Telegram Group Onboard

Automatically onboard new Telegram groups so the bot responds immediately — with project setup. Use when: (1) a user says they're creating a new Telegram group with the bot, (2) the bot was added to a new group but doesn't respond, (3) someone reports the bot ignores messages in a group. Solves the groupPolicy=allowlist chicken-and-egg problem by watching gateway logs for dropped messages, extracting the chat_id, adding it to config with requireMention=false, creating a project for the group, and hot-reloading. One smooth flow.

The Problem

OpenClaw defaults to groupPolicy: "allowlist" for Telegram. New groups are silently blocked until their chat_id is added to channels.telegram.groups in openclaw.json. The bot receives the messages but drops them before the agent sees them.

Recommended fix: Set channels.telegram.groupPolicy: "open" at the top level. This is safe when dmPolicy: "pairing" is active - strangers can't DM the bot without pairing first, and they can only interact in groups they're already a member of. With groupPolicy: "open", new groups work immediately without manual allowlisting.

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "dmPolicy": "pairing",        // strangers must pair first
      "groupPolicy": "open",        // groups work automatically
      // ...
    }
  }
}

If you prefer the allowlist approach (stricter), the flow below handles onboarding manually.

Key discovery: Dropped messages still appear in gateway logs with full metadata:

{"chatId": -5131368894, "title": "My-New-Group", "reason": "not-allowed"}

Onboarding Flow

When the user says "I'm creating a new group with the bot":

Step 1: Start watching logs

# Local
tail -f "$(ls -t /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-*.log | head -1)" | grep --line-buffered "not-allowed"

# Remote
ssh <server> "tail -f \$(ls -t /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-*.log | head -1)" | grep --line-buffered "not-allowed"

Tell the user: "I'm watching — create the group, add the bot, and send any message."

Step 2: Extract chat_id from log

Log lines contain JSON with field "1" holding {chatId, title, reason}:

echo '<log_line>' | jq -r '."1".chatId, ."1".title'

Step 3: Add to config

scripts/add-telegram-group.sh <chat_id> false open

Arguments: <chat_id> [requireMention=false] [groupPolicy=open]

• requireMention: false — bot responds to ALL messages (no @mention needed)
• groupPolicy: open — any group member can trigger the bot

For remote servers:

scp scripts/add-telegram-group.sh <server>:/tmp/
ssh <server> "bash /tmp/add-telegram-group.sh <chat_id> false open"

Step 4: Wait for hot-reload

OpenClaw detects config changes automatically — no restart needed. Verify in logs:

config hot reload applied (channels.telegram.groups.*)

If no hot-reload within 10 seconds: openclaw gateway restart (or via SSH).

Step 5: Create project for the group

After the group is allowlisted, set up a project (per the telegram-projects skill):

1. Create projects/<chat_id>/project.md:

# Project: <group_title>

- **Chat ID:** <chat_id>
- **Created:** <date>
- **Status:** active
- **Description:** <from group title or user input>

2. Create projects/<chat_id>/knowledge.md:

# Project Knowledge

_No knowledge entries yet. Add permanent knowledge by saying "permanentes Knowledge: [content]" or use `/knowledge add [content]`._

3. Create projects/<chat_id>/glossary.md (empty)

4. Add entry to PROJECTS.md table

5. For remote servers, create these files via SSH or scp.

Step 6: Confirm to user

Send to the NEW group (not the main chat):

👋 Gruppe ist eingerichtet! Ich antworte hier auf alle Nachrichten.

📁 Projekt "[group_title]" wurde angelegt.

Diese Gruppe hat jetzt ein eigenes Projekt mit permanentem Wissen — wie ein ChatGPT-Projekt, nur in Telegram. Alles was ihr als Knowledge speichert, lade ich bei jeder Nachricht automatisch mit.

Type /helpme for all available commands. 🔥

Also tell the user in the main chat: "Gruppe [title] ist live — Projekt angelegt, bot antwortet ohne @mention. Probier's aus!"

Config Structure

{
  "<chat_id>": {
    "requireMention": false,  // respond to everything
    "groupPolicy": "open"     // any member can trigger
  }
}

Quick Reference

Scenario	Command
Add group (full access)	scripts/add-telegram-group.sh -5131368894 false open
Add group (mention only)	scripts/add-telegram-group.sh -5131368894 true open
Check if group exists	jq '.channels.telegram.groups["<ID>"]' ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Watch for new groups	tail -f <logfile> | grep "not-allowed"

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
No log entries for new group	Privacy mode blocks messages	Make bot group admin or /setprivacy disable via @BotFather
Config updated but still no response	Hot-reload failed	openclaw gateway restart
Bot only responds to @mentions	requireMention: true	Re-run script with false