your OpenClaw instance as an authorized user.

Once paired, send a test message: 'Hello, are you there?' Your assistant should respond. If it doesn't respond within 30 seconds, check your server logs for errors - common issues at this stage are the webhook URL not being reachable from Telegram's servers, or the OpenClaw process having crashed silently.

Congratulations - if you've gotten this far, your OpenClaw Telegram bot is working. The full process typically takes 2-4 hours, and that's assuming nothing unexpected goes wrong.

The four steps above represent the minimum viable manual setup. In practice, first-time setup usually involves additional troubleshooting: firewall rules blocking Telegram's IP ranges, Let's Encrypt rate limits if you've tried multiple certificate requests, OpenClaw configuration syntax errors, or pairing flows that don't complete due to timing issues.

PlugAndClaw eliminates every one of these steps. When you sign up, our automated provisioner creates a dedicated Hetzner VPS for you, installs and configures OpenClaw, obtains TLS certificates, registers the Telegram webhook, and completes the pairing process - all in under 60 seconds.

You receive a single message in Telegram: 'Your assistant is ready.' From that moment, you have a fully configured, secure, 24/7 OpenClaw instance with your personal bot already paired to your account. No BotFather, no token management, no webhook registration, no firewall configuration, no certificate headaches.

The $39.50/month plan includes the server, the setup, the $20 AI credits, and the ongoing maintenance. If you've spent the last few hours working through the manual setup steps above, PlugAndClaw isn't just more convenient - it's also significantly faster to get to the part you actually care about: using your AI assistant.

All the configuration options described above (dmPolicy, streaming, webhook settings) are handled optimally by default. Advanced users who want to customize these settings can do so via SSH access to their dedicated server, which is included with every PlugAndClaw plan.